The John Koowarta Reconciliation Law Scholarship is available to penultimate and final year Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander law students enrolled in an Australian tertiary institution undertaking an approved course of study that may lead to admission as a legal practitioner in any Australian jurisdiction. The Scholarship is designed to enhance the potential of, and assist, an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student to enter the legal profession.
The Scholarship commemorates John Koowarta, a member of the Winychanam community at Aurukun and a traditional owner of the Archer River region on Cape York Peninsula in Queensland. Mr Koowarta is widely regarded as being at the forefront of Aboriginal land rights in Australia during the late 1970s and early 1980s. He is today revered as one of the most important figures in the progression of Native Title rights for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.