From Moree To Mabo: The Mary Gaudron Story

by Pamela Burton

This is the remarkable story of Mary Gaudron AC QC, the first female justice of the high court of Australia. Gaudron grew up within Moree's railway community in New South Wales, where she lived as a child in a cottage with dirt floors. Her assent to justice of the high court of Australia is an amazing and empowering tale of strength and courage. With wit, astonishing intellect, and the tool of the law, Gaudron exposed inequality and discrimination in the workforce and campaigned vigorously for women to be accorded equal pay and equal opportunities. Years later, she went on to become one of the justices who ruled on Eddie Mabo's landmark case regarding Aboriginal land rights. From Moree to Mabo is written by Pamela Burton, who is well regarded in the Australian legal community. When Burton faced similar obstacles as one of the few women commencing private legal practice in the 1970s, she received encouragement and support from the brave convention breaker, Mary Gaudron.

512 pages, Paperback

First published November 15, 2010

Reviews

[Ernest · Rating 4 out of 5]

On 10 February 2003, Justice Mary Gaudron sat for the last time on the High Court of Australia. After that, ‘[s]he was again just Mary Gaudron, QC’. Yet her life before her work on the High Court bench, and indeed after it, is worthy of documenting and commenting upon. Pamela Burton has done so in this illuminating judicial biography, especially noteworthy and welcomed in an area in which legal scholarship and writing generally is (currently) sorely lacking.

Mary Gaudron QC was the first woman appointed to the High Court of Australia in 1987. Yet she had a long, distinguished and interesting history before her appointment. It is not only her positions as the first female Solicitor-General appointed in Australia (as Solicitor-General for New South Wales) and of her time on the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission that are also noteworthy. Indeed, it is the life of not only an extraordinary Australian that is chronicled in this biography but a fascinating insight into a judicial life that seeks to draw the threads between her personal and professional life.

Of particular interest to readers may be her struggles throughout her life as a female in the law, her time and eventual resignation from Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission and a considered and detailed look at not only some major cases during her time on the court as part of both the Mason, Brennan and Gleeson court but also of some of the finer, more subtle points not only of the cases but also of the inner workings of the court.

This biography is not authorised in the sense that Mary Gaudron QC was not interviewed or assist in it. Yet the depth of the research, including many references to interviews and discussions with those who either know her or were involved in her work, mean that this book rightly sits amongst the important Australia judicial biographies. There is much to interest, enjoy and even learn from this book, with both the law minded and the more general lay reader able to appreciate and honour this judicial life.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

As Michael Kirby notes in his foreword, the genre of judicial biography is not a particularly sizeable one. But that could easily change when pioneers such as Mary Gaudron have served on the bench. It is clear from very early on that Gaudron did not participate in this biography and perhaps finds it inexplicable as to why someone would write it. Nevertheless, her life in the law has been quite remarkable. As a pioneering female barrister in the male-dominated world of the Sydney Bar, she cut a trail of her own and marked herself out as a fearless performer. Her stature as a role model for women not only in the law but in other areas of public and working life makes this a thoroughly enjoyable read. Throughout the book her commitment to social justice and in particular the rights of women and other marginalised groups comes through. In particular, much is made of her time as NSW Solicitor-General and later on the High Court.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and enjoyed the exploration of her judicial philosophy, marked as it was by a compassionate judicial liberalism. Her time on the Court under Chief Justice Mason and her work in Mabo are also explored. I hope that this book achieves a broad audience despite the subject's reluctance to be involved.

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars.

[Velvetink]

Mary Genevieve Gaudron, AC, QC (born 5 January 1943), Australian lawyer and judge, was the first female Justice of the High Court of Australia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Gau...

[Dwight Walker]

Sounds very interesting. My father was District Officer of the AWB in Moree in the 1960s.