Mary Gaudron
Encyclopedia
Mary Genevieve Gaudron, AC
, QC
(born 5 January 1943), Australia
n lawyer and judge, was the first female Justice of the High Court of Australia
.
, in northern rural New South Wales
, in 1943, the daughter of working class parents Edward and Grace. Gaudron would later speak about the intense racism towards Indigenous Australians
which was a part of everyday life in Moree and how it influenced her strong opposition to all forms of discrimination; indeed, Moree was the site of a violent conflict during the Freedom Ride
of 1965.
In 1951, H.V. Evatt passed through Moree to campaign for the "no" case in the 1951 referendum
, at which the Menzies
Liberal
government was attempting to alter the Constitution of Australia
in order to ban the Australian Communist Party. Evatt was addressing a small crowd from the back of a blue Holden
ute, discussing the upcoming referendum and the Constitution, and Gaudron, not knowing what Evatt was referring to, asked "Please sir, what's a Constitution?" to which Evatt explained that it was "the laws by which Parliaments were governed." Gaudron asked whether it was similar to the Ten Commandments
, and Evatt replied that "you could call it the Ten Commandments of government." Gaudron then asked for a copy, and Evatt subsequently sent her one in the mail; Gaudron, expecting two stone tablets, was disappointed to receive only a small pamphlet. However, when the school bullies declared the pamphlet useless, Gaudron retorted that it was of great use to lawyers, and that some day she would be one.
.
In 1960 she was awarded a federal government
scholarship to study for a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Sydney
, which she graduated with in 1962. In 1961 she had also commenced a part-time Bachelor of Laws degree, graduating in 1965 with first-class honours and the University's Medal for Law. Gaudron was the second female recipient, after Elizabeth Evatt
, and the first female part-time student to be awarded the medal. Gaudron's lecturers there had included her future High Court colleague, Anthony Mason.
While studying, Gaudron attempted to obtain articles of clerkship
(then five years in duration), but was not successful; as she later said, "Many distinguished lawyers took a lot of trouble and effort to explain to me that it was not their policy to take on women as articled clerks." Instead she took a job with the Australian Public Service
, although, in accordance with the then regulations, she was required to relinquish her employment when she married.
When Gaudron graduated with her law degree, she was pregnant with her first daughter, Danielle.
In 1988, Gaudron was awarded an honorary doctorate
in law from Macquarie University
, and another from the University of Sydney in 1999.
. She attempted to buy a room for herself in one of the barristers' chambers in Sydney, but was regularly knocked back because she was a woman. When future High Court colleague Michael McHugh
attempted to sell his room, the other members of his chambers would not let Gaudron buy it, although there were no other buyers. She eventually shared a room with Janet Coombs, another pioneering female barrister. Gaudron regularly argued before the Supreme Court of New South Wales
and the High Court in the early 1970s, particularly in the area of industrial law. In 1972 she became the first woman to be appointed to the Council of the New South Wales Bar.
One of Gaudron's most significant cases as a barrister was in 1972, when she successfully argued the Equal Pay case for the Whitlam
Labor
government before the Conciliation and Arbitration Commission
.
Early in 1972, Gaudron had entered a bar with a male barrister friend when the waitress informed the friend that the bar did not serve women. Gaudron "patiently explained to the barmaid that my friend didn't want a woman because he'd brought his own," eventually creating "something of a scene" which attracted the attention of Labor politician Clyde Cameron
, who said that he didn't realise that such sexual discrimination still existed. Gaudron then said that "the discrimination being practised in that particular hotel was nothing compared to the discrimination over which he would undoubtedly preside when he became Minister for Industrial Relations after the next election." However, the Whitlam government was elected on 2 December, and Cameron duly became Minister for Industrial Relations, Whitlam called Gaudron on 3 December to hire her to argue the case.
The case, begun by the Australian Council of Trade Unions
, and supported by the Whitlam government when it came to power late in the year, extended the reach of the original but limited equal pay decision of 1969. Prior decisions had guaranteed equal pay only for certain specific occupations, and later certain limited industries (industries traditionally considered 'women's work', such as the textile
industry), whereas this case extended the principle of equal pay to all workers. Gaudron's argument was based on the principles of the 1951 Equal Remuneration Convention
of the International Labour Organization
(the organisation which she would later come to work for), although Gaudron later came to regard her own argument, that Australia had not ratified the Convention because the Commission would not grant equal pay (thus preventing Australia from fulfilling its obligations under the Convention), as somewhat disingenuous, and recalled it with a measure of embarrassment.
for her appointment, first by emphasising her outstanding academic record, but then by noting her humble working class background, to which Whitlam supposedly said, "Next you'll be telling us she was born in a bloody manger!"
