The Australian Women's Register

Naida Haxton completed degrees in arts and then law at the University of Queensland. She was admitted to practise in 1966 (the first woman to actively practise at the Queensland Bar) and almost immediately began receiving briefs. Her practice was, to begin with, “commercial work, probate work, bankruptcy and some family law”.

In 1967 she received her first junior brief in the Supreme Court and in 1969, her first brief in the High Court. She read with Cedric Hampson. She also lectured at the University of Queensland in Land Law and Commercial Law, and frequently gave speeches to women’s organisations.

She moved after marriage to Sydney and was admitted to the NSW Bar in early 1972. She read with Murray Tobias and devilled for Bob St John and Jeremy Badgery-Parker and actively practised until the late 1970s.

From 1972 to 1981, Naida was editor of the Papua New Guinea Law Reports. In 1981, she was appointed Assistant Editor of the NSW Law Reports (NSWLR) until 2000 when she was made the Editor.

Naida also lectured at the University of Sydney, the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and for the Bar Association continuing education program.

She was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 2007 for her services to the legal profession and to the judiciary, particularly as Editor of the NSWLR and as a practitioner and educator.

Haxton Chambers in Brisbane is named in Naida’s honour. She retired from the bar in 2006.

Joan Martin worked in the Commonwealth Crown Solicitor’s Office from 1943 to 1987. She commenced her career as a typist and became a Legal Officer, rising to the position of Principal Legal Officer.

In 1943 when Joan joined the newly opened Crown Solicitor’s Office in Brisbane, Una Prentice and Mollie Whitehouse were Legal Officers.

Following the end of the War, she saw many women give up their jobs as men returned from the War. Joan became head typist but by 1960 was concerned at the prospect of spending her life behind a typewriter. In 1960, she completed the adult matriculation course and in 1961 she enrolled as a part-time law student at the University of Queensland.

Joan completed her studies in seven years. In December 1967 she was admitted as a barrister and was immediately appointed as a Legal Officer with the Crown Solicitor. Her work primarily involved tax and general recovery work. Joan became a Senior Legal Officer in 1973/4 in charge of the Taxation and General Recovery Section. She was appointed a Principal Legal Officer in 1985, in charge of the expanded Tax Recovery Section.

Joan remained in the Crown Solicitor’s Office until her retirement in 1987.

Robin Banks is the (2016) Tasmanian Equal Opportunity Commissioner, a position she has occupied since 2010.

Robin Banks was interviewed by Nikki Henningham in the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.

Magistrate Tamara Jago (appointed to the bench in 2016) holds the distinction of being the first woman in Tasmania to be made Senior Counsel. Honoured by the 2010 achievement, she understood her promotion to be an important one for Tasmanian women, but also believed it went a long way to dispelling the myth that Legal Aid lawyers are ‘second rate options’. Furthermore, having spent the bulk of her career working as a Legal Aid lawyer in north-western Tasmania, she believed her appointment proved there was talent in regional centres, and that moving to big cities in order to ‘make it’ wasn’t always necessary. Taking silk while working as a Legal Aid Lawyer in regional Tasmania, was ‘something special,’ said Jago, the mother of three young children. ‘At Legal Aid there are criminal lawyers that are just as good as anyone else or better.’

Tamara Jago was interviewed by Nikki Henningham in the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.

The Honourable Justice Shan Tennent was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court of Tasmania in 2005, making her the first woman to be appointed in the state’s (then) 180 year history. She is (in 2016) the second longest serving judge on the jurisdiction after the current Chief Justice The Hon Justice Alan Michael Blow, OAM.

Shan Tennent was interviewed by Nikki Henningham for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of AustraliaCATALOGUE RECORD.

Lyma Nguyen, an advocate whose earliest memories stem back to the Indonesian refugee camp in which she was born, has devoted the better part of her young life to human rights; she has particularly concerned herself with advancing criminal justice domestically and in the international sphere. Nguyen practises at the Northern Territory Bar in Darwin and also appears before the Khmer Rouge Tribunal (the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC)). In 2009, Nguyen became the first Australian woman to be admitted as International Counsel for Civil Parties in the ECCC. She acts on behalf of ethnic Vietnamese Cambodians – as well as foreign nationals from Australia, New Zealand and the United States – who suffered during the Khmer Rouge regime. In recognition of indefatigable, pro bono work for the rights of ethnic minority Vietnamese in Cambodia, Nguyen was awarded an Australian Prime Minister’s Executive Endeavour Award in 2013.

