Michael Dodson AM (b. 1950), Indigenous leader and academic professor, is a member of the Yawuru people of the southern Kimberley in Western Australia. Orphaned at ten, he was educated by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Monivae College in Hamilton, Victoria.
He studied law at Monash University and in 1981 became Victoria's first Aboriginal barrister. In 1988 he gained national attention as counsel assisting the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, and as Australia's first Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner from 1993 to 1998 he co-authored the Bringing Them Home report that illuminated the plight of the 'stolen generations'.
He has two honorary Doctorates and in 2003 was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia. Currently Director of the National Centre for Indigenous Studies at the Australian University and Professor of Law at the ANU College of Law, Professor Dodson is co-chair of Reconciliation Australia and Chairman of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. His dream is to achieve reconciliation in this country and a better future for his people. 'Upholding human rights is about looking out for each other', Dodson has stated, 'sometimes we don't speak up when we should.'
