List of justices of the High Court of Australia

Forty-nine men and five women have served as justices of the High Court of Australia since its formation under the Judiciary Act 1903. Under Section 71 of the Australian Constitution, the judicial power of the Commonwealth of Australia is vested in the court,[1] and it has been the highest court in the Australian court hierarchy since the passing of the Australia Act 1986.

Official photograph of the first session of the High Court of Australia in the Banco Court, Supreme Court of Victoria, 6 October 1903. The mounting is autographed by the three foundation justices: from left to right, Edmund Barton, Samuel Griffith and Richard O'Connor.

In a May 2017 speech, Justice Virginia Bell observed that "few Australians outside the law schools are likely to be able to name the Chief Justice, let alone the puisne Justices of the High Court".[2]

History

The court is currently composed of seven judges: six Justices and the Chief Justice of Australia.

Appointments were for life until 1977, when a mandatory retirement age of 70 was established, though several post-1977 Justices have retired before reaching the age of 70 (William Deane resigned as a Justice to be appointed Governor-General).

List of Justices

The current judges are listed in bold on the table below.

#	Image	Name	State	Birth – death	Position	Term began	Term ended	Days in office	PM at app't	Prev. experience	Notes
1		Sir Samuel Griffith	Qld	1845–1920	Chief Justice	5 October 1903	17 October 1919	5,856	Deakin	Chief Justice, Sup Ct of Qld
2		Sir Edmund Barton	NSW	1849–1920	Justice	5 October 1903	7 January 1920	5,938	Deakin	None	Former Prime Minister Died in office
3		Richard O'Connor	NSW	1851–1912	Justice	5 October 1903	18 November 1912	3,332	Deakin	None	Died in office
4		Sir Isaac Isaacs	Vic	1855–1948	Justice	12 October 1906	21 January 1931	8,867 [lower-alpha 1]	Deakin	None	Resigned to be appointed Governor-General
					Chief Justice	2 April 1930	21 January 1931	294	Scullin
5		H. B. Higgins	Vic	1851–1929	Justice	13 October 1906	13 January 1929	8,128	Deakin	None	Died in office
6		Sir Frank Gavan Duffy	Vic	1852–1936	Justice	11 February 1913	1 October 1935	8,267 [lower-alpha 1]	Fisher	None
					Chief Justice	22 January 1931	1 October 1935	1,713	Scullin
7		Sir Charles Powers	Qld	1853–1939	Justice	5 March 1913	22 July 1929	5,983	Fisher	None
8*		Albert Piddington	NSW	1862–1945	Justice	6 March 1913	5 April 1913	30 [lower-alpha 2]	Fisher	None	Resigned before sitting
9		Sir George Rich	NSW	1863–1956	Justice	5 April 1913	5 May 1950	13,544	Fisher	Sup Ct of NSW
10		Sir Adrian Knox	NSW	1863–1932	Chief Justice	18 October 1919	31 March 1930	3,817	Hughes	None
11		Sir Hayden Starke	Vic	1871–1958	Justice	5 February 1920	31 January 1950	10,953	Hughes	None
12		Sir Owen Dixon	Vic	1886–1972	Justice	4 February 1929	13 April 1964	12852 [lower-alpha 1]	Bruce	None
					Chief Justice	18 April 1952	13 April 1964	4378 [lower-alpha 1]	Menzies
13		H. V. Evatt	NSW	1894–1965	Justice	19 December 1930	2 September 1940	3,545	Scullin	None	Resigned to return to politics
14		Sir Edward McTiernan	NSW	1892–1990	Justice	20 December 1930	12 September 1976	16,703	Scullin	None
15		Sir John Latham	Vic	1877–1964	Chief Justice	11 October 1935	7 April 1952	6,023	Lyons	None
16		Sir Dudley Williams	NSW	1889–1963	Justice	15 October 1940	31 July 1958	6,498	Menzies	Sup Ct of NSW
17		Sir William Webb	Qld	1887–1972	Justice	16 May 1946	16 May 1958	4,383	Chifley	Chief Justice, Sup Ct of Qld
18		Sir Wilfred Fullagar	Vic	1892–1961	Justice	8 February 1950	9 July 1961	4,169	Menzies	Sup Ct of Vic	Died in office
19		Sir Frank Kitto	NSW	1903–1994	Justice	10 May 1950	1 August 1970	7,388	Menzies	None
20		Sir Alan Taylor	NSW	1901–1969	Justice	3 September 1952	3 August 1969	6,178	Menzies	Sup Ct of NSW	Died in office
21		Sir Douglas Menzies	Vic	1907–1974	Justice	12 June 1958	29 November 1974	6,014	Menzies	None	Died in office
22		Sir Victor Windeyer	NSW	1900–1987	Justice	8 September 1958	29 February 1972	4,922	Menzies	None
