Hawker Scholar, Michael Jones has won one of three Rhodes Scholarships for Australia-At-Large to complete postgraduate study at the University of Oxford in 2011.
Each year, the Rhodes Trust awards three Australia-At-Large scholarships in addition to those offered in each of the six Australian States.
Michael will travel to the UK in September 2011 to study politics and political theory at Masters level.
Michael was awarded a Hawker Scholarship in 2006. He studied Bachelor of Arts/Law at ANU and resided at Burgmann College. He completed his honours in law in 2010.
Michael completed his secondary education at Knox Grammar School in 2004 with a UAI of 98.9 and commenced his tertiary studies in 2005 at ANU.
Michael was Knox School Captain in 2004 and was an outstanding student in both the classroom and on the sporting field.
He was capable of balancing his academic work with his other school commitments, including his duties as School Captain, Second-In-Command of the school’s cadet unit and his participation in debating, public speaking and mock trials to highlight just a few of his many achievements.
Long time Dean of Studies at Knox Grammar School Mr. Philip Cummins says of Michael that 'he is probably the finest of the young men with whom I have worked in my career. No reference can do justice to this superb person of outstanding character, quality, values and ability. He is a young man of prodigious and precocious substance who is universally respected and popular. Mentoring Michael has been a rare privilege.’
Michael is honoured to have been awarded a Rhodes Scholarship.
“For me, the Rhodes Scholarship means the opportunity to study at Oxford, and becoming a member of an international community of public spirited scholars,” he said.
“Beyond the exciting opportunity of studying at Oxford, I hope that the Rhodes Scholarship might assist me in furthering the community work I have done with Indigenous communities in the Gulf of Carpentaria
“At Oxford I aim to get an international perspective on issues I have studied within the context of Indigenous affairs in Australia.
“My hope is to return and usefully apply this international perspective in Australia,” he said.
Michael is the fourth C.A.S. Hawker Scholar to be awarded a Rhodes Scholarship in recent years. Previous recipients are Rachel Buxton, Anthony Roediger, and Phillip Killicoat.
The Trustees and C.A.S. Hawker Scholarship fraternity warmly congratulate Michael for his ongoing and deserved recognition and wish him every future success.
Michael Jones is the fourth C.A.S. Hawker Scholar to be awarded a Rhodes Scholarship. Michael (middle back) is congratulated by other Hawker Scholars following the presentation of the 2011 Scholarships in Canberra.