Paul Collis

Paul began his undergraduate communications degree in Newcastle in 1995 but went back to work after his second year.

Eight years later, while working in Alice Springs, he decided he would finish his degree before his credit expired. By the time he went back to Newcastle and reapplied his degree had been closed. He then applied to the University of Canberra where he completed his Bachelor of Communications in Multimedia in 2005 before being awarded a Creative Communications Honours degree

For the course he wrote a 14,000-word novella on the identity of an Aboriginal boy in his community and says it was the most liberating experience of his life.

Paul was the first Aboriginal student to achieve Honours at the University of Canberra and the first to win the Herbert Burton Medal, the University's most prestigious award.

He finished his PhD in 2016.

"I realise just how important my personal achievements are to my family, extended family, my home community of Bourke and to blackfellas in general. This has been my motivation and my driving force through the hard times...even when I wanted to throw it all to hell - I am more than Paul Collis, the individual. I am my parents hope. My grandparents joy. And I am a part of the magnificence of being Aboriginal in that I never walk alone. I am Barkindji."

Contact Paul on paul.collis@canberra.edu.au