Selden Society lecture series Australia

Justice Mary Gaudron

Supreme Court Library Queensland Season 3 Episode 22

Mary Genevieve Gaudron was the first woman to be appointed a justice of the High Court of Australia. Gaudron served on the Court as one of its most influential members for 16 years (1987–2003), and her career has been described as ‘a classic example of talent and industry triumphant over limited opportunity’. 

Listen as the Hon Roslyn Atkinson AO tells the fascinating story of Gaudron’s stellar career. From being the first woman in New South Wales to be appointed as Solicitor-General and Queen’s Counsel, to her appointment as a justice of the High Court of Australia at 43, to her term as President of the International Labour Organisation’s Administrative Tribunal in Geneva.

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