Robbie Williams | |
---|---|
Councillor of the
City of Brisbane for Holland Park Ward | |
In office October 2007 – 20 December 2007 | |
Preceded by | Kerry Rea |
Succeeded by | Ian McKenzie |
Personal details | |
Born | 12 June 1962 |
Died | 20 December 2007 | (aged 45)
Political party | Labor |
Robbie Williams (12 June 1962 – 20 December 2007) was the first Indigenous Australian councillor to sit on the Brisbane City Council. [1] He had held the role only since October 2007, but had been tipped to win a seat in the council elections in March 2008. Williams had previously served three terms as a regional councillor with ATSIC and was later the ATSIC commissioner for Brisbane and southeast Queensland. He was widely known for his community work, [2] and was the founder and chair of First Contact Aboriginal Corporation for Youth, an organisation dedicated to improving the lives of indigenous youth, in 1992. [3]
Williams was the son of Hazel, an Aboriginal woman with connections to the Yugambeh language group, and his father was Bob Williams, a butcher. He trained and worked as a butcher for several years before gaining a diploma in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander welfare and joining the Australian Public Service, working in the Department of Social Security. [4]
He was married to Trish and had four children. He died of a heart attack at the age of 45 on 20 December 2007.