THE AUSTRALIAN BAR GAZETTE 21

Appointments and Retirements

Lieutenant- The Hon. Sir , Commonwealth Law Reports contain few records of K.C.M.G., K.B.E., D.S.O., M.C., E.D. his judgments being reversed on appeal. Sir Edmund leaves the bench with the affection of all Sir Edmund Herring retired from the position of Chief who appeared before him, and to him and to Dame Justice of the Supreme Court of on attaining the go the warmest wishes of the members statutory retiring age of seventy-two on 2nd September, of the Victorian bar. 1964. Sir Edmund was appointed to succeed Sir Freder­ ick Mann as Chief Justice on 2nd February, 1944, after attaining the greatest distinction as scholar, barrister and Chief Justice Winneke, Kt., O.B.E. soldier. He was educated at Grammar School, Trinity College (Melbourne) and New College The Solicitor-General of Victoria, Sir Henry Arthur (Oxford), to which he went as Rhodes Scholar for Vic­ Winneke, has succeeded Sir Edmund Herring as Chief toria of 1912. He was called to the bar as a member Justice of the Supreme Court of the State. Born in of the in 1920 and to the Victorian bar 1908, the son of a distinguished County Court judge, in the following year. He practised mainly in equity. H. C. Winneke, whose failure to attain the Supreme After sixteen years at the bar he was appointed King’s Court bench has been publicly regretted by Sir Owen Counsel, being one of the few members of the Victorian bar to receive silk in the decade after the depression. Dixon, Sir was educated at , Scotch College and the University of He served with the Royal Field Artillery in the British Melbourne where he graduated in law with first-class Expeditionary Force in France and Macedonia during honours. He became the pupil of W. K. Fullagar after the first War, being mentioned in despatches and was his admission to practise in 1931. In 1949 he took awarded the and Distinguished Service silk and was appointed Senior Counsel to the Attorney- Order. During the second War Sir Edmund Herring served as General Officer Commanding the General, and when the office of Solicitor-General was A.I.F., the Northern Territory Force, the and revived in 1951 he was appointed to it. As Solicitor- New Guinea Force until his appointment as Chief Jus­ General, he has led in the High Court for the Crown tice. in right of Victoria in many leading constitutional cases, The bald record of the positions he has held and dis­ including Armstrong’s Case, the second Uniform Tax tinctions he has gained reveals the breadth of his inter­ Case, Australian Coastal Shipping Commission v. ests and the extent of his activities, but he has not been O’Reilly and the Marriage Act Case, and in criminal prepared merely to have his name associated with the appeals. As the first Victorian Solicitor-General selected many organizations and fields of endeavour which have from outside parliament, Sir Henry has had the re­ commanded his concern. As Chancellor of the Diocese sponsibility of defining the functions of the office and its of Melbourne, as a member of innumerable educational, relationship with the government. His consciousness of welfare and ex-service organizations, he has shown the the position of a law officer of the Crown, advising the devotion to public service which he believes to be the government yet also serving the law, has been evident responsibility of the holder of public office. He will throughout his tenure of office, even when it has been continue to hold the commission as Lieutenant-Governor far from clear that the government has had the same of Victoria which he received in 1945. perception of a law officer’s role. As Chief Justice, Sir Edmund has seen his Court grow from six judges to fourteen; he has seen the business of During the War, Sir Henry served as Director of the Court enlarged more than threefold; he has seen Personal Services of the Royal Australian Air Force its work conducted in temporary premises outside the with the rank of Group Captain. Supreme Court building. A tribute to his work as Chief Justice in dealing with the problems of the years after the War and beyond, by Sir Charles Lowe, who, for Mr. Justice Smithers most of Sir Edmund’s term of office, was the senior The Honourable Reginald Allfree Smithers was in puisne judge, was published in the first number of the August, 1964, appointed Judge of the Supreme Court “Gazette” (October, 1963). Of his many innovations, of the Australian Capital Territory and an additional perhaps one, the Chief Justice’s Law Reform Committee, should be mentioned again, for this committee, working Judge of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory. through expert sub-committees of judges, barristers, He has resigned from the Supreme Court of Papua and solicitors and academic lawyers has been responsible for New Guinea of which he has been a member since many valuable amendments to “lawyers’ law”. 1962. Mr. Justice Smithers made his mark in the Terri­ tory during his tenure of office there. In addition to As a judge, Sir Edmund was a model of patience, tact and friendliness. There were never scenes in court his judicial duties, he was Chancellor of the Diocese of when he presided. To the casual observer, it may have New Guinea, founder and first President of the Medico- seemed that he was too informal in his approach to a Legal Society and Chairman of the newly formed Coun­ case, but this impression would have been wrong, for cil of Law Reporting. He will take up permanent duties he possessed a firm knowledge of legal principle and had in in the New Year, after sitting six months a keen appreciation of the substance of a case. The in the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory. 22 THE AUSTRALIAN BAR GAZETTE

