A highly respected Senior Yorta Yorta and Dja Dja Wurrung Elder and Traditional Owner, Professor Atkinson brings more than 50 years’ experience in land justice, cultural heritage, human rights and Indigenous Studies.
Professor Lorne Neudorf, Dean of La Trobe Law School, said: “Professor Atkinson’s appointment is a significant milestone for La Trobe Law School. He brings decades of leadership and experience that will inform how we think more broadly about law, justice and our engagement with community. We are delighted to welcome such a distinguished Indigenous leader and look forward to his contributions to teaching, research and our broader work with First Nations communities.”
Professor Atkinson holds a PhD from La Trobe University focused on the Yorta Yorta struggle for land justice and developed and delivered the innovative On Country Learning: Indigenous Studies program at the University of Melbourne.
He is also the author of Beyond the Meeting of the Waters: A Yorta Yorta Life Story, published in 2025 by Melbourne University Publishing.
Professor Atkinson’s appointment reflects his outstanding scholarly and community leadership and will enrich teaching, research and engagement across the Law School.
“I accept this appointment to La Trobe Law School and La Trobe University with deep gratitude. For more than fifty years, my life’s work has been grounded in the Yorta Yorta struggle for land justice, recognition, and self‑determination. This history has been lived on Country, carried through families and communities, articulated within legal and political institutions, and taught across generations. The academy has been a vital place where this work has continued, in consultation with community aspirations."
"My return to La Trobe is therefore deeply significant. This University is my academic home. It is where I completed my undergraduate and postgraduate studies, and where important foundations for my later work were laid. To return here now is both a personal and cultural return, and a continuation of responsibilities that extend well beyond the University.”
