List of Chief Justices of Australia by time in office

This is a list of Australian Chief Justices
Chief Justice of Australia
The Chief Justice of Australia is the informal title for the presiding justice of the High Court of Australia and the highest-ranking judicial officer in the Commonwealth of Australia...

by time in office.

Chief Justices of Australia

Rank by length of term	Chief Justice	Appointed by	Date of retirement	Length of term	Length of retirement	Date of death	Order by date
1	Barwick, GarfieldGarfield Barwick Garfield Barwick Sir Garfield Edward John Barwick, was the Attorney-General of Australia , Minister for External Affairs and the seventh and longest serving Chief Justice of Australia...	Menzies, RobertMenzies Robert Menzies Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, , Australian politician, was the 12th and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia....		days	days	1997-07-14	7
2	Latham, JohnJohn G. Latham	Lyons, JosephLyons Joseph Lyons Joseph Aloysius Lyons, CH was an Australian politician. He was Labor Premier of Tasmania from 1923 to 1928 and a Minister in the James Scullin government from 1929 until his resignation from the Labor Party in March 1931...		days	days	1964-07-25	5
3	Griffith, SamuelSamuel Griffith Samuel Griffith Sir Samuel Walker Griffith GCMG QC, was an Australian politician, Premier of Queensland, Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia and a principal author of the Constitution of Australia.-Early life:...	Deakin, AlfredDeakin Alfred Deakin Alfred Deakin , Australian politician, was a leader of the movement for Australian federation and later the second Prime Minister of Australia. In the last quarter of the 19th century, Deakin was a major contributor to the establishment of liberal reforms in the colony of Victoria, including the...		days	0, days	1920-08-09	1
4	Dixon, OwenOwen Dixon Owen Dixon Sir Owen Dixon, OM, GCMG, KC Australian judge and diplomat, was the sixth Chief Justice of Australia. A justice of the High Court for thirty-five years, Dixon was one of the leading jurists in the English-speaking world and is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever jurist.-Education:Dixon...	Menzies, RobertMenzies Robert Menzies Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, , Australian politician, was the 12th and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia....		days	days	1972-07-07	6
5	Knox, AdrianAdrian Knox Adrian Knox Sir Adrian Knox KCMG, KC , Australian judge, was the second Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, sitting on the bench of the High Court from 1919 to 1930.-Education:...	Hughes, BillyHughes Billy Hughes William Morris "Billy" Hughes, CH, KC, MHR , Australian politician, was the seventh Prime Minister of Australia from 1915 to 1923....		days	0, days	1932-04-27	2
6	Gleeson, MurrayMurray Gleeson Murray Gleeson Anthony Murray Gleeson AC QC is a former Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, the highest court in the Australian court hierarchy.-Biography:Gleeson was born in Wingham, New South Wales, the eldest of four children...	Howard, JohnHoward John Howard John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....		days	0, days	--	11
7	Mason, AnthonyAnthony Mason	Hawke, BobHawke Bob Hawke Robert James Lee "Bob" Hawke AC GCL was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia from March 1983 to December 1991 and therefore longest serving Australian Labor Party Prime Minister....		days	days	--	9
8	Gibbs, HarryHarry Gibbs Harry Gibbs Sir Harry Talbot Gibbs, GCMG, AC, KBE, QC was Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia from 1981 to 1987 after serving as a member of the High Court between 1970 and 1981...	Fraser, MalcolmFraser Malcolm Fraser John Malcolm Fraser AC, CH, GCL, PC is a former Australian Liberal Party politician who was the 22nd Prime Minister of Australia. He came to power in the 1975 election following the dismissal of the Whitlam Labor government, in which he played a key role...		days	days	2005-06-25	8
9	Duffy, FrankFrank Gavan Duffy Frank Gavan Duffy Sir Frank Gavan Duffy, KCMG, PC, QC , Australian judge, was the fourth Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, sitting on the bench of the High Court from 1913 to 1935.-Early life:...	Scullin, JamesScullin James Scullin James Henry Scullin , Australian Labor politician and the ninth Prime Minister of Australia. Two days after he was sworn in as Prime Minister, the Wall Street Crash of 1929 occurred, marking the beginning of the Great Depression and subsequent Great Depression in Australia.-Early life:Scullin was...		days	0, days	1936-07-29	4
10	French, RobertRobert French Robert French Robert Shenton French, AC is Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, the highest court in the Australian court hierarchy....	Rudd, KevinRudd Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd is an Australian politician who was the 26th Prime Minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010. He has been Minister for Foreign Affairs since 2010...	Incumbent	0, days	0,000Incumbent	--	12
11	Brennan, GerardGerard Brennan Gerard Brennan Sir Francis Gerard Brennan, AC, KBE, QC , is an Australian lawyer, judge and 10th Chief Justice of Australia. He is father to Jesuit priest and lawyer Frank Brennan....	Keating, PaulKeating Paul Keating Paul John Keating was the 24th Prime Minister of Australia, serving from 1991 to 1996. Keating was elected as the federal Labor member for Blaxland in 1969 and came to prominence as the reformist treasurer of the Hawke Labor government, which came to power at the 1983 election...		days	days	--	10
12	Isaacs, IsaacIsaac Isaacs Isaac Isaacs Sir Isaac Alfred Isaacs GCB GCMG KC was an Australian judge and politician, was the third Chief Justice of Australia, ninth Governor-General of Australia and the first born in Australia to occupy that post. He is the only person ever to have held both positions of Chief Justice of Australia and...	Scullin, JamesScullin James Scullin James Henry Scullin , Australian Labor politician and the ninth Prime Minister of Australia. Two days after he was sworn in as Prime Minister, the Wall Street Crash of 1929 occurred, marking the beginning of the Great Depression and subsequent Great Depression in Australia.-Early life:Scullin was...		0, days	days	1948-02-11	3

Milestone illustrations

The time frames involved in the length of service by previous holders of the office can be illustrated by comparing them to the length of time it would take for incumbent Chief Justice Robert French

Robert French

Robert Shenton French, AC is Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, the highest court in the Australian court hierarchy....

to reach them. However, due to the mandatory retirement age of 70 for Justices, it will be impossible for French to reach any of these milestones unless the mandatory retirement age is removed.

To surpass the tenure of his immediate predecessor, Murray Gleeson
Murray Gleeson
Anthony Murray Gleeson AC QC is a former Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, the highest court in the Australian court hierarchy.-Biography:Gleeson was born in Wingham, New South Wales, the eldest of four children...

, French would have had to serve as Chief Justice until Tuesday, 11 December 2018. French's age on that date will be .
To surpass Garfield Barwick
Garfield Barwick
Sir Garfield Edward John Barwick, was the Attorney-General of Australia , Minister for External Affairs and the seventh and longest serving Chief Justice of Australia...

as the longest-serving Chief Justice in history, French would have had to serve as Chief Justice until Thursday, 19 June 2025. French's age on that date will be .
To surpass Edward McTiernan
Edward McTiernan
Sir Edward Aloysius McTiernan, KBE , was an Australian jurist, lawyer and politician. He served as an Australian Labor Party member of both the New South Wales Legislative Assembly and federal House of Representatives before being appointed to the High Court of Australia in 1930...

as the longest serving High Court Justice in history, French would have had to serve on the High Court until Wednesday, 27 May 2054. French's age on that date will be . However, due to the fact he would be 107 on this date, it would have been extremely unlikely for French to reach this milestone.

Chief Justices of Australia

Milestone illustrations

See also