By the time of her appointment, Gaudron had given birth to her second daughter, Julienne. Gaudron's most notable case on the Arbitration Commission was an important test case
for maternity leave in 1979, which laid down award standards
allowing for a year's unpaid leave for all full-time and permanent part-time workers. In 1979, Gaudron was the inaugural chair of the New South Wales Legal Services Commission. Gaudron held the position of Deputy President until her resignation in May 1980.
' law school, but only for a brief time, as in February 1981 she was appointed the Solicitor-General of New South Wales, the first female Solicitor-General in any Australian jurisdiction. Also that year, she was made a Queen's Counsel
(QC), the first female QC in New South Wales. Gaudron was soon married a second time, and later gave birth to a son, Patrick. In her capacity as Solicitor-General, Gaudron argued for New South Wales in such landmark High Court cases as the Tasmanian Dams case
and the Actors Equity case.
From 1981 to 1986, Gaudron served on the Council of Macquarie University
, and from 1984 to 1986, chaired an advisory council at the University of Wollongong
.
in October 1986, and the retirement of Chief Justice
Harry Gibbs
in February 1987, two vacancies were created on the High Court, and on 6 February 1987, John Toohey and Gaudron were appointed to the court. At just 44 years of age, Gaudron was the fourth youngest Justice, after Evatt, McTiernan
and Dixon
.
As a High Court Justice, Gaudron contributed to every area of Australian law, although most notably to Australian criminal law
, in judgments that "combine technical mastery with a general tendency to insist on strict compliance by trial judges with their obligations in directing juries." Gaudron was an important part of the progressive Mason and Brennan
courts, which decided such influential cases as Cole v Whitfield
, Dietrich v The Queen
and the Mabo case. Gaudron has consistently been opposed to all forms of discrimination, with notable judgments in this vein including the decision in Street v Queensland Bar Association (on Section 117 of the Australian Constitution) and her joint judgment with Justice McHugh in Castlemaine Tooheys v South Australia.
She was generally regarded as not particularly emotive in her writing style, although the judgment for which she is perhaps best remembered popularly was in the Mabo case, where in joint judgment with Justice Deane
, she said that Australia's past treatment of Indigenous Australians
was "the darkest aspect of the history of this nation."
The award of Companion of the Order of Australia
(AC) was made to six of the seven serving High Court justices in the Bicentennial
Australia Day
Honours of 1988, however Mary Gaudron was not among them as she had declined the award.
On 19 September 1997 Gaudron was appointed the founding Patron of Australian Women Lawyers and continued in this role until 20 February 2009.
In March 2003, Gaudron joined the International Labour Organization
(ILO) in Geneva
, Switzerland
. In 2004 she was a member of an inquiry into trade union
rights in Belarus
. She was also appointed as a judge of the ILO's Administrative Tribunal. From July 2011, she has been appointed as President of the Tribunal.
connections had delivered unearned promotion.
, described Gaudron's contribution to Australian law as "an extraordinarily humanising effect... the strong views she expresses in cases involving discrimination and like issues, are very influential and important in the development of the law in those areas." The Anti-Discrimination Commissioner of Tasmania
, Jocelynne Scutt
, said that "her contribution has been outstanding both as a jurist and as an advocate. And it has been profoundly significant in terms of her being a woman, too". Former Chief Justice
Anthony Mason remarked that Gaudron's "contribution just can't be described as symbolic", but rather she had "made a very significant and genuine contribution" to Australian law.
In her own assessment, Gaudron described herself in 2005 as privileged "to be a bit player in the maintenance of the rule of law in Australia."
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...
, QC
Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...
(born 5 January 1943), Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n lawyer and judge, was the first female Justice of the High Court of Australia
High Court of Australia
The High Court of Australia is the supreme court in the Australian court hierarchy and the final court of appeal in Australia. It has both original and appellate jurisdiction, has the power of judicial review over laws passed by the Parliament of Australia and the parliaments of the States, and...
.