23		Sir William Owen	NSW	1899–1972	Justice	22 September 1961	31 March 1972	3,843	Menzies	Sup Ct of NSW	Died in office
24		Sir Garfield Barwick	NSW	1903–1997	Chief Justice	27 April 1964	11 February 1981	6,134	Menzies	None
25		Sir Cyril Walsh	NSW	1909–1973	Justice	20 September 1969	29 November 1973	1,531	Gorton	Sup Ct of NSW NSW Ct of App	Died in office
26		Sir Harry Gibbs	Qld	1917–2005	Justice	4 August 1970	5 February 1987	6029 [lower-alpha 1]	Gorton	Fed Ct of BK Sup Ct of Qld
					Chief Justice	12 February 1981	5 February 1987	2184 [lower-alpha 1][lower-alpha 3]	Fraser
27		Sir Ninian Stephen	Vic	1923–2017	Justice	1 March 1972	11 May 1982	3,723	McMahon	Sup Ct of Vic	Resigned to be appointed Governor-General
28		Sir Anthony Mason	NSW	1925–	Justice	7 August 1972	20 April 1995	8,291 [lower-alpha 1]	McMahon	Sup Ct of NSW NSW Ct of App
					Chief Justice	6 February 1987	20 April 1995	2995 [lower-alpha 3]	Hawke
29		Sir Kenneth Jacobs	NSW	1917–2015	Justice	8 February 1974	6 April 1979	1,883	Whitlam	Sup Ct of NSW NSW Ct of App
30		Lionel Murphy	NSW	1922–1986	Justice	10 February 1975	21 October 1986	4,271	Whitlam	None	Died in office
31		Sir Keith Aickin	Vic	1916–1982	Justice	20 September 1976	18 June 1982	2,097	Fraser	None	Died in office
32		Sir Ronald Wilson	WA	1922–2005	Justice	21 May 1979	13 February 1989	3,556 [lower-alpha 3]	Fraser	None
33		Sir Gerard Brennan	Qld	1928–	Justice	12 February 1981	21 May 1998	6,307 [lower-alpha 1][lower-alpha 3]	Fraser	Fed Ct
					Chief Justice	21 April 1995	21 May 1998	1126 [lower-alpha 3]	Keating
34		Sir William Deane	NSW	1931–	Justice	25 June 1982	11 November 1995	4,887 [lower-alpha 3]	Fraser	Fed Ct	Resigned to be appointed Governor-General
35		Sir Daryl Dawson	Vic	1933–	Justice	30 July 1982	15 August 1997	5,495 [lower-alpha 3]	Fraser	None
36		John Toohey	WA	1930–2015	Justice	6 February 1987	2 February 1998	4,014 [lower-alpha 3]	Hawke	Fed Ct
37		Mary Gaudron	NSW	1943–	Justice	6 February 1987	31 January 2003	5,838 [lower-alpha 3]	Hawke	None
38		Michael McHugh	NSW	1935–	Justice	14 February 1989	31 October 2005	6,104 [lower-alpha 3]	Hawke	Sup Ct of NSW NSW Ct of App
39		William Gummow	NSW	1942–	Justice	21 April 1995	8 October 2012	6,381 [lower-alpha 3]	Keating	Fed Ct
40		Michael Kirby	NSW	1939–	Justice	6 February 1996	2 February 2009	4,745 [lower-alpha 3]	Keating	Sup Ct of NSW Pres, NSW Ct of App
41		Kenneth Hayne	Vic	1945–	Justice	22 September 1997	5 June 2015	6,465 [lower-alpha 3]	Howard	Sup Ct of Vic Vic Ct of App
42		Ian Callinan	Qld	1937–	Justice	3 February 1998	31 August 2007[3]	3,496 [lower-alpha 3]	Howard	None
43		Murray Gleeson	NSW	1938–	Chief Justice	22 May 1998	29 August 2008[4]	3,752 [lower-alpha 3]	Howard	Chief Justice, Sup Ct of NSW
44		Dyson Heydon	NSW	1943–	Justice	1 February 2003	28 February 2013	3,681 [lower-alpha 3]	Howard	Sup Ct of NSW NSW Ct of App
45		Susan Crennan	Vic	1945–	Justice	1 November 2005	2 February 2015	3,381 [lower-alpha 3]	Howard	Fed Ct
46		Susan Kiefel	Qld	1954–	Justice	4 September 2007	Incumbent	4,905 [lower-alpha 1][lower-alpha 3]	Howard	Sup Ct of Qld Fed Ct
					Chief Justice	30 January 2017	Incumbent	1,469 [lower-alpha 3]	Turnbull
47		Robert French	WA	1947–	Chief Justice	8 September 2008[4]	29 January 2017	3,072 [lower-alpha 3]	Rudd	Fed Ct
48		Virginia Bell	NSW	1951–	Justice	3 February 2009[5]	Incumbent	4,387 [lower-alpha 3]	Rudd	Sup Ct of NSW NSW Ct of App
49		Stephen Gageler	NSW	1958–	Justice	9 October 2012[6]	Incumbent	3,043 [lower-alpha 3]	Gillard	None
50		Patrick Keane	Qld	1952–	Justice	1 March 2013	Incumbent	2,900 [lower-alpha 3]	Gillard	Sup Ct of Qld Fed Ct
51		Geoffrey Nettle	Vic	1950–	Justice	3 February 2015	30 November 2020	2,127 [lower-alpha 3]	Abbott	Sup Ct of Vic
52		Michelle Gordon	Vic	1964–	Justice	9 June 2015	Incumbent	2,070 [lower-alpha 3]	Abbott	Fed Ct
53		James Edelman	WA	1974–	Justice	30 January 2017	Incumbent	1,469 [lower-alpha 3]	Turnbull	Fed Ct Sup Ct of WA
54		Simon Steward	Vic	1969–	Justice	1 December 2020	Incumbent	68 [lower-alpha 3]	Morrison	Fed Ct

