Gerard Brennan
Encyclopedia
Sir Francis Gerard Brennan, AC
, KBE
, QC
(born 22 May 1928), is an Australian lawyer, judge and 10th Chief Justice of Australia
. He is father to Jesuit priest and lawyer Frank Brennan.
Born in Rockhampton
, he was educated at Downlands College
in Toowoomba
, and the University of Queensland (BA
and LLB
). In 1951 he was admitted to the Queensland Bar
. Sir Gerard was appointed a QC in Queensland in 1965 and subsequently in New South Wales
, Northern Territory
, Papua New Guinea
and Fiji
. Although his practice was based in Brisbane
, he was senior counsel for the Alliance Party
in Lord Denning's arbitration in Fiji Sugar Industry in 1969; in 1972, senior prosecutor
in the long-running trial for the murder
of the District Commissioner in Rabaul
, Papua New Guinea; and, in 1974, senior counsel for the Northern Land Council
in the Woodward Commission into Aboriginal Land Rights in the Northern Territory.
He was President of the Bar association
of Queensland 1974-1976 and of the Australian Bar Association 1975 - 1976 and a member of the Executive of the Law Council of Australia 1974 - 1976. In 1975 he was a part-time member of the Australian Law Reform Commission
, retiring in 1977.
He was the first President of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in 1976, at which time he also served as a Judge
of the Australian Industrial Court and an additional Judge of the Supreme Court
s of the Australian Capital Territory and of the Northern Territory.
In 1977 he became a foundation judge of the Federal Court of Australia
. He became a Justice of the High Court
in 1981, and was appointed Chief Justice
in 1995, retiring in 1998.
Sir Gerard has variously been Judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal (2000), and External Judge of the Supreme Court of Fiji (1999–2000), Chancellor of the University of Technology, Sydney
(1999–2005) and Foundation Scientia Professor of Law
at the University of New South Wales
(1998). He has been an Honorary Visiting Professor of Law at UNSW. In Hong Kong
, he is known by a Chinese name (布仁立爵士, bù rén lì jué shì).
Sir Gerard was created a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1981, and a Companion of the Order of Australia in 1988. He has been awarded honorary degrees by the University of Melbourne
(Hon LLD), University of Technology, Sydney
(Hon LLD), University of Queensland
(Hon LLD), Griffith University
(Hon Duniv), Central Queensland University
(Hon Dlitt) and Trinity College, Dublin
(Hon LLD). He served as Chancellor of the University of Technology, Sydney from 1999 to 2005.
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"...
, KBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, 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 22 May 1928), is an Australian lawyer, judge and 10th Chief Justice of Australia
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...
. He is father to Jesuit priest and lawyer Frank Brennan.
Born in Rockhampton
Rockhampton, Queensland
Rockhampton is a city and local government area in Queensland, Australia. The city lies on the Fitzroy River, approximately from the river mouth, and some north of the state capital, Brisbane....
, he was educated at Downlands College
Downlands College
Downlands College, officially Downlands Sacred Heart College, is a private, secondary, coeducational, day and boarding school in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. Founded by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in 1931, the College began as a boarding school for boys with a total enrolment of...
in Toowoomba
Toowoomba, Queensland
Toowoomba is a city in Southern Queensland, Australia. It is located west of Queensland's capital city, Brisbane. With an estimated district population of 128,600, Toowoomba is Australia's second largest inland city and its largest non-capital inland city...
, and the University of Queensland (BA
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
and LLB
Bachelor of Laws
The Bachelor of Laws is an undergraduate, or bachelor, degree in law originating in England and offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree...
). In 1951 he was admitted to the Queensland Bar
Bar association
A bar association is a professional body of lawyers. Some bar associations are responsible for the regulation of the legal profession in their jurisdiction; others are professional organizations dedicated to serving their members; in many cases, they are both...
. Sir Gerard was appointed a QC in Queensland in 1965 and subsequently in 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...
