Endings and beginnings

While working as a teacher on the NSW Central Coast, Teela Reid was selected by the Federal Government as Australia’s Female Indigenous Youth Delegate to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

For the young Wiradjuri and Wailwan woman from Gilgandra, it was another proud chapter in her family’s history of Indigenous activism and advocacy. But it also set her on a path that changed her life.

At that New York gathering Reid met Professor Megan Davis, Director of the Indigenous Law Centre at UNSW. “Megan sat me down and said to me if you are keen to pursue these ideas, you should consider doing law,” Reid recalls. “At that point I was like ‘There’s no way I’m moving to Sydney!’.”

But Davis’s words kept coming back to her and Reid eventually enrolled in the Juris Doctor (JD) law degree at UNSW. Reid will celebrate that decision when she dons her gown for her graduation ceremony on Wednesday, which is the final day for the outgoing Dean of Law, David Dixon.

Professor Dixon says the timing is no accident. “I wanted my final day to be that graduation ceremony because it marks the fact that, for me, dealing with the students has been the most enjoyable part of doing this job,” he says.

Reid says she was initially daunted by the prospect of studying law but enrolling in the UNSW JD course proved the best career choice she could have made.

“I was absolutely stoked when I found out I was in UNSW because it was the law school I wanted to get into. I knew it had a well-regarded reputation for not only its legal excellence but also for its support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. And I wanted to pursue a law degree with a social justice focus.”

Professor David Dixon: “I wanted my final day to be that graduation ceremony because it marks the fact that, for me, dealing with the students has been the most enjoyable part of doing this job.”

Reid was active within the Law School: she was elected as Vice-President (Social Justice) of the UNSW Law Society, founded the inaugural Mooting Competition of Australia’s First Peoples, served as a UNSW Indigenous Student Ambassador, and organised a cultural immersion project in Wiradjuri country to help UNSW Law students gain insights into issues facing Aboriginal Australians outside urban areas.

Dixon says Reid made a huge contribution to the life of the Law School. “She did that by being a role model for other Indigenous students and doing some very positive things, such as the First Peoples Moot,” he says. “We’ve had two of them now and it is just about the best event in the year for our school.”

Dixon also valued Reid’s insights on Indigenous issues. “I have learned a lot from her and it’s really influenced me, especially about the way in which we integrate Aboriginal perspectives into our teaching and the significance of the way in which we speak,” he says. “That might seem trivial to some people but it’s really important not just to Indigenous people but to everyone in recognising and changing priorities, values and perspectives.

“Most particularly, though, it was about making me realise the importance of using my position to make statements about important issues.”

He cites an article he wrote in response to media reports about UNSW’s Indigenous language guide. “I had an enormous response to that piece, and it was a product of Teela’s influence on me,” Dixon says.

The respect is mutual, and Reid says all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students enjoyed a good relationship with Dixon.

“He’s someone who not only listened to what Aboriginal students wanted and needed in a law school but he would take action when it was needed,” she says.

“I think that was what was special about him. You can have people in powerful positions who sometimes make decisions for us but he was someone who made decisions with us. I think that’s why he has gained so much respect from the whole Indigenous cohort.”

Following two years as a paralegal at Gilbert + Tobin, Reid is now working as tipstaff to Justice Lucy McCallum in the NSW Supreme Court.

“Working for a judge is something I never thought I would be capable of but now that I’m doing it, I see that you build confidence throughout all your experiences. It makes you realise ‘I do know something, I did learn this’.

“Before law school I never really thought it would be possible for me to be an advocate and be on my feet and represent clients but that’s what’s so exciting about this opportunity, being able to see it day in, day out. And it’s a great mentoring relationship, being able to work with someone so experienced.”

Reid credits the Law School’s networks within the legal profession with providing outstanding career and networking opportunities, in particular the NSW Indigenous Barristers Trust which has provided ongoing support throughout her degree and connected Reid with a barrister mentor and Public Defender, Sophia Beckett.

“I was honestly at a point in my degree where I really wanted to quit. One of my peers suggested I should sign up for a barrister mentor because she worked at the Bar as a paralegal. I hesitated for ages, but it has truly been the most rewarding experience and really shaped my confidence,” she says.

Teela Reid with Tony McAvoy SC, Justice Lucy McCallum and NSW Premier Mike Baird at the launch of the Friends of Reconciliation group at State Parliament.

Reid has continued her advocacy, recently contributing an essay to the book It’s Our Country: Indigenous Arguments for Meaningful Constitutional Recognition and Reform. The book, edited by Professor Davis and Professor Marcia Langton, is a collection of essays by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander thinkers and leaders including Patrick Dodson, Noel Pearson, Dawn Casey, Nyunggai Warren Mundine and Mick Mansell. 

In March Reid addressed NSW Parliament at the launch of the Friends of Reconciliation group.

“At the beginning I thought it was just another speech to a bunch of politicians and that’s sometimes not necessarily the most exciting thing. I didn’t realise the kind of people who would actually be there,” she says.

The audience included Premier Mike Baird, NSW Governor David Hurley and senior MPs. But what made the event special was the presence of Aboriginal elders from across NSW.

Reid took the opportunity to present an honest message, devoid of any sugar coating.

“Despite much progress and effort, parliament still hasn’t been able to produce outcomes to increase life expectancy for Aboriginal people, improve health or reduce the high rates of incarceration over so many years,” she says.

She also called for a treaty and stressed that reconciliation is really about redefining the relationship between the State and Indigenous people.

“When I got to that point in my speech, the elders really acknowledged it, noting that’s the direction we need to go. That feedback from the elders was extremely special and really validated all the hard work I did in my JD,” Reid says.

“Now I can say I’m actually really proud of myself for having come through that because it’s not an easy three years. But UNSW is definitely what made it special.”