The first Indigenous graduate in his family, Connor McGovern-Cubby is leaving Bond University with a law degree, a full-time job and an associateship in the Land Court waiting for him next year.
However, the Darling Downs product grew up in circumstances which could have hampered his path into higher education.
His three younger siblings spent years in foster and residential care, moving through more than 100 different homes and eventually becoming involved with the youth justice and justice systems.
Seeing first-hand how the legal system could shape the lives of First Nations families was a reason Mr McGovern-Cubby decided to study law.
But it was not how he wanted his story defined.
“I don’t want my story to come off as, you know, I’m from a deficit point of view,” he said.
“These are very real issues within my community, but it’s not my entire story.
“Yes, I do come from somewhat of a disadvantaged background, but against all those odds, I’ve had a lot of support.”
That support has come from many places: his family, mentors, scholarships, the Yalari Foundation, Bond’s Nyombil Centre and, eventually, a growing network of people within the legal profession who helped him believe he belonged there.
Mr McGovern-Cubby grew up in Dalby, the son of a Kamilaroi mother from Mungindi in northern New South Wales and a non-Indigenous father from Dalby.
His parents separated before he was born, but his father and paternal grandparents made sure he remained connected to his mother’s family.
He received a Rosemary Bishop Indigenous Education Scholarship through Yalari, which enabled him to attend Anglican Church Grammar School in Brisbane.
It was there that the possibility of university first opened up.
He has returned to “Churchie” to speak to Indigenous students, sharing his journey from Dalby to boarding school and eventually Bond.
At Bond, an Indigenous scholarship through the Nyombil Centre provided another important source of support as Mr McGovern-Cubby embarked on a Bachelor of Laws.
He arrived without family members in the legal profession and with little idea of where a law degree might take him.
Initially, he was not even sure becoming a lawyer was for him.
And there was another problem.
To pay for his accommodation, Mr McGovern-Cubby was working more than 40 hours a week in hospitality. The workload took its toll.
“I wasn’t getting great grades, and I didn’t feel confident to put myself out there,” he said.
For a while, he was simply trying to keep everything moving. Then he decided to take a chance.
He applied for the Queensland Bar Association’s Indigenous Law Students Program, which gave him the opportunity to spend a week in a Brisbane barrister’s chambers, a week with a Federal Court judge and a week in the Queensland Supreme Court.
He spent time with Justice Berna Collier, Chief Justice Helen Bowskill and District Court Judge Suzanne Sheridan, and watched a full criminal trial.
He then scored a clerk position at Higgins Chambers in Brisbane.
The confidence that followed showed in his academic results.
“I pretty much went from a passing student to now Distinctions, and I got one HD,” he said.
The reason, he believed, was not simply that he had reduced his hospitality hours and eventually left the job.
He had found a community of legal professionals who believed in him and encouraged him to succeed.
“I didn’t know anyone in the law,” he said.
“There’s a perception that it is a little bit of an inside club, but the reality is that’s not the case.
“There are amazing people who work in the law and are willing to help anyone, no matter what background they are from.”
That realisation shaped the way Mr McGovern-Cubby now approaches his own opportunities.
A clerkship at criminal defence firm Gilshenan & Luton led to a full-time role as a paralegal.
Next year, he will undertake an associateship in the Land Court.
He was still exploring where law might take him.
“Someone said to me, you do have to try everything,” he said.
“Give something a crack, whether you might find it interesting or not.”
At his graduation on 15 October, his family was there to celebrate: his father and stepmother, his older brother and sister, his younger siblings, his partner and his mother.
“It is a very special occasion because I’ve got all pieces of my family there to celebrate,” he said.
“I’m the first of my siblings to go to university and the first to graduate.”
Connor McGovern-Cubby arrived at Bond unsure of where a law degree might take him.
Now, with a career in law ahead of him, he’s ready to find out.
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