The Australian Women's Register

Summary

Marcelle Allayne Kiddle completed two years of medicine at the University of Melbourne before her career was interrupted by marriage.

After a stint as a dancer, including a contract with the BBC, she enrolled at the London School of Economics (LSE) and graduated LLB (Hons) in 1956. Allayne or “Kiddle” (as she preferred to be known) read for the English Bar and was admitted to the Middle Temple in London, before returning to Melbourne. After signing the Bar Roll in 1959 (the sixth woman to do so), she read with Bill Kaye. She had hoped for a broad practice, but specialised in divorce.

During the 1960s, she returned to LSE to complete a Master of Laws. She appeared with Philip Opas QC at London’s Privy Council during the Ronald Ryan trial in the late 1960s.