Humble self-confidence, service leadership and intrinsic motivation: these are the common strengths among a trio of recently named Rhodes Scholars produced in Canberra.
Those three traits for Australian National University graduates Lauren Skinner, Madeleine McGregor and Yasmin Poole - named among the 2022 recipients of the prestigious scholarship to study at Oxford University - drive their beliefs that one person can help address injustice, inequality and other societal ills.
Ms Skinner, the South Australian scholar, completed law and arts degrees and is the first in her family to attend university.
She says she moved to Canberra with "zero intention of being a lawyer" and it was not until her final year that she considered law as a career.
She secured an Aurora Education Foundation internship that led her to the NT where she worked at that government's Aboriginal Justice Unit.
Working alongside the unit's director and Central Arrernte woman Leanne Liddle, who is also this year's NT Australian of the Year, among others formed a major part of her learning.
"It was her life and her experiences of racism and the experiences that her family had gone through," Ms Skinner says.
"A big issue we've got is that we talk about Indigenous justice and concerns, but many haven't actually sat down and spoken with an Indigenous Australian about these kinds of issues and heard their perspectives," Ms Skinner says.
Data by the Australian Law Reform Commission shows that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults constitute 27 per cent of the national prison population, despite being only two per cent of the national population.
Following her experience in the NT, she secured a role at the Aboriginal Legal Service in Canberra and represented clients in the territory's Galambany Court, which involves community Elders and focuses on restorative and healing processes.
"There are so many issues to look at in society, but I think one of the most pressing one is the criminal justice system, particularly the way the system treats Indigenous Australians and other minorities," she says.
"The social economic divide in terms of the criminal justice system is really quite concerning and terrifying."
She says that, while "I'm so new to the area and I recognise I'm still very junior in this space", based on her experience both as a student and as a practitioner so far, she believes there appears "to be this disconnect between government, academia and practice".
Ms Skinner will use the scholarship to study comparative social policy and aims to work in law reform in the long term.
She also has passion for human rights and diversity matters.
Her pursuit to make worthwhile changes is connected to her sense of giving back the opportunities she has been given and her parents fostering Indigenous children when she was young.
"That also gave me more of a perspective in terms of having these kids in my life and as part of our family," she says.
"For me, it all comes back to so much gratitude for the life I've had."
Law 'an incredibly powerful tool for social change'
Fellow scholar Madeleine McGregor finished her double degree in law and economics last summer and is the Tasmanian Rhodes Scholar.
Growing up in the Apple Isle, she never saw herself studying or working in law.
"It wasn't until my second year of uni that I realised that law wasn't just reading terms and conditions ... I didn't have any exposure to law before coming to university and then I realised that law can be an incredibly powerful tool for social change and social justice," she says.
Ms McGregor spent time in the Kimberley working with the Aboriginal Legal Service and saw first hand the influence and limitation of the law.
"That was really quite a clear example of the ways in which law can serve a particular individual but can also be incredibly limiting and at times unjust for a particular individual," she says.
She will be taking a holiday before studying law and public policy at Oxford with a focus on human rights.
"The end goal is always to return to Australia and to focus on the big human rights issues that persist here with our Indigenous people and our treatment of refugees, for instance," Ms McGregor says.
When she is not studying or working, she spends her time trail running, mountaineering and hiking.
"I think it's very Tasmania and having grown up with such beautiful national parks, that's something that I've always done," she says.
"I then carried on and enjoyed the national parks in the ACT and NSW and I'm really looking forward to what sort of greater Oxford area has to offer as well."
Mother inspires bid for 'truly inclusive public policies'
When prominent young leader Yasmin Poole received the news she was named a Rhodes Australia-at-Large Scholar, it was a life-changing and surreal moment.
"Just having that opportunity and that responsibility to represent Australia overseas and really change things as well isn't lost on me," Ms Poole says.
She completed law and international relations degrees and will be enrolled in Oxford degrees related to public policy and gender and sexuality studies.
"I'm looking at intersectional public policy because growing up as the daughter of a migrant woman, I saw how things like class, race and gender played a really big part of my life," she says.
"My mother is a big foundation of why I care and why I'm passionate about creating systems that support diverse women because I saw just how hard she worked to provide for our family.
"We, as a society, could have done better to support women like her."
Ms Poole says other female leaders, including Greta Thunberg, and movements such as the Women's March 4 Justice last year meant "now is a more important time than ever to speak up and change things".
"That includes changing our systems," she says.
"What I really want to do is to go there and to learn about how we can create truly inclusive public policies."
Her advice to others is to be back themselves.
"Growing up, I never saw myself in these spaces," she says.
"I'm an Asian Australian woman and I grew up with little money. Often it felt like asking myself 'do I have a place?'
"It starts by saying 'yes, I do'."
The trio will be heading to Oxford in the second half of this year to start their studies in October.
