1934 - 1993

Brian Syron was born on Birrabirragal country in Balmain in 1934. He is known as one of Australia’s leading Indigenous arts practitioners, as an actor, writer, director, teacher, filmmaker, and as an advocate for Indigenous arts and rights in Australia.

Brian worked globally and Bondi benefited greatly from his talents in the early 1970s, when Syron approached Waverley Council to gain approval to convert the old ballroom of Bondi Pavilion to a theatre space. He succeeded in this project and in 1974, became the co-founder and first Artistic Director of the Bondi Pavilion Theatre, opened by the then Prime Minister of Australia, Gough Whitlam. This led the way for the Bondi Pavilion to become the Bondi Pavilion Community Cultural Centre in 1978.

Beginning his career at the Ensemble Theatre in Sydney, Syron then moved to Europe where he worked as a model for famous designers such as Dior, Cardin and Balenciago. Moving on to New York, he was the first Australian to study acting at the Stella Adler Studio with fellow students Robert De Niro and Warren Beatty. He continued his studies in London and returned to New York where he worked as an actor, a director, a teacher, a co-founder of a theatre company, and also worked on films while in the USA.

On his return to Australia, Syron directed plays at The Playhouse in Perth, Ensemble Theatre, The Old Tote and across many stages in Sydney. He was the first Indigenous Australian to work as a director in the mainstream Australian theatre industry.

He worked in film and television in Australia as an actor, writer, director and presenter. In the late 1980s, he was co-presenter with Justine Saunders on the ABC TV Aboriginal entertainment series ‘The First Australians’ and went on to become the first Aboriginal producer at ABC Television.

He is also known as the first Australian Indigenous feature film director for his film, ‘Jindalee Lady’ (1992), about an Aboriginal fashion designer, featuring Bangarra Dance Theatre. ‘Jindalee Lady’ was invited to Dreamspeakers International Film & Arts Festival in Canada, where it was the only and the first feature film to be directed by a First Nations person and was awarded Best Feature Film at the Festival. His interest in film went onto to see him became the first Indigenous Australian to lecture at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS).

Syron was passionately engaged with the arts. He was co-founder of the Australian National Playwrights Conference, the Aboriginal Theatre Company, The Aboriginal National Theatre Trust and The Australian Black Playwrights Conference. He was the founder of the New Theatre, and a founder of the Eora Arts Centre in Redfern. He was Theatre Consultant for the Aboriginal Arts Board of the inaugural Australia Council for the Arts.

Syron wrote many papers and books around Indigenous filmmaking and theatre, human rights and future rights of Indigenous peoples including ‘Kicking Down the Doors, a History of Indigenous Australian Filmmaking 1968 – 1993’ with Briann Kearney.

The recipient of many awards and honours, respected and recognised by both Indigenous and non-Indigenous arts communities, Brian Syron was a trailblazer who contributed significantly to the development of arts and culture in Australia. He passed away in Sydney in 1993.

Courtesy the Waverley Library Local Studies Collection.