The Hon. Paul Brereton AM RFD SC (1957 -) has been a solicitor, barrister, senior counsel, judge and judge of appeal of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, Deputy Chair of the NSW Law Reform Commission and Deputy President of the Defence Force Discipline Appeal Tribunal. He has extensive experience leading complex and sensitive investigations, including as Assistant Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force when he delivered the Afghanistan Inquiry Report.
In 2023, he retired from the Supreme Court on being appointed as the inaugural Chief Commissioner of the National Anti-Corruption Commission.
Digital print on aluminium
2023
The Hon. Paul Brereton AM RFD SC
Rohan Thomas
“One can look to formal, public portraits to locate something of that ‘masculine decision’, sternness eminence, and authoritative physical presence. Tom Roberts’s 1892 portrait of the recently-knighted judge – also gifted to the Gallery by William’s great-grandchildren in 2009 – for example, places him as the third in a trio of paintings referred to by Roberts as ‘Church, State and the Law’ (the other two subjects being Parkes and Cardinal Patrick Moran). But it is in the small portraits never intended for public view that his eminence is prefigured, and more specifically, where one can discern something of the strong sense of public duty that emerged from William’s private experience and circumstances, and the models set for him by his family.”
By Joanna Gilmour (National Portrait Gallery)
Oil on canvas (reproduced 2024)
1893
Sir William Charles Windeyer
Tom Roberts
Watercolour and gouache on ivory (reproduced 2024)
c.1850s
Mary Windeyer
Unknown artist
“Lady Mary Elizabeth Windeyer (1836–1912), women's rights campaigner, was born in England and emigrated to New South Wales with her family in 1839. Her father, an Anglican minister, was appointed to the Hunter Valley village of Hexham, close to Richard and Maria Windeyer's Tomago estate. In December 1857, Mary married the Windeyers' only child, William Charles, who encouraged her charitable work and political activities. Her energies were directed to causes relating to orphans and infant health, including the establishment of a foundling hospital (later the Ashfield Infants' Home) which subsequently became a home for destitute, unmarried mothers and their babies. Her friendship with Henry Parkes facilitated the passage of the State Children's Relief Act in 1881 and the establishment of a board (on which Mary served) to oversee the fostering of children from orphanages. Windeyer was also a leading campaigner on issues such as divorce law reform and increased employment opportunities for women. The inaugural president of the Womanhood Suffrage League of New South Wales, she was a founder of the Women's Hospital, Darlinghurst; co-founder of the Women's College of the University of Sydney; and prominent in the Women's Christian Temperance Union.
This delicately painted oval miniature portrait portrays Windeyer as a young woman wearing a prominent cross, a nod to her devout religious beliefs.”
National Portrait Gallery
Gelatin silver photo on aluminium (reproduced 2023)
c.1902-1911
Ada E Evans
The Swiss Studios
“Ada Emily Evans (1872–1947) was the first Australian woman to attain a law degree and the first woman admitted to the Bar in New South Wales. Evans was eleven when her family moved from England to Australia and settled in Sydney. She finished her schooling at Sydney Girls' High and then undertook a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Sydney, graduating in 1895. Initially planning to become a teacher, she and her sister started a small private school at Summer Hill, until Evans had to give up the work for health reasons. With encouragement from her mother – who was from a family of lawyers – in 1899 Evans decided to return to university to study law, despite knowing that, as the law then stood, she wouldn't be able to practise after graduating. Nor for that matter, would the Dean of Sydney University's law school have tolerated a female student – so she applied (and was accepted) while he was on leave. He later told her that 'she did not have the physique for law and would find medicine more suitable'. Needless to say, Evans ignored this advice and graduated LL.B. in 1902. This achievement was reported on in a number of Australian newspapers, which also drily noted that 'the law a present in force does not permit ladies to practise the legal profession'. Accordingly, Evans' application to the Supreme Court for registration as a student-at-law was rejected – on the grounds of there being no precedent – as were her applications to be admitted to the Bar in New South Wales and in England.”