Youth
Gaudron was born in MoreeMoree, New South Wales
Moree is a large town in Moree Plains Shire in northern New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the banks of the Mehi River in the centre of the rich black-soil plains....
, in northern rural New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, in 1943, the daughter of working class parents Edward and Grace. Gaudron would later speak about the intense racism towards Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
which was a part of everyday life in Moree and how it influenced her strong opposition to all forms of discrimination; indeed, Moree was the site of a violent conflict during the Freedom Ride
Freedom Ride (Australia)
The Freedom Ride of 1964 and 1965 was a significant event in the history of civil rights for Indigenous Australians.Inspired by the Freedom Riders of the American Civil Rights Movement, students from Sydney University formed a group called the Student Action for Aboriginals, led by Charles Perkins...
of 1965.
In 1951, H.V. Evatt passed through Moree to campaign for the "no" case in the 1951 referendum
Australian referendum, 1951
The 1951 Australian Referendum was held on 22 September 1951 and sought approval for the federal government to ban the Communist Party of Australia. It was not carried.-Background:...
, at which the Menzies
Robert Menzies
Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, , Australian politician, was the 12th and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia....
Liberal
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
government was attempting to alter the Constitution of Australia
Constitution of Australia
The Constitution of Australia is the supreme law under which the Australian Commonwealth Government operates. It consists of several documents. The most important is the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia...
in order to ban the Australian Communist Party. Evatt was addressing a small crowd from the back of a blue Holden
Holden
GM Holden Ltd is an automaker that operates in Australia, based in Port Melbourne, Victoria. The company was founded in 1856 as a saddlery manufacturer. In 1908 it moved into the automotive field, before becoming a subsidiary of the U.S.-based General Motors in 1931...
ute, discussing the upcoming referendum and the Constitution, and Gaudron, not knowing what Evatt was referring to, asked "Please sir, what's a Constitution?" to which Evatt explained that it was "the laws by which Parliaments were governed." Gaudron asked whether it was similar to the Ten Commandments
Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue , are a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship, which play a fundamental role in Judaism and most forms of Christianity. They include instructions to worship only God and to keep the Sabbath, and prohibitions against idolatry,...
, and Evatt replied that "you could call it the Ten Commandments of government." Gaudron then asked for a copy, and Evatt subsequently sent her one in the mail; Gaudron, expecting two stone tablets, was disappointed to receive only a small pamphlet. However, when the school bullies declared the pamphlet useless, Gaudron retorted that it was of great use to lawyers, and that some day she would be one.
Education
Gaudron was educated at St Ursula's College in ArmidaleArmidale, New South Wales
Armidale is a city in the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia. Armidale Dumaresq Shire had a population of 19,485 people according to the 2006 census. It is the administrative centre for the Northern Tablelands region...
.
In 1960 she was awarded a federal government
Government of Australia
The Commonwealth of Australia is a federal constitutional monarchy under a parliamentary democracy. The Commonwealth of Australia was formed in 1901 as a result of an agreement among six self-governing British colonies, which became the six states...
scholarship to study for a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Sydney
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...
, which she graduated with in 1962. In 1961 she had also commenced a part-time Bachelor of Laws degree, graduating in 1965 with first-class honours and the University's Medal for Law. Gaudron was the second female recipient, after Elizabeth Evatt
Elizabeth Evatt
Elizabeth Andreas Evatt, AC , an emminent Australian reformist lawyer and jurist who sat on numerous national and international tribunals and commissions, was the first Chief Judge of the Family Court of Australia, the first female judge of an Australian federal court, and the first Australian to...
, and the first female part-time student to be awarded the medal. Gaudron's lecturers there had included her future High Court colleague, Anthony Mason.
While studying, Gaudron attempted to obtain articles of clerkship
Articled clerk
An articled clerk, also known as an articling student, is an apprentice in a professional firm in Commonwealth countries. Generally the term arises in the accountancy profession and in the legal profession. The articled clerk signs a contract, known as "articles of clerkship", committing to a...
(then five years in duration), but was not successful; as she later said, "Many distinguished lawyers took a lot of trouble and effort to explain to me that it was not their policy to take on women as articled clerks." Instead she took a job with the Australian Public Service
Australian Public Service
The Australian Public Service is the Australian federal civil service, the group of people employed by federal departments, agencies and courts under the Government of Australia, to administer the working of the public administration of the Commonwealth of Australia...
