Tony McAvoy is one of those people, who if you are lucky enough to meet him, has a profound impact on your own perspective on life.

His is not a tale of a privileged upbringing, where everything was handed to him on a platter. Instead, he relied on a very strong work ethic, a community orientated outlook and natural academic ability to achieve all his goals!

In the 1910s, Tony McAvoy’s grandparents were separately relocated as children to live on an Aboriginal reserve under the Aborigines Protection Act. These reserves were arguably created to remove Aboriginal people from society and public view.  His grandparents, father, and uncles and aunts received an exemption certificate from the Aborigines Protection Act in 1957. It wasn’t until the 1970s, these power to forcibly detain Aboriginal people on these ‘reserves’ were repealed.  

After Tony’s father left Cherbourg Reserve and moved to Brisbane he met Tony’s mother. They were married and Tony was born in 1964. Tony’s parents instilled the importance of hard work in him. As a result of this and his natural academic ability, Tony thrived in high school. He did identify from an early age that his family was different from other families. From the start of his life, Tony witnessed the inherent discrimination of Aboriginal people in Queensland.

Tony was the first person in his family to finish high school. There was never an expectation he would attend university. That being said, Tony’s parents encouraged his independence and allowed him to make his own decisions and choose his own path.

Like many of us, Tony started studying law completely by accident. After enrolling in a Bachelor of Arts at Griffith University, Tony went to talk to the Aboriginal Student Counsellor in the Brisbane suburb of Inala. He was told the Aboriginal Legal Service in Brisbane, might give him some work over the holidays. When the principal solicitor at this legal service saw Tony’s marks from high school, he convinced him to change his preferences to law for the second round of offers. He did so and was offered enrolment In the Bachelor of Laws course at Queensland Institute of Technology.

When Tony attended law school at QIT though, he found it to be an incredibly hard experience. You see, Tony was the only Indigenous person he knew on campus. He always felt there was a stigma attached to him because of his Aboriginality!

While working as a clerk and then after being admitted as a solicitor, Tony represented several Aboriginal people in highly traumatic matters. As you can imagine, this had a large impact on Tony. In order to give himself a break, he decided to go overseas where he worked as a bicycle courier. Aside from the diesel fumes, Tony enjoyed this experience and found the attitudes about indigenous people, which he had grown up with, were not universal. This realisation freed Tony from his hang ups relating to the low expectations of indigenous people- he had found his straps!

Tony regained his confidence, and has since risen to be the first indigenous senior counsel in Australia. The title of senior counsel is very prestigious and is only given to barristers who are extremely well regarded. Aside from having the requisite skills, senior counsel also need to ‘possess a high degree of skill and learning, integrity and honesty, independence, diligence and experience.’

Apart from undertaking extensive advocacy work, Tony completes as much pro bono (unpaid) work as he can. He fully appreciates how important it is for disadvantaged people in our society to get access to justice. For example, just recently Tony represented two Aboriginal men from the South Coast of New South Wales, who were charged with poaching abalone.

Tony McAvoy is extremely passionate about helping his community in any way he can. He is saddened that the disparity in the incarceration rate of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians is more significant today then it has ever been. The reasons for this are complex, but he believes one part of the reason may be that the mechanical provisions of the criminal law are antithetical to rehabilitation. Furthermore, the policies which led to incarceration and segregation on reserves, has led to an inherent distrust between Aboriginal people and the police. This in turn, may have created a feeling of disempowerment and dispossession within the indigenous community.

In fact, he says, this disempowerment and dispossession is one of the main reasons why native title claims are so important to Aboriginal people. You see, when the Federal Court determines in native title proceedings that the Indigenous claimants have had a continued connection with the land, this is seen by many people validating their very existence. Sadly, Tony has often seen elders in the indigenous community, who have lived through the worst discrimination, in tears as a result of the validation of their identity!

In terms of advice for indigenous students of law, he notes that ‘practising law will allow you to make great contributions to your people and society as a whole. As you gain more experience and rise through the ranks you can do extraordinarily significant things.’

In regards to the future for indigenous Australians, Tony notes we still have a long way to go as a nation. ‘Discrimination still happens in our community, but it is often a lot more subtle than it used to be.’ As a community, we often celebrate the good news stories about Aboriginal people. The realities are though, that the rates of preventable disease, child removal from family, domestic violence and incarceration are deteriorating and it is clear that the Indigenous community is still suffering!

Tony knows he is in a privileged position, and he is looking forward to continuing to give back to his community in any way he can!