National Portrait Gallery
Sir Francis Forbes (1784-1841) served as the first Chief Justice of New South Wales. Born in Bermuda, Forbes travelled to London to study law at the age of 19, and was called to the Bar in 1812. In 1822 following an inquiry into the colony’s judicial affairs, Forbes was appointed the first Chief Justice of New South Wales to oversee the reform of the legal system. He is responsible for assisting the drafting the New South Wales Act 1823 which, along with the Charter of Justice, formed the basis of the Supreme Court’s comprehensive jurisdiction in New South Wales. He was an ex officio member of the Executive Council and the Legislative Council, with considerable power conferred upon him as sole judge.
During his time as Chief Justice, Forbes championed the introduction of trial by jury in New South Wales, was a strong advocate for free education, and ultimately left an impressive legacy by establishing legal precedents that remain relevant today.
He retired as Chief Justice in 1837 following bouts of ill-health, spurred on by conflict with governor Sir Ralph Darling. In the same year he received a Knighthood for his “integrity and ability, legal knowledge and devotion to His Majesty’s service.”
Oil on canvas (reproduced 2024)
c.1824
Sir Francis Forbes
Unknown artist
This drawing by Franke Dunne (1898 – 1937) is a part of the Chau Chak Wing Museum collection. The profile portrait of Sir William Portus Cullen, seventh Chief Justice of NSW, was drawn during his appointment.
Sir William Cullen (1855-1935) was called to the New South Wales Bar in 1883 before taking high rank at the Equity Bar. He appeared before the Supreme Court of New South Wales and the High Court in a number of landmark cases including the Union Label case, eventually becoming a leading barrister in the High Court. In January 1910, he was appointed the seventh Chief Justice of New South Wales, and in March of the same year he was appointed Lieutenant Governor. He had a successful judicial and political career in these roles, and was known for worthily upholding traditions of the court and administering the law with excellent knowledge and sound judgement.
Graphite and ink on paper (reprint)
1923
Sir William Portus Cullen
Franke Dunne
Attributed to colonial portrait painter John B East, the pencil sketch of Sir James Dowling is a part of the State Library of NSW collection. Dowling was the second Chief Justice of NSW, stepping into the role following retirement of Francis Forbes in 1837.
Sir James Dowling (1787–1844) arrived in New South Wales from England in 1828 after applying to the Colonial Office for an appointment as judge. He served alongside Francis Forbes and John Stephen until 1835, when was he appointed Acting Chief Justice of New South Wales in Francis Forbes’ absence. In 1837, Forbes retired and Dowling stepped into the role of Chief Justice, where he successfully established himself through his competence in discharging his judicial duties, his tact and his kindness.
Pencil and watercolour on paper (reprint)
1838
His Honour Mr Justice Dowling
Attributed to John B East
Frederick Garling (1775-1848) was the first appointed solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. Born in London, he worked as an architect, attorney in the Court of King’s Bench and a solicitor in the Court of Chancery. In 1814, he was selected to travel to New South Wales to conduct cases before the Court of Criminal Justice and the Supreme Court. Despite his ship being captured and plundered by an American privateer off the island of Madeira, he reached Australia in 1815 and was appointed his a magistrate of the colony. Admitted on 21 May 1824 as the first name on the Roll of Attorneys, Solicitors and Proctors, he subsequently became Government Solicitor and Deputy Judge Advocate. During his term as Crown solicitor, Garling enjoyed a large private practise and frequently appeared in Court on behalf of his clients.
This portrait was donated to the Supreme Court by Mrs Jennifer Wood and Mr Rodney Garling, fifth generation descendants of Frederick Garling.
Oil on canvas
c.1824
Frederick Garling
Unknown artist
Phil Carrick
Chief Justice Murray Gleeson of the High Court
Chief Justice Murray Gleeson of the High Court, photographed by Phil Carrick in 2003 for Fairfax Media.
The Honourable Anthony Murray Gleeson (1938 - ) served as the eleventh Chief Justice of the Australia High Court from 1998 to 2008. Admitted to the New South Wales Bar in 1963 and appointed Queens Counsel in 1974, he was one of the state’s leading barristers and was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales in 1988. He was elevated from the Supreme Court of New South Wales to the High Court in 1998, making him one of only two people to have been elevated directly from chief justiceship of a state to the chief justiceship of the High Court.
Print on chromaluxe
2003
Mum Shirl outside Redfern Aboriginal Legal Service
Elaine Pelot Syron
Photograph of Mum Shirl outside Redfern Aboriginal Legal Service by Elaine Pelot Syron, a photographer dedicated to documenting Indigenous stories across Australia. This photographs forms part of Syron’s 2019 exhibition ‘Mum Shirl Black Saint of Redfern’. The exhibition of limited edition photographs celebrated the life of Coleen Shirley Perry Smith, better known as ‘Mum Shirl’.
