Austin was born in 1938 under a gumtree at Framlingham Aboriginal Reserve as the son of Ella Clark and Cyril Austin.[2] He had eleven siblings.[6]
He moved to the inner-Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy in the 1950s where met Patricia Prior, whom he raised two children with.[6] He participated in Australian rules football and boxing, while also working as a boilermaker and having a job laying tramway track.[6]
Austin founded the Melbourne Aboriginal Youth Sport and Recreation Co-operative (MAYSAR), an Aboriginal youth sport centre and boxing gym, in 1982.[2][7][8]
In the 1970s, Austin became associated with the newly-formed Fitzroy Stars Football Club, a football club run by Indigenous Australians.[9] He introduced the club's first junior team in 1978.[10] After the Northern Metropolitan Football League – which the Stars were competing in, disbanded in 1980 – Austin was a driving force in the club staying afloat.[10]
When the YCW Football League (YCWFL) folded in 1986, the Stars applied for entry in 36 local competitions, but received rejections from every single one.[10] As a result, Austin (who was also serving as club administrator) formed the Melbourne North Football League (MNFL) in 1989.[10][11]
Austin's son, Troy Austin, is also a former Fitzroy Stars president and currently serves as a member of the First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria after being elected in 2023.[12][13]