He was the son of Julia Bell, an Indigenous Australian, and Henry Kenneth Bonner, an English immigrant.

His maternal grandmother Ida Sandy was a member of the Ugarapul people of the Logan and Albert Rivers, while his maternal grandfather Roger Bell (or Jung Jung) was a fully initiated member of the Yagara people of the Brisbane River.

After about five years, the family moved near Lismore, New South Wales, to be closer to Bonner's grandparents, living on the banks of the Richmond River under a lantana bush.

[1] Bonner worked as a ring barker, cane cutter and stockman before settling on Palm Island, near Townsville, Queensland in 1946, where he rose to the position of Assistant Settlement Overseer.

[2] In 1960 he lived in Ipswich, where he joined the board of directors of the One People of Australia League (OPAL),[3] a moderate Indigenous rights organisation.

In 1981 Bonner was the only government voice opposing a bill put forth that would allow drilling in the Great Barrier Reef.

He regularly crossed the floor on bills, a characteristic that has endeared him to politicians today but is often considered the reason for his political career coming to an end.

[4] Following Bonner's electoral defeat, incoming ALP prime minister Bob Hawke publicly promised him a government post.

[6] He briefly acted as ABC chairman in April 1984,[7] and in June 1986 was reappointed to a further five-year term on the board, concluding in 1991.

He was granted a state funeral, held at St Stephen's Church, and interred at Warrill Park Lawn Cemetery.

[11] The head office of the Queensland Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability services in Brisbane, built in 1999, was named the Neville Bonner Building.

The boomerangs were handmade from the roots of black wattle trees, as Bonner refused to use synthetic materials.