Mum Shirl (1921-1998) was a Wiradjuri woman who became a prominent activist dedicated to the justice of Aboriginal Australians. In a predominantly white Australian society where Aboriginal Australians had little to no rights, she championed Aboriginal welfare by assisting Aboriginal prisoners to navigate the legal system. She became a strong advocate for the legal rights of Aboriginal Australians, and in 1971, she helped to found the Redfern Aboriginal Legal Service to continue her work.
Print on chromaluxe
1985
Aunty Ali Golding and Chief Justice Spigelman
Margaret Olah
James Jacob Spigelman (1946 -), who served as Chief Justice of New South Wales from 1998 to 2011, pictured alongside Aunty Ali Golding, a grassroots Indigenous leader. Spigelman, who since his time as Chief Justice has sat on multiple Courts including in Fiji and Hong Kong, has helped to foster close relationships between the Australian judiciary and other judiciaries.
Aunty Ali Golding, a Biripi woman who grew up on an Aboriginal mission outside Taree, became one of the first Aboriginal education assistants at Cleveland High School in Queensland in the 1980s, and graduated from Nungaliya College in Darwin with a Diploma of Theology in 2004. She has made important contributions to national and international forums, and has convened with many dignitaries to deepen public understanding of Indigenous heritage and culture. She was appointed inaugural Elder in Residence in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of NSW in 2011, helping to support the training of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander doctors.
Permission from Dennis Golding
Print on chromaluxe
1999
Wood etching on paper
1886
Mr. Darley, Chief Justice of New South Wales
Unknown artist
Wood etching of Sir Frederick Darley (1830-1910), sixth Chief Justice of New South Wales and lieutenant governor. Born in Ireland, he arrived in Sydney in 1862. He was admitted to the New South Wales Bar the same year and appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1878. In 1886 he was appointed Chief Justice of New South Wales, not before turning down the role once prior. He retired from the role in 1910.
In addition to his role in the judiciary, he served at Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales and was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council. He was a regular participant in debates, and introduced a number of progressive acts including reforms on marriages and divorce.
Portrait by Dora Schipper, Australian artist active in the 1950s.
John Henry McClemens (1905 – 1975) was appointed judge of the Supreme Court in 1951. When the Supreme Court Act (1970) came into effect in 1972, McClemens was appointed chief judge at common law, a position he relinquished shortly before he stepped down as a judge on attaining the statutory retiring age on 7 March 1975; at that time he was the longest-serving judge on the Supreme Court.
Oil on canvas
1954
Justice John Henry McClemens
Dora Schipper
Digital Print
2021/2022.
The Hon. Tom Bathurst sitting for portrait
Justice John Sackar
Photograph taken by Chief Justice Bathurst’s colleague and long standing friend, the Hon Justice John Sackar, whilst Bathurst was sitting for his portrait by Robert Hannaford. The portrait hangs in the Banco Court
Bathurst was called to the Bar in 1977 and appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1987. After serving as both President of the Australian Bar Association and President of the New South Wales Bar Association, he was appointed Chief Justice of New South Wales from 2011. During his time as Chief Justice, he facilitated the rapid uptake of technology by the court spurred on by a global pandemic, making the court more modern and accessible. He retired in 2022.
Print on chromaluxe
c.1931
Street Family
Unknown artist
Sir Phillip Street, Lady Street, Mr Justice Kenneth Street and Mr E.W. Street in Justice Kenneth Street’s office, New South Wales, ca. 1931
Sir Philip Street was prominent judicial figure in New South Wales in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He was sworn in as judge of the Supreme Court in 1907, and after stints as deputy president of the Court of Arbitration and as chief judge in Equity, he served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from 1925 to 1934. In 1930, he was commissioned as lieutenant governor. His wife Lady Street was a diplomat and Australia’s first female delegate to the United Nations where she campaigned for the inclusion of gender as a non-discrimination clause in the United Nations Charter.
Their son, Sir Kenneth Street also served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and lieutenant-governor of New South Wales. His ascension to the Supreme Court in 1931 marked the first time a father and son had presided over the same Australia court.
