Megan Davis and Kishaya Delaney on the importance of the Uluru Statement from the Heart

The advocate

Megan Davis
Chair of constitutional law at UNSW Sydney

Generation next

Kishaya Delaney
Pro-bono solicitor

“I’ve been an international human rights lawyer for 20 years,” says Professor Megan Davis. “The hard work is the stuff that no-one wants to do. It’s not the glamorous influencer stuff; it’s the work that nobody ever sees. That’s what Kishaya does. And she’s executed it in such an impressive way.”

For nearly three years, Wiradjuri woman Kishaya Delaney and Davis, a Cobble Cobble woman, have worked together on the Towards Truth project, a database driven by the Indigenous Law Centre at UNSW Sydney and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, that maps the historical impact of law on the lives of First Nations people (truth-telling on First Nations history is one of the tenets of the Uluru Statement from the Heart). “This project looks at the way in which the law has endorsed draconian policies that have subjugated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people,” says Davis. “Kishaya’s led this piece of work.”

Delaney, who previously held the role of project officer for Towards Truth, now coordinates the support that law firm Herbert Smith Freehills provides the project in her role there as pro bono solicitor. “Being able to understand the huge breadth of the database and just how much First Nations lives have been legislated will help people understand why a Voice [to Parliament] is so important,” she says. Also a member of the Uluru Youth Dialogue, the Sydney-based Delaney adds, “Truth and storytelling for a lot of First Nations people is so crucial for healing.”

While Delaney’s commitment to advocacy has become her career focus in recent years – and allowed her to work with Davis, who, she says, “has made such a difference in Australia and on the world stage” – a purpose-driven vocation always called, with Delaney initially considering teaching or medicine. But pivotal childhood experiences, including the loss of a brother when she was nine and wanting to explore her Aboriginal heritage, ultimately steered her to where she is today.

“I knew I wanted to do something that would be impactful. When I was growing up, my nan didn’t really talk about or understand her Aboriginal heritage. A lot of the work that I do now probably came from my desire to understand things, to write and make sense of it.”

Now, she says, it’s exciting to be standing on the precipice of “the biggest shift” Australia has seen in decades, when it comes to First Nations-related policies. “I think there’s going to be real momentum once this referendum gets up. And I think the generation [that follows us] will keep carrying it forward.”

“Kishaya makes me really proud of the next generation of human rights lawyers that devote their life to this kind of work,” says Davis. “Like Bridget and Allira [see page 50], she has allowed me to renew my emphasis on hope. They’re such brave, courageous young people stepping up in a space where so many won’t.”