Pioneering Australian judge Mary Gaudron dies aged 83

The first woman to become a High Court judge in Australia, Mary Gaudron, has died at 83 years old.

Gaudron struggled against inequality in Australia’s legal system from the start of her career.

She was born in 1943 and raised in Moree, in northern NSW, before moving to study at the University of Sydney Law School in 1961 as a part-time student.

Gaudron recalled the university’s women’s common room had only recently been converted from a men’s urinal and every lecture would start with the greeting ‘gentlemen’. 

Her hardship only worsened off campus where she was repeatedly denied clerkships because lawyers refused to hire women.

She went on to become the youngest federal judge on the former Conciliation and Arbitration Commission and the first female NSW solicitor-general.

Gaudron reached her most notable achievement at age 44, becoming the first female judge of Australia’s High Court in 1987.

She retired from the position in 2003, aged 60, to serve on the International Labour Organisation’s Administrative Tribunal in Geneva.

Attorney-General Michelle Rowland described Gaudron as ‘a trailblazer of remarkable intellect who helped reshape the legal profession in Australia’.

‘Justice Gaudron broke barriers at every stage of an extraordinary legal career, and we will remember her contributions for decades to come.’  

The Justices of the High Court released a statement sending ‘their sincere sympathies to Ms Gaudron’s family’.

‘Throughout her distinguished career, Ms Gaudron advanced the role of women in the legal profession and in the judiciary by her advocacy as well as her example,’ the statement read.

‘As a Justice of the High Court for 16 years, her impact on its institutional character and contribution to its work were profound.’

Gaudron had two daughters, Danielle and Julienne, and a son, Patrick.