The Megan Davis Scholarship

This biography has been prepared by Professor Anthony Cassamatis AM.

Professor Megan Davis is a proud Cobble Cobble woman of the Barrungam Nation. She grew up in the Aboriginal community in Eagleby, Logan City on Yugumbeh land, where all of her family still reside.

Professor Davis studied at the University of Queensland in the 1990s and was a member of Duchesne College. She graduated from UQ with a Bachelor of Arts in 1997. In her Arts Degree, Professor Davis studied a diverse range of courses that included the history of music, the history of Queensland, Roman history, Latin and French. Professor Davis was awarded her Bachelor of Laws for her studies at the TC Beirne School of Law in 1999. Her law electives at UQ included Public International Law. Following her graduation, Professor Davis travelled to Geneva on a fellowship awarded by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. On her return to Australia, Professor Davis undertook a Masters Degree in Law at ANU, specialising in International Law. Professor Davis then completed her PhD in Law at ANU, supervised by Judge Hilary Charlesworth of the International Court of Justice, when Judge Charlesworth was a Professor at the ANU College of Law and then at REGNET at ANU.

Professor Davis currently holds the Balnaves Chair for Constitutional Law at the University of NSW, and is Pro Vice Chancellor (Indigenous) at UNSW. She is also an Acting Commissioner of the NSW Land and Environment Court and a member of the NSW Sentencing Council.

Professor Davis has extensive experience as an international lawyer at the UN. She has served as an expert member of the UN Human Rights Council’s Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, based in Geneva, and served for six years (2011-2016) as an expert and chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. As an expert member of the UN Permanent Forum, Professor Davis was the focal point for UN Women and UN AIDS. During this period of UN service, Professor Davis was the Rapporteur of the UN Expert Group Meeting on an Optional Protocol to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2015, the Rapporteur of the UN Expert Group Meeting on Combating violence against Indigenous Women and Girls in 2011, and the UN Rapporteur for the International Expert Group Meeting on Indigenous Youth in 2012. Of particular relevance to her role in relation to the Voice, Professor Davis participated in the drafting of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples from 1999-2004.

Professor Davis is also a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences. She was Director of the Indigenous Law Centre, UNSW Law, from 2006-2016.

Professor Davis’ research focuses on constitutional design, democratic theory, and Indigenous Peoples. She has been the leading constitutional lawyer working on Indigenous constitutional reform since 2011. In 2011, Professor Davis was appointed to the Prime Minister's Expert Panel on the Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in the Constitution. In 2015, she was appointed by the Prime Minister to the Referendum Council. As the leading constitutional lawyer for the Uluru Statement, Professor Davis designed the deliberative constitutional dialogue process, which involved 13 regional dialogues and a national convention. This process was a significant response to the exclusion of Indigenous Peoples from the original process that led to the drafting of the Australian Constitution. The process involved engagement through dialogue with over 1200 delegates, who were appointed on behalf of their First Nations, and was the most proportionally significant consultation with Indigenous Peoples ever undertaken (involving broader proportional consultation than that undertaken for the Australian Constitution in the 1890s). The process also involved a 6 month call for public submissions in 2015-2016. This consultation process resulted in the adoption of a framework called “Voice, Treaty, Truth”. In the words of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, that was read aloud, on behalf of Australia’s Indigenous Peoples, by Professor Davis at Uluru in 2017: “We call for the establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution. Makarrata is the culmination of our agenda: the coming together after a struggle. It captures our aspirations for a fair and truthful relationship with the people of Australia and a better future for our children based on justice and self-determination. We seek a Makarrata Commission to supervise a process of agreement-making between governments and First Nations and truth-telling about our history.”

Professor Davis was named in the 2017 Australian Financial Review annual power list and was awarded the overall winner in 2018’s Women of Influence. She was ranked number 7 on the Cultural power list for her work on constitutional reform and delivering the Uluru Statement from the Heart. Professor Davis has also been the 2010 NAIDOC Scholar of the Year, and was one of the Australian Financial Review and Westpac's 100 Women of Influence in Australia in 2013 and 2016. Professor Davis’ other awards include: the National Australia Bank/Women's Agenda Inspirational Ambassador Award in 2013; the UQ Alumni Award for services to the UN and constitutional reform in 2014; the 58th ES Meyers Memorial Medal in 2015; the Duchesne College, UQ Acorn Award in 2015; and the United Nations Association of Australia QLD UN Award in 2017. In 2021, Professor Davis was awarded the Degree of Doctor of Laws honoris causa by UQ in recognition of her exceptional achievements in supporting Indigenous Peoples through legal frameworks and advocacy. She delivered the Mabo Orations in 2021 and 2023.

Professor Davis is an Australian Rugby League Commissioner and supports the Queensland Maroons and the North Queensland Cowboys (although she has indicated that she also supports all of the other Queensland NRL teams).

Photos: Professor Megan Davis, Aunty Pat Anderson AO and Noel Pearson Credit: Indigenous Law Centre.