, although, in accordance with the then regulations, she was required to relinquish her employment when she married.
When Gaudron graduated with her law degree, she was pregnant with her first daughter, Danielle.
In 1988, Gaudron was awarded an honorary doctorate
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
in law from Macquarie University
Macquarie University
Macquarie University is an Australian public teaching and research university located in Sydney, with its main campus situated in Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of Sydney...
, and another from the University of Sydney in 1999.
Barrister
Gaudron was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in October 1968 after having completed her articles of clerkship, and commenced practice as a barristerBarrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
. She attempted to buy a room for herself in one of the barristers' chambers in Sydney, but was regularly knocked back because she was a woman. When future High Court colleague Michael McHugh
Michael McHugh
Michael Hudson McHugh, AC, QC is a former justice of the High Court of Australia; the highest court in the Australian court hierarchy.-Judicial Activity:...
attempted to sell his room, the other members of his chambers would not let Gaudron buy it, although there were no other buyers. She eventually shared a room with Janet Coombs, another pioneering female barrister. Gaudron regularly argued before the Supreme Court of New South Wales
Supreme Court of New South Wales
The Supreme Court of New South Wales is the highest state court of the Australian State of New South Wales...
and the High Court in the early 1970s, particularly in the area of industrial law. In 1972 she became the first woman to be appointed to the Council of the New South Wales Bar.
One of Gaudron's most significant cases as a barrister was in 1972, when she successfully argued the Equal Pay case for the Whitlam
Gough Whitlam
Edward Gough Whitlam, AC, QC , known as Gough Whitlam , served as the 21st Prime Minister of Australia. Whitlam led the Australian Labor Party to power at the 1972 election and retained government at the 1974 election, before being dismissed by Governor-General Sir John Kerr at the climax of the...
Labor
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
government before the Conciliation and Arbitration Commission
Australian Industrial Relations Commission
The Australian Industrial Relations Commission, or AIRC , was a tribunal with powers under the Workplace Relations Act 1996. It was the central institution of Australian labour law...
.
Early in 1972, Gaudron had entered a bar with a male barrister friend when the waitress informed the friend that the bar did not serve women. Gaudron "patiently explained to the barmaid that my friend didn't want a woman because he'd brought his own," eventually creating "something of a scene" which attracted the attention of Labor politician Clyde Cameron
Clyde Cameron
Clyde Robert Cameron, AO , Australian politician, was a member of the Australian House of Representatives for 31 years from 1949 to 1980, a Cabinet minister in the Whitlam government and a leading figure in the Australian labour movement for forty years.-Biography:Cameron was born in Murray Bridge,...
, who said that he didn't realise that such sexual discrimination still existed. Gaudron then said that "the discrimination being practised in that particular hotel was nothing compared to the discrimination over which he would undoubtedly preside when he became Minister for Industrial Relations after the next election." However, the Whitlam government was elected on 2 December, and Cameron duly became Minister for Industrial Relations, Whitlam called Gaudron on 3 December to hire her to argue the case.
The case, begun by the Australian Council of Trade Unions
Australian Council of Trade Unions
The Australian Council of Trade Unions is the largest peak body representing workers in Australia. It is a national trade union centre of 46 affiliated unions.-History:The ACTU was formed in 1927 as the "Australian Council of Trade Unions"...
, and supported by the Whitlam government when it came to power late in the year, extended the reach of the original but limited equal pay decision of 1969. Prior decisions had guaranteed equal pay only for certain specific occupations, and later certain limited industries (industries traditionally considered 'women's work', such as the textile
Textile
A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...
industry), whereas this case extended the principle of equal pay to all workers. Gaudron's argument was based on the principles of the 1951 Equal Remuneration Convention
Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951
The Convention concerning Equal Remuneration for Men and Women Workers for Work of Equal Value, or Equal Remuneration Convention is the 100th International Labour Organization Convention aimed at equal remuneration for work of equal value for men and women...
of the International Labour Organization
International Labour Organization
The International Labour Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that deals with labour issues pertaining to international labour standards. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland. Its secretariat — the people who are employed by it throughout the world — is known as the...
(the organisation which she would later come to work for), although Gaudron later came to regard her own argument, that Australia had not ratified the Convention because the Commission would not grant equal pay (thus preventing Australia from fulfilling its obligations under the Convention), as somewhat disingenuous, and recalled it with a measure of embarrassment.