Lyma Nguyen was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.

The Federal Court of Australia was created by the Federal Court of Australia Act 1976 and began to exercise its jurisdiction on 1 February 1977. It is a superior court of record and a court of law and equity. It sits in all capital cities and elsewhere in Australia from time to time.

The Court’s jurisdiction is broad, covering almost all civil matters arising under Australian Federal law and some summary and indictable criminal matters.

A graduate of the University of Adelaide, Her Honour Judge Sue Oliver was admitted as a solicitor and barrister of the Supreme Court of South Australia in 1978 and then promptly moved with her (then) husband to Darwin, where she has lived ever since. She was appointed to the Northern Territory Magistrates Court (now called the Northern Territory Local Court) in 2006, after having practised law in a variety of public and private sectors contexts. As managing magistrate of the Northern Territory Youth Justice Court in the Northern Territory, she has a particular interest in and has published widely on matters relating to the complex issues surrounding the management of young offenders.

Since arriving in the N.T., Oliver has also contributed her time and energy to a variety of community and national organisations. These include the Family Planning Association, the YWCA, the International Legal Services Advisory Council, Commissioner for the NT Legal Aid Commission, committee member NT Law Society and Board Member of the Australian Women Lawyers. She is presently a member of the Country Women’s Association in Katherine.

Sue Oliver was interviewed by Nikki Henningham in the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.

The Family Court is a superior court of record established by Parliament in 1975 under Chapter 3 of the Constitution and deals with more complex matters. These may include:

• Parenting cases including those that involve a child welfare agency and/or allegations of sexual abuse or serious physical abuse of a child (Magellan cases), family violence and/or mental health issues with other complexities, multiple parties, complex cases where orders sought having the effect of preventing a parent from communicating with or spending time with a child, multiple expert witnesses, complex questions of law and/or special jurisdictional issues, international child abduction under the Hague Convention, special medical procedures and international relocation.
• Financial cases that involve multiple parties, valuation of complex interests in trusts or corporate structures, including minority interests, multiple expert witnesses, complex questions of law and/or jurisdictional issues (including accrued jurisdiction) or complex issues concerning superannuation (such as complex valuations of defined benefit superannuation schemes).

It commenced operations on 5 January 1976 and consists of a Chief Justice, a Deputy Chief Justice and other judges.

The Hon. Justice Hilary Penfold has enjoyed a distinguished career in the public service and as a member of the judiciary. After becoming the first woman in Australia to hold the position of First Parliamentary Counsel, she achieved the further distinction of becoming the first woman to be appointed as Commonwealth Queen’s Counsel. She later became the first resident woman judge of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory. Penfold’s contribution to the public service, to drafting and to the development of law in Australia has been immense.

Hilary Penfold was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.

Mary (Mollie) Eugenie Whitehouse was the sixth woman to be admitted as a solicitor in Queensland, on 26 September 1939. She served her articles between 1930 and 1939 with a firm in Warwick, Queensland (Messrs Neil O’Sullivan and Neville), completing her legal studies via correspondence while caring for her sick father. Firmly believing that all women should have an occupation, he willingly financed her training.

Whitehouse attempted to join the armed forces during World War 2, but was excluded due to poor eyesight. After performing temporary work as a typist in an army records office, she was employed as a temporary legal officer in the newly established Crown Solicitor’s office in Brisbane. She left the office when she married Eric Whitehouse in August 1944. Mollie had six children, the first of which died at birth in 1945.

The Whitehouses purchased the Pender and Pender (later Pender and Whitehouse) in 1951. While raising five children, Mollie worked for the firm in a variety of capacities, increasing her workload once her youngest child started school. By the time they had all completed school, she was working full-time. She continued to practise until 1989, fifty years after her admission.

Mollie Whitehouse was a founding member of the Queensland Women Lawyers Association. She always regarded herself as ‘a lawyer who was a woman, not a woman lawyer’.

The Hon. Justice Janine Pritchard was appointed to the Supreme Court of Western Australia on 11 June 2010. She was elevated to this position after a year as a Judge of the District Court of Western Australia, during which period she served as Deputy President of the State Administrative Tribunal. Prior to her appointment to the District Court, Justice Pritchard had worked in the WA Crown (now State) Solicitor’s Office (since 1991).

