Kevin Williams was born in Longreach but grew up 'in the bush' because his father was working on cattle and sheep stations as a stockman and fencer, while his mother was a domestic.

He says his parents wanted their children to get an education. As his father put it: "so that you will not be a slave like me".

Kevin Williams

"My parents had minimal education so for me to go to high school was a great achievement in their eyes," Kevin says.

Encouraged by friends who had undertaken tertiary studies, Kevin enrolled for a Bachelor of Arts degree in Rockhampton. In 1988, he was believed to be the first Indigenous male graduate of the Capricornia Institute of Advanced Education - now known as CQUniversity.

Using his BA as a springboard, Kevin completed an undergraduate law degree at the University of New South Wales in 1995 and, after being awarded the Lionel Murphy Scholarship in 2000, he completed his Master of Laws in 2001.

Kevin was instrumental in setting up the UNSW Indigenous pre-law program in 1994 (UNSW has since modelled Indigenous-specific courses in medicine, architecture and commerce on the pre-law program) and then went on to teach law at Southern Cross University and the University of Newcastle.

"By teaching subjects such as Native Title, Indigenous Issues and the Law, as well as core law subjects from an Indigenous perspective, I believe I have made a small contribution to reconciliation by exposing both Indigenous and non-Indigenous students to knowledge that they may never otherwise have acquired," he says.

In 1998, Kevin convinced members of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) that the Native Title Amendment Act was in breach of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. This  led to the UN taking the Howard government to task about the amendments.

Kevin says the respect shown and appreciation expressed by his students, over the years, has made his work all the more enjoyable and rewarding.

"I have never lost my thirst for knowledge and am now about to embark on a PhD."

Though three decades have passed since he was at Rockhampton Campus, Kevin recalls certain memorable lecturers including Dr Frances Killion who taught community studies, and Dr David Carment who taught history.

"I was a keynote speaker at a conference in London in 2000; my CIAE history lecturer Dr David Carment was in the audience," he says.

Kevin currently runs a consultancy (Williams Legal) and is writing his PhD proposal on Aborigines and the legal system. He lives on the Sunshine Coast with his wife Kim and daughter Ruby and finds time to be an artist (with one of his works featuring on the cover of a Sydney Powerhouse Museum exhibition book)