Conciliation and Arbitration Commission
In April 1974, Gaudron herself was appointed to the Conciliation and Arbitration Commission as Deputy President, becoming the youngest ever federal judge. It was rumoured that Cameron had advocated in CabinetCabinet of Australia
The Cabinet of Australia is the council of senior ministers of the Crown, responsible to parliament. The Cabinet is appointed by the Governor-General, on the advice of the Prime Minister the Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, and serves at the former's pleasure. The strictly private...
for her appointment, first by emphasising her outstanding academic record, but then by noting her humble working class background, to which Whitlam supposedly said, "Next you'll be telling us she was born in a bloody manger!"
By the time of her appointment, Gaudron had given birth to her second daughter, Julienne. Gaudron's most notable case on the Arbitration Commission was an important test case
Test case
A test case in software engineering is a set of conditions or variables under which a tester will determine whether an application or software system is working correctly or not. The mechanism for determining whether a software program or system has passed or failed such a test is known as a test...
for maternity leave in 1979, which laid down award standards
Award (Australian industrial relations)
An award is a ruling handed down by either Fair Work Australia or by a state industrial relations commission which grants all wage earners in one industry the same conditions of employment and wages....
allowing for a year's unpaid leave for all full-time and permanent part-time workers. In 1979, Gaudron was the inaugural chair of the New South Wales Legal Services Commission. Gaudron held the position of Deputy President until her resignation in May 1980.
Lecturer, QC and Solicitor-General
Gaudron then lectured at the University of New South WalesUniversity of New South Wales
The University of New South Wales , is a research-focused university based in Kensington, a suburb in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
' law school, but only for a brief time, as in February 1981 she was appointed the Solicitor-General of New South Wales, the first female Solicitor-General in any Australian jurisdiction. Also that year, she was made a Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...
(QC), the first female QC in New South Wales. Gaudron was soon married a second time, and later gave birth to a son, Patrick. In her capacity as Solicitor-General, Gaudron argued for New South Wales in such landmark High Court cases as the Tasmanian Dams case
Commonwealth v Tasmania
Commonwealth v Tasmania 158 CLR 1, was a significant Australian court case, decided in the High Court of Australia on 1 July 1983. The case was a landmark decision in Australian constitutional law, and was a significant moment in the history of conservation in Australia...
and the Actors Equity case.
From 1981 to 1986, Gaudron served on the Council of Macquarie University
Macquarie University
Macquarie University is an Australian public teaching and research university located in Sydney, with its main campus situated in Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of Sydney...
, and from 1984 to 1986, chaired an advisory council at the University of Wollongong
University of Wollongong
The University of Wollongong is a public university located in the coastal city of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia, approximately 80 kilometres south of Sydney...
.
High Court Justice
After the death of Justice Lionel MurphyLionel Murphy
Lionel Keith Murphy, QC was an Australian politician and jurist who served as Attorney-General in the government of Gough Whitlam and as a Justice of the High Court of Australia from 1975 until his death.- Personal life :...
in October 1986, and the retirement of Chief Justice
Chief Justice
The Chief Justice in many countries is the name for the presiding member of a Supreme Court in Commonwealth or other countries with an Anglo-Saxon justice system based on English common law, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the Court of Final Appeal of...
Harry 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...
in February 1987, two vacancies were created on the High Court, and on 6 February 1987, John Toohey and Gaudron were appointed to the court. At just 44 years of age, Gaudron was the fourth youngest Justice, after Evatt, 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...
and 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...
.
As a High Court Justice, Gaudron contributed to every area of Australian law, although most notably to Australian criminal law
Australian criminal law
The criminal law of Australia generally administered by individual jurisdictions in the Commonwealth of Australia. These jurisdictions include the six states, the Commonwealth, and the self-governing territories...
, in judgments that "combine technical mastery with a general tendency to insist on strict compliance by trial judges with their obligations in directing juries." Gaudron was an important part of the progressive Mason and 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....
courts, which decided such influential cases as Cole v Whitfield
Cole v Whitfield
Cole v Whitfield 165 CLR 360; [1988] HCA 18 was a landmark High Court of Australia decision where the Court overruled the long-held notion that the words "absolutely free" in Section 92 of the Australian Constitution protected a personal individual right of freedom in interstate trade. It was...