Known for her powerful intellect and work ethic, Justice Pritchard has been an important role model for women planning to combine a career in law, and in the judiciary in particular, with family responsibilities. Her first child was present at her swearing in ceremony; her second was born after her appointment. While she acknowledges the challenges of maintaining a demanding career with a ‘hands on’ approach to family life, Justice Pritchard has demonstrated that working arrangements for the judiciary are capable of accommodating family friendly policies, such as maternity leave.

Janine Pritchard was interviewed by Nikki Henningham in the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.

The Honourable Margaret J. White was, in 1992, the first woman to be appointed to the Supreme Court of Queensland. Prior to coming to the Queensland bench, she enjoyed a distinguished academic career, first in South Australia and then in Queensland after she moved there in 1970. She retired from the bench in 2013.

In between her South Australian and Queensland ‘phases’, White instructed senior naval officers of the Royal Australian Navy in international law and the law of the sea. She was commissioned as Second Officer, thus becoming the first Women’s Royal Australian Navy Reserve officer to be commissioned since the end of World War Two.

A former Australian Young Lawyer of the Year, Zoe Rathus is Director of the Clinical Legal Education Program and Senior Lecturer at Griffith University’s Law School in Queensland. She was previously a solicitor, and then co-ordinator, at the Queensland Women’s Legal Service, in whose establishment she played an integral part. In 2011 Rathus was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for service to the law, particularly through contributions to the rights of women, children and the Indigenous community, to education and to professional organisations.

Zoe Rathus was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.

Margaret Thornton is an acclaimed feminist academic in the field of feminist jurisprudence, discrimination, equal opportunity and gender studies at the Australian National University’s College of Law. She has degrees from the Universities of Sydney and New South Wales and Yale University. A prominent thinker and legal researcher, Thornton was the first female law professor to be appointed at La Trobe University in Victoria, Australia; during her academic career she demonstrated a significant commitment to the development of La Trobe’s law school. Thornton founded the Feminist Legal Action Group and convened the first feminist jurisprudence conference in Australia. She has participated in numerous consultations with agencies such as the International Labour Organisation, and advised parliaments on legislation. She has also published widely. Motivated by social justice and a desire for equality, Thornton has been steadfast in her efforts to improve conditions for women in society, particularly in the workplace and in educational institutions.

Margaret Thornton was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.

Emeritus Professor Sally Walker AM was the first female vice-chancellor and president of Australia’s Deakin University. Prior to holding these appointments, she was senior deputy vice-chancellor at the University of Melbourne, where she was also president of the University’s Academic Board, member of the senior executive, and pro vice-chancellor. Walker established the pioneering Centre for Media, Communications and Information Technology Law (now Centre for Media & Communications Law) at the Melbourne Law School and was its inaugural director. While at the Law School, she was Hearn Professor of Law. Walker was also secretary-general of the Law Council of Australia for a time.

Appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia in 2011, in recognition of her contribution to education, to the law as an academic and to the advancement of women. In 2014 she was inducted onto the Victorian Honour Roll of Women. As a Principal at Deloitte, Walker continues to consult widely on strategic and leadership matters in the higher education sector.

Sally Walker was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.

A proud Tanganekald and Meintangk woman from the Coorong region and the south east of South Australia, Irene Watson was the first Aboriginal person to graduate from the University of Adelaide with a law degree, in 1985. She was also the first Aboriginal PhD graduate (2000) at the university, winning the Bonython Law Prize for best thesis. Her research motivation has been clear from the outset: to gain a better understanding of the Australian legal system that is underpinned by the unlawful foundation of Terra Nullius.

Watson’s work has made a significant impression on everyday legal practice in respect of centring an Indigenous perspective in the long processes of law reform. In 2015 she published Aboriginal Peoples, Colonialism and International Law: Raw Law the first work to assess the legality and impact of colonisation from the viewpoint of Aboriginal law, rather than from that of the dominant Western legal tradition.

Watson has been involved in the Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement in South Australia since its inception in 1973, working as a member, solicitor and director. She has taught in all three South Australian universities and was a research fellow with the University of Sydney Law School. She is currently a research Professor of Law at the University of South Australia and she continues to work as an advocate for First Nations Peoples in international law.

Watson was involved with the drafting of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples between 1990 and 1994 and has more recently, in 2009 and 2012, made interventions before the UN Human Rights Council Expert Advisory Committee of the current position of Indigenous peoples.

In 2016, Watson was appointed The University of South Australia’s inaugural Indigenous pro-Vice Chancellor.