Mr. Justice Frost Mr. Justice Isaacs Sydney Thomas Frost Q.C. was appointed a Judge On 14th October, 1964, Simon Isaacs of the New of the County Court and Chairman of General Sessions South Wales bar was appointed a Justice of the Supreme in Victoria on 16th July, 1964. He was educated at Court of New South Wales. Born in London on 9th Essendon High School and Melbourne High School, and April, 1905, his Honour came to Australia at an early graduated as Master of Laws in the University of Mel­ age and was educated at Sydney High School and the bourne. He practised, for a short time after admission University of Sydney. After taking the degree of Ll.B., in May, 1938, as a solicitor, before serving with the he became a solicitor in 1928 and was admitted to the Australian Intelligence Corps in the A.I.F. He signed bar in 1934. He took silk in 1950. He was a member the Roll of Counsel in November, 1945, and read in the of the Council of the New South Wales Bar Association chambers of Oliver Gillard. Like Gillard, he divided on several occasions. his time between jury and commercial work. He took silk on 5th September, 1961. His Honour’s practice at the bar was a very diverse one and embraced all jurisdictions of the Courts of the On 18th November, 1964, he was appointed a Judge State and of the Commonwealth. He has been sitting of the Supreme Court of Papua and New Guinea, filling in the common law jurisdiction of the Supreme Court the vacancy left by the resignation of Mr. Justice Smith- since his appointment and it is expected that he will ers. He is not a stranger to the territory, as he served continue in that jurisdiction hereafter. there during the War. His Honour is forty-eight. Judge Stretton, C.M.G. Mr. Justice Allen His Honour Judge Leonard Edward Bishop Stretton On 29th July, 1964, the appointment as a Justice of retired as a Judge of the Victorian County Court at the Supreme Court of New South Wales of Philip the beginning of August, 1964, at the age of seventy. Harrison Allen was announced. His Honour was born Judge Stretton was a solicitor for some ten years in Sydney on 2nd February, 1908, and was educated at before coming to the bar. He signed the Bar Roll in the Sydney Grammar School, North February, 1929, and practised extensively in civil and Sydney, and the University of Sydney where he took the criminal work before being appointed to the County degrees of B.A. and Ll.B., and was admitted to the Bar Court on 12th August, 1937. Since 1938 he has spent in 1937. His Honour saw service in World War II from a great deal of his time in the Workers’ Compensation 1941 to 1946, being commissioned in the artillery and Board of which he was Chairman but his activities have later serving with the Legal Corps. He not been restricted to that sphere. He sat as a Royal Com­ saw service in Australia, in New Guinea, Borneo and the missioner on five different occasions possibly the most Philippines. From 1957 to 1960, he was Treasurer of famous of which was his enquiry into the disastrous the New South Wales Bar Association, and, in 1960, bush fires of 1939. He was appointed an acting Justice he took silk. His Honour’s practice at the bar was of the Supreme Court of Victoria from June to Decem­ mainly in the common law jurisdiction but since his ber, 1951. In 1956, he was made a Commander of the appointment he has been mostly sitting in the Matri­ Order of St. Michael and St. George. monial Causes Jurisdiction. He has been actively associated with the Prisoners’ Aid Society and with the Association of Youth Clubs, of which he was President for many years. Mr. Justice O’Brien His Honour brought to the Bench a fine understanding On 26th August, 1964, the Attorney-General for New of human behaviour and a deep respect for the integrity South Wales announced that John O’Brien of the New of the individual, particularly when faced with the South Wales bar has been appointed a Justice of the sometimes tenacious practices of bureaucracy, both Supreme Court of New South Wales as from 31st public and private. These feelings he was able to express August, 1964. His Honour was born on 11th February, both orally and in his written judgments with a command 1917, at Narrandera and was educated at the Christian of language that endeared him to his fellow members Brothers College, Strathfield and the University of Syd­ of the profession. A raconteur of high degree, he estab­ ney. He graduated Ll.B. in 1939 with First Class lished a relationship between himself and those who Honours and shared the University Medal, having been practised before him which they will never forget. employed in the public service during the time when he He was farewelled by the Judges of the County Court was attending lectures. During the War, he served in and both branches of the profession in a crowded court the artillery and the ordnance branch, both in Australia on 7th August, 1964. The occasion demonstrated his and in New Guinea, and at the end of the War was great wit and showed the affection in which he is held holding an appointment in the Master General of the by the bar. Ordnance Branch at land headquarters in Melbourne. He was then a substantive major. Admitted to the bar in 1939, he commenced active practice in 1946. His Judge Hewitt experience was spread over a great variety of juris­ dictions; he was engaged, usually as a prosecutor, in On 4th August, 1964, Eric Edgar Hewitt Q.C. was most of the conspiracy trials of the 1950’s and the early appointed to be a Judge of the County Court and years of the present decade; he appeared frequently in Chairman of General Sessions in Victoria. Judge Hewitt the industrial field; he had many revenue cases; he as­ signed the Roll of Counsel on 9th September, 1948, sisted Mr. Justice Richards in the Automation Inquiry; having been admitted to practise on 2nd August that and he was no stranger to the running-down and indus­ year. He read in the chambers of N. E. Burbank Q.C. trial accident field. In the years when landlord and tenant litigation was the staple of the junior bar, Judge Hewitt became one At the time of his appointment, he was a member of of the busiest practitioners in that field. In recent years, the Council of the New South Wales Bar Association. he has had an extensive general civil practice in the THE AUSTRALIAN BAR GAZETTE 23