, Dietrich v The Queen
Dietrich v The Queen
Dietrich v The Queen was an important case decided in the High Court of Australia on 13 November 1992. It concerned the nature of the right to a fair trial, and under what circumstances indigent defendants should be provided with legal aid by the state...
and the Mabo case. Gaudron has consistently been opposed to all forms of discrimination, with notable judgments in this vein including the decision in Street v Queensland Bar Association (on Section 117 of the Australian Constitution) and her joint judgment with Justice McHugh in Castlemaine Tooheys v South Australia.
She was generally regarded as not particularly emotive in her writing style, although the judgment for which she is perhaps best remembered popularly was in the Mabo case, where in joint judgment with Justice Deane
William Deane
Sir William Patrick Deane, AC, KBE, QC , Australian judge and the 22nd Governor-General of Australia.-Early life:William Deane was born in Melbourne, Victoria. He was educated at Catholic schools including St. Joseph's College, Hunters Hill and at the University of Sydney, where he graduated in...
, she said that Australia's past treatment of Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
was "the darkest aspect of the history of this nation."
The award of Companion of the Order of Australia
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...
(AC) was made to six of the seven serving High Court justices in the Bicentennial
Australian Bicentenary
The bicentenary of Australia was celebrated in 1970 on the 200th anniversary of Captain James Cook landing and claiming the land, and again in 1988 to celebrate 200 years of permanent European settlement.-1970:...
Australia Day
Australia Day
Australia Day is the official national day of Australia...
Honours of 1988, however Mary Gaudron was not among them as she had declined the award.
On 19 September 1997 Gaudron was appointed the founding Patron of Australian Women Lawyers and continued in this role until 20 February 2009.
Retirement
On 21 June 2002, Gaudron announced her retirement from the High Court, effective from 10 February 2003. She left the court at the age of just 60 (the mandatory retirement age is 70). Gaudron's early retirement was lamented by all areas of the legal profession. Justice Michael Kirby, who was a close friend of Gaudron, has stated many times that her absence left the court with a different character, turned it into "a more blokey place".In March 2003, Gaudron joined the International Labour Organization
International Labour Organization
The International Labour Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that deals with labour issues pertaining to international labour standards. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland. Its secretariat — the people who are employed by it throughout the world — is known as the...
(ILO) in Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. In 2004 she was a member of an inquiry into trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
rights in Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
. She was also appointed as a judge of the ILO's Administrative Tribunal. From July 2011, she has been appointed as President of the Tribunal.
Criticism
Gaudron has been occasionally criticised throughout her career. At the time of her appointment to the High Court in 1987, the New South Wales legal magazine Justinian published anonymous remarks saying that "a melancholy catalogue of sins of omission and commission as well as the better claims of others" ought to have weighed against her appointment, and that she held "an emotional disposition inappropriate in a holder of judicial office." When she announced her retirement, an anonymous academic said that Gaudron had failed to achieve the expectations set by her supporters, and that among the other High Court Justices, Gaudron was "erratic" and "certainly not among the court's greats." Another anonymous academic said that Gaudron's LaborAustralian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
connections had delivered unearned promotion.
Approbation
Despite this anonymous criticism, Gaudron has also received much praise. Former President of the New South Wales Bar, Ruth McCollRuth McColl
Ruth Stephanie McColl AO is a judge of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, the highest court in the State of New South Wales, Australia, which forms part of the Australian court hierarchy.-Education:...
, described Gaudron's contribution to Australian law as "an extraordinarily humanising effect... the strong views she expresses in cases involving discrimination and like issues, are very influential and important in the development of the law in those areas." The Anti-Discrimination Commissioner of Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
, Jocelynne Scutt
Jocelynne Scutt
Jocelynne Scutt is an Australian feminist lawyer, writer and commentator. She graduated in law from the University of Western Australia in 1969 and undertook postgraduate studies in law at the University of Sydney, at both Southern Methodist University and the University of Michigan in the United...
, said that "her contribution has been outstanding both as a jurist and as an advocate. And it has been profoundly significant in terms of her being a woman, too". Former Chief Justice
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...
Anthony Mason remarked that Gaudron's "contribution just can't be described as symbolic", but rather she had "made a very significant and genuine contribution" to Australian law.
In her own assessment, Gaudron described herself in 2005 as privileged "to be a bit player in the maintenance of the rule of law in Australia."