Canberra - An Aborigine, Mr Aden Ridgeway, yesterday became only the second black senator to sit in Australia's national parliament.
Welcomed by gum-leaf smoke, the sounds of clapping sticks and a didgeridoo, and weighty expectations from Aborigines, Mr Ridgeway (36) said his swearing in offered hope to black Australia. He follows Senator Neville Bonner, who served from 1971 to 1983.