2024 First Nations Scholarship recipient Jarrara Atkinson wanted to see more Aboriginal people in the legal system. His ACAP Practical Legal Training helped him get there.
When ACAP University College graduate and First Nations Scholarship recipient Jarrara Atkinson enrolled in law, he wasn’t just thinking of his own future career; he was thinking of his community.
“Growing up seeing the inequalities Aboriginal people face in the legal system and having family that were impacted by that, I really decided that I wanted to fight for mob,” he said.
"Once I joined the criminal court, seeing all the amazing advocate work that is done for Aboriginal people really inspired me."
Jarrara grew up in a small town of 150 people near Echuca on the NSW and Victorian border.
He said, unfortunately, he experienced the inequalities of the legal system as an Aboriginal person firsthand.
“Aunty Tanya Day was a relation to ours who also grew up in Echuca and she had died in custody, and I had another cousin who had also passed away in custody as well,” he said.
Ms Day’s death in custody attracted media attention at the time, and in 2020 was found by a Victorian Coroner to have been “preventable”. It has been referred for further investigation.
Jarrara also saw his parents disadvantaged by the system. His mother contracted golden staph in hospital, after which she was never able to work again. Although she wanted to sue the medical system over the incident, she didn’t have the money to pursue legal action. His father was also unable to work following a workplace injury.
“So, there’s obviously been a whole bunch of reasons that had led me to join the legal profession,” Jarrara said.
In 2024, Jarrara was selected by the Law Institute of Victoria and ACAP as their first, First Nations Scholarship recipient for the Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice (GDLP) jointly delivered by the two organisations.
Not only was his work as a paralegal for various legal services a deciding factor in his selection, but also his general community-mindedness as a volunteer firefighter.
Jarrara said the scholarship took a great financial burden off his shoulders. "The majority of what I did through my undergraduate was just trying to survive the hustle and bustle - living out of home and trying to rent, especially during the cost-of-living crisis."
Fighting for Representation
Jarrara now works as a judge’s associate in the Koori Court of Victoria, where he helps bring the Aboriginal cultural perspective to a sector where First Nations people are critically underrepresented in the workforce.
Less than one per cent of Victorian lawyers identify as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, a statistic Jarrara has noticed clearly in his studies and legal career.
“It was quite fascinating when I attended uni for my undergraduate, there were four or five Aboriginal people who were also studying law and then in the end, only two of us ended up graduating,” he said.
“Seeing that low rate of Aboriginal people pursuing law is really quite difficult, whether there’s just not the support there should be or something else.”
He said increasing the number of Aboriginal people working in the judicial system is important.
“The fact that there’s only two Aboriginal magistrates within Victoria, that representation is quite crazy,” he said.
“The Aboriginal people that do come through make an incredible difference to the justice system, having that representation for mob. They already understand the disadvantages and the issues the client faces; they have an insider perspective as opposed to someone who might not have that understanding.”
He said ACAP’s flexible online delivery allowed him to continue to work while he studied to become a lawyer.
“One huge benefit for me with trying to work and completing a full-time study load was the online course; rather than having to try and find time to take work off, to try and attend in-person which some other courses required, I could study in my own time,” he said.
Jarrara said he would encourage any young Aboriginal student to pursue law and to apply for the 2025 First Nations Scholarship through ACAP.
“Being a First Nations person who has had the support both financially and then along the way from ACAP’s course director, Desi Vlahos has been a tremendous assistance and I would encourage anyone who does have the opportunity to definitely undertake it if they can.”
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