Patrick Dodson

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For the baseball player, see Pat Dodson (baseball player).

Patrick Dodson (b. 1947) is a Yawuru man from Broome, Western Australia, he is a former Chairman of the "Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation", a former Commissioner into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and former Roman Catholic priest. His brother is Mick Dodson, also a national Indigenous Australian leader.

The Dodson children were orphaned at the death of their father in 1960. He and his brother Mick were made wards of the state, but their sisters decided they should accept a scholarship to study at Monivae College in Hamilton, Victoria.

He lives in Broome where he is also involved in matters relating to the preservation and enhancement of indigenous rights and culture.

Currently Patrick Dodson works as a consultant, advising government, industry and community groups: he is

Chairperson, Kimberley Development Commission (his term expires in November 2010)^[1]
Chairman of the Lingiari Foundation, an Indigenous non government advocacy and research Foundation.

Past roles and activities include:

former Director of the Central Land Council and the Kimberley Land Council
Commissioner into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, 1989
Chairman of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation (1991-1997) (This body was replaced by Reconciliation Australia). He retired stating "I fear for the spirit of this country".
he was the first Indigenous Australian Roman Catholic priest, reasons for leaving the priesthood in the early 1980s included Dodson's understanding that traditional Aboriginal ceremonies and Christianity can be reconciled and his rejection of clergy celibacy.