Oral History Interviews with Robert John Meadows QC STATE LIBRARY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA LAW SOCIETY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA Transcript of an interview with John Meadows ACCESS RESEARCH: OPEN PUBLICATION: To be advised of request to publish STATE LIBRARY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA - ORAL HISTORY COLLECTION DATE OF INTERVIEW: 13 March – 25 June 2015 INTERVIEWER: John Ferrell TRANSCRIBER: Unknown DURATION: 10 hrs, 51 mins, 26 secs REFERENCE NUMBER: OH4192 COPYRIGHT: Law Society of Western Australia Oral History Interviews with Robert John Meadows QC INTRODUCTION TO TRANSCRIPT Born in Subiaco, a Perth Suburb, in July 1941, Robert Meadows attended primary schools in the western suburbs of Jolimont, Floreat Park and Nedlands. Awarded a Guildford Grammar School Council Scholarship, he completed his secondary schooling at Guildford Grammar School where his father had previously studied. At various stages of his schooling Robert won prizes in English and Art, and distinguished himself on the sports field, especially in cricket, serving as Vice Captain of the team which won the Darlot Cup in 1959, and himself winning the Fathers’ Cup for Batting. His strength in sports was attested also when he won the Firkins Abernethy Challenge Trophy for all-round performance. He was also House Captain of Stirling House. After gaining a Commonwealth Scholarship Robert enrolled in the Law faculty at the University of Western Australia. He was active in the Blackstone Society in which he held the office of Treasurer, participated in the Inter-Varsity Moots competitions of 1962 and 1963, and graduated with a Bachelor of Laws in 1964. He had also been active in inter-faculty cricket whilst at UWA. Upon graduation, Robert joined the firm of Muir and Williams first as an Articled Clerk then subsequently became a Solicitor, Barrister and Partner in the firm. He gained wide experience in the practice of Law in Western Australia and also registered as solicitor and barrister in other state Supreme Courts where he also practised from time to time. From 1980 he became a key member of the Law Society of WA, serving on various committees holding a two-year term as President and a seven-year stint as editor of their journal Brief. Robert also served the profession in various roles through the Law Council of Australia as well as becoming Vice President of the [British] Commonwealth Lawyers’ Association. Finally he was appointed Solicitor General for Western Australia, a post he held from 1995 to his retirement in 2013, being the first lawyer from a private law firm to hold that office in this state. This included involvement with the Special Committee of Solicitors General. He was a delegate to the United Nations’ Working Group on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and also represented Australia on the group which determined Australia-Indonesia Boundary Delimitation. In 1998 Robert was appointed a Queen’s Counsel and made a Life Member of the Law Society of WA. Robert has contributed significantly to the community through multiple involvement in cricket, hockey and golf clubs. He lives with his wife, Lyn, in Karrinyup, WA. Technical Details Recording was made using a Sound Devices 722 digital recorder teamed with two Røde NT3 microphones, in ten one-hour sessions, using .wav format at 24 bit/48kHz. Transcribing was done by the interviewer using the NCH Express Scribe software, and checked for accuracy by the interviewee. Thanks to Dr Jean Butler of the State Library of WA for allowing us the use of a room for the recording process. John Ferrell, July 2015. Oral History Interviews with Robert John Meadows QC Table of Contents File Name* Duration Subject Page (min/sec) RM-01T01 13m00s Earliest Memories 1 RM-01T02 02m13s Family Origins 4 RM-01T03 48m49s More About Family 4 RM-02T04 35m04s Childhood Environment; Clubs; Relatives etc 14 RM-02T05 47m15s Schooldays; esp Guildford Grammar School 19 RM-03T06 37m26s Decision to Study Law at UWA 32 RM-03T07 35m04s Lecturers and Tutors 40 RM-04T08 63m15s Articles; Early Career in Law 47 RM-05T09 49m29s Marriage and Offspring 58 RM-06T10 42m47s Advancement in the Legal Profession 67 RM-06T11 15m44s Significant Cases Robert Worked On 74 RM-07T12 72m07s Holding Office in Professional Bodies 77 RM-08T13 32m37s Robert as Solicitor General of WA 89 RM-08T14 30m20s Solicitor General contd 95 RM-09T15 12m01s Appointed Queen’s Counsel 100 RM-09T16 23m07s Casework as Solicitor General 102 RM-09T17 28m17s Special