Lisa Bellear

Lisa Bellear
Publicity photo from The University of Queensland Press
Born	(1961-05-02)2 May 1961 Melbourne, Victoria
Died	5 July 2006(2006-07-05) (aged 45) Melbourne, Victoria
Nationality	Australian
Known for	Poetry, Photography

Lisa (Marie) Bellear (2 May 1961 in Melbourne, Victoria – 5 July 2006 in Melbourne) was an Indigenous Australian poet, photographer, activist, spokeswoman, dramatist, comedian and broadcaster. She was a Goenpul woman of the Noonuccal people of Minjerribah (Stradbroke Island), Queensland. Her uncles were Bob Bellear, Australia's first Indigenous judge, and Sol Bellear who helped to found the Aboriginal Housing Corporation in Redfern in 1972.

Bellear was adopted into a white family as a baby and was told she had Polynesian heritage. As an adult she explored her Aboriginal roots.

Bellear died unexpectedly at her home in Melbourne. She was 45 years old. She was buried at Mullumbimby cemetery.

Published works and photography

Posthumous poetry collection Aboriginal Country, Ed. Jen Jewel Brown, UWA Publishing, 2018 was chosen as one of the books of the year by poet John Kinsella in Australian Book Review. Bellear wrote Dreaming in Urban Areas (UQP, 1996), a book of poetry which explores the experience of Aboriginal people in contemporary society. She said in an interview with Roberta Sykes that her "poetry was not about putting down white society. It's about self-discovery."

Other poetry was published in journals and newspapers. She was awarded the Deadly Awards prize in 2006 for making an outstanding contribution to literature with the Ilbijerri Theatre Company performed play by Kylie Beling, John Harding and Gary Foley The Dirty Mile: A History of Indigenous Fitzroy (a suburb of Melbourne) based on her original concept; and her many published poems and performances of her writing as a poet, actor and comedian.

Bellear was a prolific photographer. Her work was exhibited at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games and at the Melbourne Museum as part of their millennium celebrations.

Community activities

Bellear was a broadcaster at the community radio station 3CR in Melbourne where she presented the show 'Not Another Koori Show' for over 20 years. She was a member of the 2003 Victorian Stolen Generations Taskforce, having herself been removed from her parents under this policy.

She was also a founding member of the Ilbijerri Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Theatre Co-op, the longest-running Aboriginal theatre troupe in Australia. Ilbijerri produced The Dirty Mile in March 2006 as a dramatised walking trail through the streets of Fitzroy, Melbourne.

Recognition

• In 2008 Bellear was inducted posthumously to the Victorian Honour Roll of Women.
• The City of Melbourne in partnership with the Victorian Women's Trust recognised Bellear's life and work in 2018 in naming a laneway in Carlton, Warrior Woman Lane, after her.
• The University of Melbourne named student accommodation at 303 Royal Parade, Parkville, Melbourne as Lisa Bellear House.