, Northern Territory
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
, Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
and Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
. Although his practice was based in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, he was senior counsel for the Alliance Party
Fijian Alliance
The Alliance Party, was the ruling political party in Fiji from 1966 to 1987. Founded in the early 1960s, its leader was Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, the founding father of the modern Fijian nation...
in Lord Denning's arbitration in Fiji Sugar Industry in 1969; in 1972, senior prosecutor
Prosecutor
The prosecutor is the chief legal representative of the prosecution in countries with either the common law adversarial system, or the civil law inquisitorial system...
in the long-running trial for the murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
of the District Commissioner in Rabaul
Rabaul
Rabaul is a township in East New Britain province, Papua New Guinea. The town was the provincial capital and most important settlement in the province until it was destroyed in 1994 by falling ash of a volcanic eruption. During the eruption, ash was sent thousands of metres into the air and the...
, Papua New Guinea; and, in 1974, senior counsel for the Northern Land Council
Northern Land Council
The Northern Land Council is in the Top End of the Northern Territory of Australia. It has its origins in the struggle of Australian Aboriginal people for rights to fair wages and land. This included the strike and walk off by the Gurindji people at Wave Hill, cattle station in 1966. The head...
in the Woodward Commission into Aboriginal Land Rights in the Northern Territory.
He was President of the Bar association
Bar association
A bar association is a professional body of lawyers. Some bar associations are responsible for the regulation of the legal profession in their jurisdiction; others are professional organizations dedicated to serving their members; in many cases, they are both...
of Queensland 1974-1976 and of the Australian Bar Association 1975 - 1976 and a member of the Executive of the Law Council of Australia 1974 - 1976. In 1975 he was a part-time member of the Australian Law Reform Commission
Australian Law Reform Commission
The Australian Law Reform Commission is an Australian independent statutory body established to conduct reviews into the law of Australia and advocate options for law reform...
, retiring in 1977.
He was the first President of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in 1976, at which time he also served as a Judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
of the Australian Industrial Court and an additional Judge of the Supreme Court
Supreme court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of many legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, instance court, judgment court, high court, or apex court...
s of the Australian Capital Territory and of the Northern Territory.
In 1977 he became a foundation judge of the Federal Court of Australia
Federal Court of Australia
The Federal Court of Australia is an Australian superior court of record which has jurisdiction to deal with most civil disputes governed by federal law , along with some summary criminal matters. Cases are heard at first instance by single Judges...
. He became a Justice of the High Court
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...
in 1981, and was appointed 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...
in 1995, retiring in 1998.
Sir Gerard has variously been Judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal (2000), and External Judge of the Supreme Court of Fiji (1999–2000), Chancellor of the University of Technology, Sydney
University of Technology, Sydney
The University of Technology Sydney is a university in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The university was founded in its current form in 1981, although its origins trace back to the 1870s. UTS is notable for its central location as the only university with its main campuses within the Sydney CBD...
(1999–2005) and Foundation Scientia Professor of Law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
at the University of New South Wales
University 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...
(1998). He has been an Honorary Visiting Professor of Law at UNSW. In Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, he is known by a Chinese name (布仁立爵士, bù rén lì jué shì).
Sir Gerard was created a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1981, and a Companion of the Order of Australia in 1988. He has been awarded honorary degrees by the University of Melbourne
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
(Hon LLD), University of Technology, Sydney
University of Technology, Sydney
The University of Technology Sydney is a university in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The university was founded in its current form in 1981, although its origins trace back to the 1870s. UTS is notable for its central location as the only university with its main campuses within the Sydney CBD...
(Hon LLD), University of Queensland
University of Queensland
The University of Queensland, also known as UQ, is a public university located in state of Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest and largest university in Queensland and the fifth oldest in the nation...
(Hon LLD), Griffith University
Griffith University
Griffith University is a public, coeducational, research university located in the southeastern region of the Australian state of Queensland. The university has five satellite campuses located in the Gold Coast, Logan City and in the Brisbane suburbs of Mount Gravatt, Nathan and South Bank. Current...
(Hon Duniv), Central Queensland University
Central Queensland University
CQUniversity is an Australian public university based in Queensland. Its main campus is in North Rockhampton Queensland. However, it also has campuses in Bundaberg, Emerald, Gladstone and Mackay, as well as operations throughout Asia-Pacific. For instance, Melior Business School is one of its...
(Hon Dlitt) and Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
(Hon LLD). He served as Chancellor of the University of Technology, Sydney from 1999 to 2005.