PVC- Indigenous Strategy UNSWIS_Final_SIGN OFF_18 October 2018 low res for | Page 5

From the Pro Vice-Chancellor Indigenous
Welcome to the UNSW Indigenous Strategy. I am a
Cobble Cobble woman whose family is connected to
one of the ancient polities of this land that resided in
and around Warra, Barrungam speaking country, the
lands bordering the Bunya mountains and stretching
out along the Condamine River (Gummanguru) and
creeks of Barrunga (Dalby). I carry my story with me
from Queensland where I grew up and studied at the
University of Queensland, to Canberra where I studied
at the Australian National University and to UNSW
Sydney, a campus I have been connected to for my
entire academic career beginning in 2002.
My UNSW journey began with Professor George
Williams at UNSW Law. I was the first public lawyer
to work with Professor Williams at the newly created
Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law. Next, I became
a senior lecturer in the law school and Director of
the Indigenous Law Centre, then after many years of
teaching, publishing, research and acquiring a Master
of Laws and PhD, I successfully applied for promotion
to Associate Professor and was then eventually
promoted to Professor of Law.
I am among the first generation of my family to
graduate from University and the first to work as a
scholar. Sixteen years later I am still here at UNSW
and launching the University’s first Indigenous Strategy.
My background in public law is a good grounding for
the role of PVCI as it aligns with many of the objectives
of the UNSW 2025 strategy. UNSW Law has a proud
tradition of pursuing social justice for Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander peoples since it was created in
July 1964.
In this strategy we have adopted the sand dune as
the motif because this is what is distinctive about the
cultural and environmental footprint of UNSW’s main
campus. Each of our “three pillars” are like sand dunes,
inextricably linked to the other. Like the formation of
sand dunes, if the wind blows across one dune, the
structure of the other sand dunes is impacted and
changes shape. The blue sky represents blue sky
thinking. UNSW has always led the way as pioneers in
Indigenous education and research, and in contributing
to important nation-building activities like the Uluru
Statement from the Heart, and will continue to do so
in the future.
The strategy is not only about increasing our
Indigenous student body and workforce, it is also
about research excellence and growing Aboriginal
researchers and leaders who will make an impact
in communities and nationally. A major focus of
the Indigenous Strategy is to amplify the work of
the Indigenous Law Centre (ILC) and establish a
multidisciplinary research institute that will continue to
influence law and policy at a national and international
level. Transitioning the ILC to progress this important
work is building on UNSW’s demonstrated commitment
to structural reform and addressing the mass exclusion
of Aboriginal people from political and legal power.
More broadly than law, I am proud to be associated
with a university that stands unique in the sector for
both its research impacts to date, its willingness to
genuinely listen and take advice from its Indigenous
collegiate and in its commitment to “giving back”. The
warm reception the strategy has received from faculty
leaders and the executive, as well as the Indigenous
collegiate, UNSW alumni and the wide community,
reveals the genuine commitment UNSW has to
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander higher education.
Professor Megan Davis
Pro Vice-Chancellor Indigenous, UNSW Sydney
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