Photograph negative is held by the State Library of Western Australia. In 1916, Ada Norton became one of the first women to successfully claim her abusive late husband’s estate using the backdated Testator’s Family Maintenance (TFM) Act 1912. When member of the Legislative Assembly John Norton died in 2016, his estate was valued at 106,000 pounds. His will excluded his wife Ada, whom had brought divorce proceedings against him one year earlier on the grounds of habitual cruelty and adultery. She brought a claim for the estate under the Testator’s Family Maintenance Act and was among one of the first successful applicants under the Act.
Daguerreotype, print on chromaluxe
1927
Ada Norton
Unknown artist
Lieutenant Governor of New South Wales Sir William Portus Cullen and Lady Eliza Jane Cullen holding a bouquet of flowers, New South Wales
Unknown artist
Sir William Portus Collen, leading Australian barrister and seventh Chief Justice of New South Wales, photographed by Elaine Pelot Syron alongside his wife Lady Cullen in 1985. Lady Cullen was an accomplished figure in her own right, as the founding vice-president of the New South Wales division of the British Red Cross and president of the Australian Red Cross Society. She was also president of the Victoria Leaue, vice-president of the Bush Book Club of New South Wales of New South Wales and chief commissioner of the State’s Girl Guides’ Association.
Print on chromaluxe
1930
Drawing by Barbara Macfarlan, wife of Justice Bruce Macfarlan, depicting three wigged and gowned judges of the Supreme Court. It was gifted to the Supreme Court of New South Wales by Robert Macfarlan in 30 January 2024. Bruce Mcfarlan was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in 1936 and was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1959 where he served as Judge in Admiralty and Judge in Commercial Causes.
Charcoal on paper
1966
3 Supreme Court Judges
Barbara Macfarlan
Sir Laurence Street, who served as tenth Chief Justice, and Lieutenant-Governor, of New South Wales was the third generation in the prominent Street family to serve in judicial and political positions. He was the son of Sir Kenneth Street and the grandson of Sir Phillip Street, both of whom served as Chief Justice and Lieutenant Governor during their careers. During his time Sir Laurence practised extensively in equity, commercial law and maritime law, pioneered alternative dispute resolution and worked prolifically in mediation. He retired from the Bench in 1988.
Print on chromaluxe
1988
Chief Justice Laurence Street
Michael Rayner
Daguerreotype (reprinted)
c.1917-20
Sheriff Walsh in uniform
The Crown Studio
Crown Studios was situated on the corner of George and Market Streets. It was the largest photographic company in Sydney during the 1890s. In 1893-4, a time of severe economic depression, Crown studios was averaging fifty-five portrait sitters per day.
This daguerreotype pictures Charles Richard Walsh (1853 – 1938), who became the Court’s Prothonotary in 1896 and during WWI assumed the additional role of Sheriff. He is pictured here in the Prothonotary’s uniform, which features a ceremonial rapier and bicorn.
Percy Coleman outside the Supreme Court wearing a wig and gown, NSW
F. S. Grimes
From the Fairfax Media Archives collection. Percy Edmund Creed Coleman (1892 – 1934) was a union organiser and politician. In the 1932 NSW State election he lost only by a narrow margin to Jack Lang. After his defeat, Coleman was admitted to the NSW Bar in 1933, but soon took up the post of NSW (federal) ALP President. He died suddenly in his car a year after this photograph was taken.
Print on chromaluxe
1933
One of the only surviving Associates class photos from the history of the Court, the work depicts the Class of 1937 and demonstrates the evolution of Associates from the 20th century to today.
Print on paper
1937
Supreme Court Associates Class Photo
Unknown artist
Robert Hannaford (1944 -) is a prolific Australian artist responsible for painting the portraits of some of the country’s most notable figures. He has been recognised for his works with a plethora of awards and has been an Archibald Prize finalist on 26 occasions.
The Hon. Kenneth Handley (1935 - ) served as a Judge on the New South Wales Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal for 22 years. Prior to his appointment in 1990, he practised at the Sydney Bar for 30 years, appearing frequently in the High Court and the Privy Council. He retired from the Supreme Court in 2006 and from the Court of Appeal in 2012.
The original portrait by Hannaford hangs in Cranbrook School.
Digital print (oil on canvas)
2004
The Hon. Kenneth Handley
Robert Hannaford