Women

First woman appointed to the High Court

06 February 1987

Justice Mary Gaudron KC becomes the first woman appointed to the bench of the High Court of Australia.

The High Court of Australia interprets and applies Australian law and decides cases about national issues, including challenges related to the Australian Constitution. Each Justice makes their own decision and rulings are made according to the majority. Until Justice Gaudron was appointed to the bench of the High Court in 1987, these decisions had always been made by men.

Justice Gaudron stated that she had 'always held it as self-evident that because judges exercise wide discretionary powers, it is essential that our lawyers should be drawn from the entire social spectrum.' Her decisions as a High Court judge reflected her life-long commitment to equality and non-discrimination, including in her joint ruling on the Mabo case.

Justice Gaudron was the first female Queen’s Counsel (now King’s Counsel) in New South Wales and was the Australian Government’s lawyer in the Equal Pay Case of 1973. Before her appointment to the High Court of Australia, Justice Gaudron was the Solicitor-General of New South Wales, the first woman to hold the position in any Australian state. 

Forty years ago, there was much for a young graduate to question, particularly a young law graduate. Despite our democratic traditions, despite our self-proclaimed egalitarianism and despite our commitment to a fair go, ours was a society of marked inequalities, inequalities which were often entrenched or reinforced by the law itself...In relatively recent times, Australia laid the foundations for what, hopefully, will one day become and remain a nation of true equals.
Justice Mary Gaudron, Occasional Address University of Sydney, 29 October 1999
6 men and 1 woman in a room with books on shelves around the walls. They all wear black robes. 5 of the men wear white court-room wigs.

High Court Justices, 1987

National Archives of Australia, A8746, KN30/6/87/1

High Court Justices, 1987

6 men and 1 woman in a room with books on shelves around the walls. They all wear black robes. 5 of the men wear white court-room wigs.

National Archives of Australia, A8746, KN30/6/87/1

Description

High Court Justices, featuring Chief Justice Anthony Mason, Justice Dawson, Justice Toohey, Justice Wilson, Justice Brennan, Justice Mary Gaudron and Justice William Deane, 1987.

Justice Mary Gaudron was the first women appointed to the High Court of Australia.  

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