Noel Olive was born during the depression years, into a family with strong views on social equality. During his early years he worked as an apprentice electrician and then as a drover in the pastoral industry where he witnessed first-hand the government policy of removing Aboriginal children from their families. After working in heavy industry he became a union delegate, later retraining and qualifying as a lawyer in 1982.
He has represented Aboriginal families before the Royal Commission into Aboriginal deaths in Custody and has also worked closely with the Aboriginal people of the Pilbara region in Western Australia. Olive compiled Karijini Mirlimirli : The Life Stories of an Aboriginal Community (1997) about the survival of Aboriginal people of the West Pilbara.
