Bill Dunn (Pilbara elder)

William Dunn OAM (born 1911) was an Indigenous Australian pastoralist and elder from the Pilbara region of Western Australia (WA).

[1] Dunn's role as a pastoralist was unusual at the time for an Indigenous Australian, an issue caused by systemic racism and legal discriminations.

[6] At around thirty years old and contemporaneous to the outbreak of World War II, Dunn made an application to the Western Australia Lands Department for a 300,000-acre (120,000 ha) pastoral lease around Mount Divide, Nullagine.

To succeed, he needed to obtain an exemption from the Native Administration Act, a bill that legally segregated Aboriginal Australians by race.

[2] Dunn was directly involved in the landmark 1946 Pilbara strike, an action by Indigenous pastoral workers in pursuit of their rights, with his account forming a part of the historical record.

[1] He was assisted in the process by some friends, including fellow pastoralists and an Australian police officer who went into a legal partnership with him in the business in an effort to evade some forms of discrimination.

During this period, he became friends with Graham Wilson, an Australian who later authored his biographical account, Pilbara Bushman: The Life Experience of W.

[11][1] When his other station also became too difficult to manage, he sold it to the traditional owners of the area for half the market price despite full-price offers from persons outside the community.