A PROMINENT indigenous leader, well known and educated in Canberra, has been identified as the victim of a fatal stabbing in Townsville.

He was 39-year-old Bruce Martin, a former member of the Prime Minister’s Indigenous Advisory Council. Mr Martin was educated at Canberra Grammar School and spent his holidays learning language up north. He had been expected to be one of the great emerging Aboriginal leaders.

He is the son of former ANU anthropological research fellow Dave Martin and Dorothy Pootchemunka, a senior Wik woman from Aurukun, an indigenous community in western Cape York, in far-north Queensland. His father spent more than eight years living and working in Aurukun from the mid-1970s. His parents separated when he was five.

“I was told I was the first indigenous student to ever attend Canberra Grammar, so I was definitely seen as Aboriginal,” he told ABC News in 2018.

“It was only once I realised I had a firm foot in both camps that I really felt comfortable in my own skin.

“I’m very, very proudly a Wik man, and that also includes being very, very proud of my father’s heritage as well.”

Bruce Martin was a Wik traditional owner, Aurukun, Cape York. Bilingual and bicultural, he had a first language of Wik Mungkan, the major Aboriginal language of Aurukun, and had studied both French and German.

He was a director of the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation for nearly eight years and managing director of the Regional Development Corporation since 2014.

Queensland police believe Bruce Martin was stabbed to death in a dispute over money during a night of drinking.

AAP reports that police were called to a home in the suburb of Railway Estate just before 5am on Wednesday after reports of a stabbing. Despite the efforts of police and paramedics, Mr Martin died at the scene.

Police do not believe the attack was random and the victim might have been stabbed during a dispute over money after a night of drinking.

“At this stage, it’s looking like the suspects or people responsible will be known to the victim,” Det-Insp Jason Shepherd said on Wednesday.

“They’ve attended the address… there’s been some sort of altercation between them and the victim and as a result of that, the victim has been stabbed and is now deceased.

“The argument does appear to have been over money that may have been owed.”

He said the victim was visiting the home and knew the people who lived there.

The weapon is yet to be recovered.

Police have canvassed neighbours and appealed for security video as they piece together a timeline leading up to the stabbing.

Woman charged with Bruce Martin murder