Supreme Court: he was given silk in October, 1963. panies Acts of several States in investigating the affairs Judge Hewitt holds the degrees of B.A. and LL.B. of of the Reid Murray group of companies. the . From 1951 until he took ^ Jj« 5(« >{c silk he was a reporter for the Victorian Law Reports and their successor, and last year a volume on adminis­ K. V. Anderson Q.C. was elected Vice-Chairman tration and probate in the series of Butterworths’ an­ of the Victorian Bar Council in the place of B. L. notated statutes was published under his editorship. Murray Q.C. W. O. Harris Q.C. was elected to During the war he served in the Royal Australian Navy fill the vacancy on the Council arising from Murray’s with the rank of lieutenant. He is forty-six. resignation. ***** Basil Lathrop Murray Q.C. The following appointments of Queen’s Counsel for the State of Victoria were announced on 22nd July, Basil Lathrop Murray Q.C. has been appointed 1964: Solicitor-General for the State of Victoria in succession to Sir Henry Winneke. He was educated at the Hale D. P. Whelan (admitted 2nd October, 1950; signed School, Perth, and Trinity College in the University Roll of Counsel 6th October, 1950). of Melbourne. After service throughout the war with The Hon. B. M. Snedden M.P. (admitted 1st Septem­ the Royal Australian Navy as a lieutenant, he was ad­ ber, 1955; signed Roll of Counsel 19th December, 1955). mitted to practise in October, 1946. He took silk in While he holds the office of Attorney-General for the March, 1960, and at the time of his appointment was Commonwealth, Snedden Q.C. will rank in precedence Vice-Chairman of the Victorian Bar Council. He has in Victorian Courts next after the Solicitor-General for recently been engaged as an inspector under the Com­ the State.

