Doctoral graduate Virginia Marshall has today become the first Indigenous woman to gain a PhD in law from Macquarie University, on her thesis ‘A web of Aboriginal water rights: Examining the competing Aboriginal claim for water property rights and interests in Australia’ .
Gaining her doctorate marks the end of a long journey for Marshall who left school after completing year 10 and pursued a professional music career as an opera singer, both in Australia and Europe. Following the birth of her fourth child, Marshall decided she needed to find a new career and saw tertiary studies as providing the key.
“Completing a certificate four at TAFE College gave me entry into university, where my thirst for academic success saw me complete six degrees in five and a half years, through five universities - UOW, UNE, UNSW, CSU and ANU.”
Marshall combined these studies with work as an Aboriginal discovery ranger, as a casual lecturer in Aboriginal studies, as a lecturer at the police academy, and as a legal aid lawyer.
After completing her Law Masters at ANU, Marshall gained entry as a doctoral candidate at the Macquarie Law School. But unlike younger students with few distractions, she had to fit her doctoral research around work, raising a family – for the most part as a single mother – and dealing with a string of other challenges.
Her work during the course of her doctorate spanned the role of Executive Office for the NSW Aboriginal Water Trust, as a Senior Research Fellow for remote Aboriginal communities in the Kimberley, as a Senior Legal Officer for the Australian Law Reform Commission and as a sole practitioner running a law practice specialising in Intellectual Property and Aboriginal TK.
In addition to serving on several NSW Law Society committees, designing and teaching CLE courses at the Law Society, serving as a magistrate for the mock trial competitions, serving on several corporate, government and academic advisory committees, Marshall also found the time to get married.
“I don’t intend to rest on my laurels,” says Marshall. “I am looking to publish my thesis as a research textbook, investigating post-doctoral research or study and considering a range of career options both in Australia and overseas.”
“What drives me is a passion for social justice and a desire to see Aboriginal people in Australia gain legal recognition for their water rights and interests. I am intent on challenging the prevailing legal and institutional paradigms, and now have the weight of my quite substantial doctoral thesis to back me up.”
Gaining her doctorate marks the end of a long journey for Marshall who left school after completing year 10 and pursued a professional music career as an opera singer, both in Australia and Europe. Following the birth of her fourth child, Marshall decided she needed to find a new career and saw tertiary studies as providing the key.
“Completing a certificate four at TAFE College gave me entry into university, where my thirst for academic success saw me complete six degrees in five and a half years, through five universities - UOW, UNE, UNSW, CSU and ANU.”
Marshall combined these studies with work as an Aboriginal discovery ranger, as a casual lecturer in Aboriginal studies, as a lecturer at the police academy, and as a legal aid lawyer.
After completing her Law Masters at ANU, Marshall gained entry as a doctoral candidate at the Macquarie Law School. But unlike younger students with few distractions, she had to fit her doctoral research around work, raising a family – for the most part as a single mother – and dealing with a string of other challenges.
Her work during the course of her doctorate spanned the role of Executive Office for the NSW Aboriginal Water Trust, as a Senior Research Fellow for remote Aboriginal communities in the Kimberley, as a Senior Legal Officer for the Australian Law Reform Commission and as a sole practitioner running a law practice specialising in Intellectual Property and Aboriginal TK.
In addition to serving on several NSW Law Society committees, designing and teaching CLE courses at the Law Society, serving as a magistrate for the mock trial competitions, serving on several corporate, government and academic advisory committees, Marshall also found the time to get married.
“I don’t intend to rest on my laurels,” says Marshall. “I am looking to publish my thesis as a research textbook, investigating post-doctoral research or study and considering a range of career options both in Australia and overseas.”
“What drives me is a passion for social justice and a desire to see Aboriginal people in Australia gain legal recognition for their water rights and interests. I am intent on challenging the prevailing legal and institutional paradigms, and now have the weight of my quite substantial doctoral thesis to back me up.”
