Michael James Dodson (born 10 April 1950) is an

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...

barrister, academic, and member of the

Yawuru The Yawuru, also spelt Jawuru, are an Indigenous Australian people of the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Language A Japanese linguist, Hosokawa Kōmei (細川弘明), compiled the first basic dictionary of the Yawuru language in 1988, a ...

people in the Broome area of the southern Kimberley region of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. His brother is

Pat Dodson Patrick Lionel Djargun Dodson (born 29 January 1948) is an Australian politician representing Western Australia in the Australian Senate. He is a Yawuru elder from Broome, Western Australia. He has been chairman of the Council for Aboriginal ...

, also a noted Aboriginal leader and a senator to Federal Parliament, representing Western Australia.

Biography

Following his parents' death, he boarded at

Monivae College Monivae College is an independent Roman Catholic co-educational high day and boarding school of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC) tradition located in , Victoria, Australia. It is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ballarat. Set ...

Hamilton, Victoria Hamilton is a large town in south-western Victoria, Australia, at the intersection of the Glenelg Highway and the Henty Highway. The Hamilton Highway connects it to Geelong. Hamilton is in the federal Division of Wannon, and is in the South ...

. He graduated with degrees in Jurisprudence and Law from

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university h ...

in 1974, as the first Indigenous person to graduate from law in Australia. Following graduation, he worked as a criminal solicitor for the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service, and later as a criminal defence barrister at the Victorian Bar, where he still practises as a barrister specialising in native title. He has worked extensively as a legal adviser in native title and human rights, and as an academic in Indigenous law. He is currently Professor of Law at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

, as the director of its National Centre for Indigenous Studies, and has lectured as a visiting academic at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

and

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

respectively. Dodson's efforts for the rights of indigenous people around the world in 2005 made him a member of

United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII or PFII) is the UN's central coordinating body for matters relating to the concerns and rights of the world's indigenous peoples. There are more than 370 million indigenous peop ...

. He has been a prominent advocate of

land rights Land law is the form of law that deals with the rights to use, alienate, or exclude others from land. In many jurisdictions, these kinds of property are referred to as real estate or real property, as distinct from personal property. Land use a ...

and other issues affecting

Indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

s in Australia and globally and has extensive involvement in the United Nations Forum on Indigenous Issues. He is the Chief Investigator for the ''Serving Our Country: a history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the defence of Australia'' project, an Australian Research Council-funded research project based at The Australian National University. On 25 January 2009, he was named Australian of the Year. He now lives and works in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

. Apart from human rights Dodson has been active in politics of Australian government, justice and crime prevention.

Honours

* Australian of the Year, 2009 * Chairperson of the

Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), established as the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS) in 1964, is an independent Australian Government statutory authority. It is a collecting, ...

*Distinguished Alumni Award,

, 1998 *Fellow,

Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA) is an independent, non-governmental organisation devoted to the advancement of knowledge and research in the social sciences. It has its origins in the Social Science Research Council of Austr ...

, 2009 *Honorary Member of the University of Kingwood Nationals, 2010 *Member of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

(AM), 2003 *Member of the

Order of Indonesia Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of ...

(PM), awarded on

New Year's Day New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Wh ...

2003

Honorary doctorates

*Honorary Doctor of Letters,

University of Technology Sydney The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is a public research university located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Although its origins are said to trace back to the 1830s, the university was founded in its current form in 1988. As of 2021 ...

, 1998 *Honorary Doctor of Laws,

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensiv ...

, 1999 *Honorary Doctorate,

University of Canberra The University of Canberra (UC) is a public research university with its main campus located in Bruce, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The campus is within walking distance of Westfield Belconnen, and from Canberra's Civic Centre. U ...

, 2010

Controversy

It is alleged that Mick Dodson verbally abused a woman at an NTFL game. The incident was investigated by the NT government but the outcome was not disclosed.

References

External links

ANU College of Law profileSelected publications and presentations
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies {{DEFAULTSORT:Dodson, Mick 1950 births Living people Australian barristers Australian human rights activists Lawyers from Melbourne Australian legal scholars Australian lobbyists Australian indigenous rights activists Australian of the Year Award winners Indigenous Australians from Western Australia Monash Law School alumni Members of the Order of Australia People from Broome, Western Australia People from the Australian Capital Territory People from the Northern Territory Fellows of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia Australian National University faculty Indigenous Australian academics Australian republicans