Obituaries

Mr. Justice Hunter in 1918 and 1919. His Honour acted as a District Court Judge in 1932, 1935, and 1938, and when World Mr. Justice David Blair Hunter, Chief Justice of War II burst upon the world, he joined the Army in Tonga, died at Yaralla Military Hospital on 30th Sep­ the capacity of a chairman of courts-martial, becoming, tember, 1964, at the age of sixty-five years. His Honour in 1942, Deputy Judge Advocate General of the Aus­ was educated at the Sydney Grammar School and the tralian Military Forces, and in 1943 Director of Legal University of Sydney where he graduated B.A., Ll.B. Services when the Australian Army Legal Corps was He was admitted to the bar on 31st May, 1923, and, formed. At the time of ceasing to hold that posting, by the time World War II came, he had developed a in 1946, he held the rank of . In the same year, practice which mainly centred on local government he took silk, and in 1947, was appointed to the District affairs although he in fact appeared in most jurisdictions. Court Bench. He acted as a Supreme Court Justice on Always interested in municipal matters, he became an several occasions and, in 1953, he became President alderman of the North Sydney Municipal Council and of the New South Wales Parole Board a position he still eventually Mayor of that body. During his mayoralty, held when he died. He was the Chairman of the the North Sydney Olympic Pool was built, no doubt District Court Judges and held that position until his largely due to his influence, because he was at all times retirement in 1959. In 1951 and 1952, he was President a very keen swimmer. During the War, he was a of the Old Sydneians Union. The bar will wish to member of the Australian Army Legal Corps and served extend its sympathy to the members of his family. in Australia and in New Guinea, where he was the Legal Officer for the Base Sub-Area for some time. After the War he returned to practice, and, in 1954, Judge Rooney, M.M., Q.C. was appointed a Justice of the Supreme Court of Tonga, In the March, 1964, issue of this Gazette there was a position which he retained at the time of his death. a note on the occasion of the then recent retirement of A kindly, hardworking man, his Honour had a lively Judge Charles Vincent Rooney of the New South Wales wit to which a wide interest in literature largely con­ District Court. In that note, it was stated that the pro­ tributed. He will be missed by a wide circle of friends fession would wish to extend to him the hope of a both within and without the law. long and happy retirement. Alas, this wish was not to be fulfilled, as his Honour died on 12th July, 1964. The Judge Lloyd, E.D., Q.C. sympathy of the bar goes out to members of his family.

Judge Alan Stredwick Lloyd, E.D., who was, until Judge Mulvany his retirement in 1959, chairman of the District Court Judges of New South Wales, died on 28th July, 1964, Joseph Francis Mulvany, who died in Melbourne as of pneumonia following on a fracture sustained in a a County Court Judge on 7th July, 1964, was a Judge household fall. Born in 1889, his Honour was the grand­ whose name v/ill not be found enshrined in tne law son of John Williams, Crown Solicitor of the State reports. It will not be found even to the extent to which from 1859 to 1891. He was educated at Sydney Gram­ the names of County Court Judges do appear there, mar School and the University of Sydney, and was in the reports of appeal cases. And that is a tribute admitted to the bar in 1914. He was Vice-Principal of not only to his judgments on law and on fact, but also St. Andrew’s College within the University of Sydney to the satisfaction that parties to litigation entertained