Robbie Williams (Indigenous Australian)

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Robbie Williams (died December 20, 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. Previously Williams had 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 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 three children. He died of a heart attack at the age of 45 on December 20, 2007.

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