The Queensland United Council for Aboriginal Welfare representative, Joe McGinness, attended the first conference in Adelaide in 1958 that gave rise to the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. Joe McGinness was also secretary of the Cairns Aboriginal and Islanders Advancement League. It was Ada Bromham who unified Queensland social activists to form the Queensland Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (QCAATSI). Daisy Marchisotti was heavily involved in this organisation together with Indigenous political activist Odgeroo Noonuccal, who was the Queensland State Secretary in the 1960s. QCAATSI acted as the state branch for the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islands (FCAATSI). The main objectives were: to work for complete social, political, legal and economic equality for Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders; to seek the integration of Aborigine's and Torres Strait Islanders within the community while preserving valuable aspects of their culture; to provide various services to encourage self-reliance and economic independence among Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. In 1961 a group of members considered to be less inclined with political activism split to form One People of Australia League (OPAL). By 1975 the Council was effectively defunct

Publicists - Colin Bennett, Manfred Cross, Bob Cochrane, H. Gurnett, Muriel Langford, L.G. McBride, Daisy Marchisotti, Royce Perkins, J. Sweet, Kath Walker.