Committee of Solicitors General 105 RM-10T18 05m47s Current Issues for the Legal Profession 110 RM-10T19 42m23s More Current Issues 111 RM-10T20 14m13s Involvement with Community and Sporting Bodies 118 -0- *(RM indicates Robert Meadows; Initial numbers represent the session number; T indicates ‘Take’) (Duration refers to time taken by recording.) Oral History Interviews with Robert John Meadows QC [RM-01T01 Duration 13m00s] JF: Today is the 13th March, 2015. This recording contains an interview, the first in a series, with Mr Robert John Meadows QC and he is speaking with John Ferrell in the State Library Discussion Room A. Now, Robert, casting your mind back as far as you can do, what’s the very earliest thing you can remember? RM: Well I think it was living at 4 Linden Gardens, Floreat Park and we lived in a typical house of that era which had been fairly recently built. We didn’t own the house; it was just rented. JF: And what do you remember of the house in that early period? RM: Yes, well it had a very large back yard. It was a full quarter acre block and it was an art-deco style of frontage to the house. It had a magnificent garden. My father was a very keen gardener and in fact at various stages we won – or he won, I should say – prizes from the Perth City Council for his garden, particularly the annuals that he used to grow. JF: Who was there with you that you can remember, thinking of the earliest memory? RM: In that street? JF: In that street, or in that house. RM: Well there was my mother and my father and my sister. That’s all there. But neighbours, we had Harry and Ethel Allen living next door to us. We got on very well with them. They had a son called Perry. Colin Moore, or his father was Les Moore who was a book-maker, lived on the corner of Orrel Avenue and Linden Gardens and the Elliots lived over the road. The Silberts lived at the bottom of the street on the corner of the Boulevard and Linden Gardens. I’m sure there are others if I spent some time. But they also had a lot of friends in Lissadell Street – Taylors. And further up there was Phil Jennings who went on to become a professor at Murdoch [University] and the Cugleys were on the corner of Orrel Avenue and Lissadell Street. George Cugley went on to become the managing director of Midland Brick. And the Edwards. My father used to be a heavy smoker and Mrs Edwards used to collect his butts [laughs] and roll her own! Decidedly unhealthy, but it’s a fact. In those days, you know, tobacco was pretty difficult to come by –good tobacco. JF: So it was quite a little community. Was there lots of community interaction? RM: Yes. It was a brand new subdivision (they’d call it now). Linden Gardens was, in fact, the last street before the bush and then City Beach. Orrel Avenue did go a bit further and took it up to where the Floreat Shopping Centre now is, but basically we were right on the boundary, and so as kids we spent an enormous amount of time in the bush. We had pretty good bushcraft by the time we’d finished. And especially as – I don’t know if you know the Bodney family, aboriginal family, that lived in the Cottesloe area? JF: I’ve heard of them. RM: Well we had some contact with the Bodney boys and they taught us how to dig for yams and things like that, which I don’t think the average kid knew what to do. Oral History Interviews with Robert John Meadows QC JF: And how recently have you dug for yams? RM: [laughs] Oh, I still know the plant. I could take you straight to one if we were in the bush. JF: So it was something of an ideal spot for a growing boy. RM: It was. A very pleasant life as a child. JF: Now I note that you were born on the 18th July 1941. What have you been told about the circumstances of your birth? RM: Well, it was at St John of God Hospital, Subiaco and I don’t think there’s anything particularly dramatic about it [chuckles] except, I suppose, it is that my mother had been previously married and hadn’t been successful in having any children, so I think it was a pretty special day. JF: For her and for you, I guess. RM: She’d had a still-birth prior to me, so I think it was a big occasion. I do remember some of the remnants of the war. We had an air-raid shelter in the block next door, which had been dug out and had a roof put on it, and I remember we had black-out blinds and gas-masks. And I may be deluding myself, but I’m sure I can remember Armistice Day where there were great celebrations in the neighbourhood. I remember in particular people rolling 44-gallon drums full of pots and pans to make a bit of noise.