Megan Davis is a Cobble Cobble woman from Southeast Queensland. From an early age Davis developed an interest in politics, the Australian Constitution and international law. Encouraged by her mother Dawn, Davis read a biography of Sir John Kerr in her final year of primary school and grew up with a poster of the United Nations General Assembly on her bedroom wall. At high school during the years when Paul Keating was prime minister of Australia (1991-1996), she was inspired by his focus on the 'big picture' issues, such as the republic, the welfare state and Indigenous issues.

Megan Davis - Big picture issues

Davis studied at the University of Queensland, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws in 1999. During this time Davis was a Legal Researcher with the Foundation for Aboriginal and Islander Research Action and a Legal Cadet at the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC). In 1998, while still a student, Davis was a delegate for the Foundation for Aboriginal and Islander Research Action at the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations and the World Intellectual Property Organisation Roundtable on Intellectual Property and Indigenous Peoples.

Megan Davis - Experience in the United Nations 1

Megan Davis - Experience in the United Nations 2

Davis has achieved a number of 'firsts' in her legal career. In 1999, she was the first Indigenous Australian to win a United Nations Indigenous Fellowship in the United Nations Office for Human Rights, based in Geneva. She helped draft the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). In 2000, on her return to Australia, she continued her commitment to the creation of UNDRIP in working groups to further the draft of the Declaration, which was completed in 2005 and which the United Nations General Assembly adopted in 2007.

Megan Davis - Contributions to UNDRIP 1

In 2006, she became the first female Director of the Indigenous Law Centre (ILC) and Senior lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the University of New South Wales.

In 2010 she became the first Indigenous Australian woman to be elected to a United Nations body, the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) and in 2015 was elected its Chair.

In 2016 she was the first female co-chair of the Ethics Committee of the Congress of First Peoples, which replaced ATSIC, after it was abolished in 2005.

In 2017, the United Nations Human Rights Council elected Davis to the Human Rights Council's Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNEMRIP), based in Geneva.

In 2017 she read out the Uluru Statement from the Heart at the completion of the National Constitutional Convention. Together with Auntie Pat Anderson she led the Constitutional Dialogue process over two years, and she has stated she is very proud of the consensus struck and the legal work undertaken to prepare people for the dialogue. (See Voice, treaty, truth - Q&A with Professor Megan Davis)

In 2023, Professor Megan Davis is Pro Vice-Chancellor Indigenous UNSW and a Professor of Law, UNSW Law. She holds the Balnaves Chair for Constitutional Law and is an Acting Commissioner of the NSW Land and Environment Court.

Megan Davis - Faith in the law

She is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences. She is a member of the NSW Sentencing Council and an Australian Rugby League Commissioner.

She has been active in advocating for change in the Australian constitution to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples through a Voice to Parliament.

Megan Davis was interviewed in 2011 by Kim Rubenstein for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.

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