1. Terms as Puisne Justice and Chief Justice combined
2. Albert Piddington resigned from the High Court before being sworn in. He never sat on the High Court bench.
3. Justices to whom mandatory retirement (age 70) applied/applies; appointments since 1977

Current Justices

Name	State	Date appointed	Mandatory retirement	Appointing Governor-General	Nominating Prime Minister	Previous posting(s)	Education
Susan Kiefel AC QC (Chief Justice)	Qld	30 January 2017 (as Chief Justice) 4 September 2007 (as Justice)	17 January 2024	Peter Cosgrove (as Chief Justice) Michael Jeffery (as Justice)	Malcolm Turnbull (Liberal, as Chief Justice) John Howard (Liberal, as Justice)	Supreme Court of Queensland Federal Court of Australia	Barristers' Admissions Board University of Cambridge
Virginia Bell AC SC	NSW	3 February 2009	7 March 2021	Quentin Bryce	Kevin Rudd (Labor)	Supreme Court of New South Wales	University of Sydney
Stephen Gageler AC SC	NSW	9 October 2012	5 July 2028	Quentin Bryce	Julia Gillard (Labor)	Solicitor-General of Australia	Australian National University Harvard University
Patrick Keane AC QC	Qld	1 March 2013	26 October 2022	Quentin Bryce	Julia Gillard (Labor)	Supreme Court of Queensland Federal Court of Australia	University of Queensland University of Oxford
Michelle Gordon AC SC	Vic	9 June 2015	19 November 2034	Peter Cosgrove	Tony Abbott (Liberal)	Federal Court of Australia	University of Western Australia
James Edelman	WA	30 January 2017	9 January 2044	Peter Cosgrove	Malcolm Turnbull (Liberal)	Supreme Court of Western Australia Federal Court of Australia	University of Western Australia Murdoch University University of Oxford
Simon Steward	Vic	1 December 2020[7]	9 January 2039[8]	David Hurley	Scott Morrison (Liberal)	Federal Court of Australia	University of Melbourne

Future Justices

On 28 October 2020, it was announced that a further appointment will be made in 2021, replacing Justice Bell who is due to retire:[7]

Name	State	Date to be appointed	Mandatory retirement	Appointing Governor-General	Nominating Prime Minister	Previous posting(s)	Education
Jacqueline Gleeson	NSW	1 March 2021[7]	6 March 2036[8]	David Hurley	Scott Morrison (Liberal)	Federal Court of Australia	University of Sydney

Composition of the High Court

13 politicians, serving or former, have been appointed to the High Court of Australia. Nine justices have served in the Parliament of Australia: Edmund Barton, Richard O'Connor, Isaac Isaacs, H. B. Higgins, Edward McTiernan, H. V. Evatt, John Latham, Garfield Barwick, and Lionel Murphy. All but Evatt were appointed after their parliamentary service; Evatt resigned from the bench in order to pursue his federal political career, although he had previously served in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly. In addition to the above, four justices served in colonial parliaments: Samuel Griffith, Charles Powers, Albert Piddington and Adrian Knox, although all concluded their political careers more than 10 years prior to their appointments. As of 2020, the most recent justice to serve in state or federal parliament is Lionel Murphy.

This following chart illustrates the composition of the High Court. It indicates the seven seats of the court, and who has occupied each seat at different points in the court's existence. The red portions represent the future part of a judge's term and show the date at which they are bound to retire from the court (although they may choose to retire before that date). The blue portions of a judge's term show a period in which that judge was Chief Justice.

See also

• High Court of Australia
• List of law schools attended by Australian High Court Justices
• List of Chief Justices of Australia by time in office
• List of jurists

References

1. Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act (Cth) s 71
2. Bell, Virginia (29 May 2017). "Examining the Judge: Launch of Issue 40(2) UNSW Law Journal" (PDF). High Court of Australia. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
3. "Callinan retires from High Court", Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 31 August 2007. Accessed 31 August 2007.
4. "Chief Justice honoured at retirement ceremony". ABC News. 29 August 2008. Retrieved 30 August 2008.
5. "Michael Kirby leaves High Court bench with 'faith' in law intact". The Australian. 2 February 2009. Retrieved 2 February 2009.
6. "Solicitor-General Gagelar appointed to High Court". ABC News. 21 August 2012. Retrieved 21 August 2012.
7. Morrison, Scott (28 October 2020). "Press Conference - Australian Parliament House, ACT". Prime Minister of Australia. Commonwealth of Australia. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
8. "Federal Court of Australia". Australian Government Directory. Commonwealth of Australia. Retrieved 28 October 2020.

External links

• High Court of Australia – official website