Eve Fesl is a member of the Gubbi Gubbi clan (maternal) and the Gangulu clan (paternal). She grew up on a sheep station in south-west Queensland. Although Fesl dropped out of education in primary school she went on to become the first Indigenous Australian to receive a PhD from an Australian university (in 1989). She also holds an honours degree in anthropology and a graduate diploma in international law
A champion athlete, she represented Queensland, Victoria and Australia in discus and sprinting.
Fesl has served as a lecturer in the Oodgeroo Unit, Queensland University of Technology; the Director of the Aboriginal Research Centre, Monash University; Senior Lecturer at the Gippsland Institute of Advanced Education; Associate Professor at Griffith University. Her field of expertise is in providing Indigenous language education programmes to Indigenous school children.
Fesl has also been a strong advocate for land rights, especially in regards to the proposed Traveston Dam.