Irene Watson was interviewed by Nikki Henningham for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of AustraliaCATALOGUE RECORD.

Her Honour Nerida Wilson is a Magistrate based in the regional Queensland city of Mackay. Born, raised and educated in Cairns, her career in the law began in 1987 when she joined the Australian Federal Police, undertaking training in Canberra and then serving in Melbourne until 1994 when family circumstances brought her back to Cairns. In 1997 she fulfilled a childhood ambition to see the letters LLB beside her name by enrolling in law at Queensland University of Technology as a mature age student.

Upon graduation, Nerida worked as a solicitor in Mackay, (where she was by co-incidence, appointed to the bench in October 2015), before moving back to Cairns to practise. Nerida was called to the Bar in February 2008 and enjoyed a diverse practice in family, criminal and civil law. She also appeared at Inquests for parties and as Counsel Assisting the Coroner.

Nerida has been engaged in a number of important local community initiatives and organisations. She is a Past President of the Far North Qld Law Association and the Cairns Regional Domestic Violence Service. She lectured and tutored in family law at the Cairns campus of James Cook University. In the early 2000s Nerida developed an Annual Inter-Campus Moot Competition for students at James Cook University securing sponsorship for the event and attracting support from the local judiciary and senior legal practitioners.

Her standing in the community at large and capacity for managing change was acknowledged when she was elected President of the Cairns Golf Club in 2014, the first woman to hold the post in the club’s 90 year history.

Nerida’s contribution to the legal profession was acknowledged in 2013 when she was awarded the Regional Woman Lawyer of the Year Award by the Queensland Women Lawyers Association. She participated in the Queensland Women Lawyers ‘Ladder Program’ as a mentor for young women lawyers.

Her advice to all young women starting their careers in the law is to ‘Surround yourself with good people. Get good mentors early on – people that you can trust’. She counts Magistrate Tina Previtera amongst her mentors and one of the many ‘good people’ she was fortunate to meet. Her advice to all young people, regardless of whether they plan to be lawyers or not, is to ‘give life enough space to present opportunities to you. If we are too rigid, we are going to foreclose on so many rich, rich opportunities. Be open and embrace unexpected opportunities.’

Nerida Wilson was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein in the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.

Nerolie Withnall is a leading company director overseeing the direction and transformation of large Australian companies and institutions. She was the former Director of ALS, Alchemia Limited, PanAust and Computershare Communication Services Limited. A former Partner at Minter Ellison she was Chairman, Board of Queensland Museum and a member of the Council of the Australian National Maritime Museum and Board of the Australian Rugby Union. Withnall was also a long-term Member of the Takeovers Panel. Withnall made legal history becoming the first woman President of a Law Society in Australia.

Nerolie Withnall was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.

Her Honour Mary Ann Yeats was the first US citizen admitted to practice law in Western Australia and the second woman, after Her Honour Antoinette Kennedy AO, to become a Judge of the District Court. After studying law at the University of Western Australia, she was admitted to practice in 1982 and worked in the Crown Solicitors Office, until she was appointed a judge in 1993. In 1995 she served as President of the Children’s Court of Western Australia. She retired from the District Court Bench in August 2011.

As a judicial member of the Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration (AIJA) she spent 10 years as convener of the Indigenous Justice Committee, a group of judicial officers and Indigenous people working together to provide cultural awareness education to the judiciary throughout Australia. Appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in January 2014, for her significant service to the law, particularly Indigenous justice, she was initially uncomfortable about accepting the honour, feeling that the Indigenous people who helped her were not adequately recognised. She changed her mind when she realised how acceptance would draw attention to social justice issues that have been important to her throughout her personal and professional life.

Mary Ann Yeats was interviewed by Nikki Henningham for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of AustraliaCATALOGUE RECORD.

Dedicated to achieving recognition of netball as an elite sport, Deridre Hyland was central to the sport’s development at a state, national and international level. She played a key role in elevating the sport’s public profile, direction and credibility for over more than 30 years. She was president of the Queensland Netball Association (QNA) 1974-80, the All Australia Netball Association (now Netball Australia) 1978-88, and the International Federation of Netball Associations (IFNA) 1987-91. She managed Australian teams on overseas tours in 1978, ’81, and ’82, and was an official delegate at the 6th and 7th world tournaments in 1983 and ’87. She also served on the board of the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) 1981-83 and the Confederation of Australian Sport (CAS) 1987-88. She was chair of the organising committee of the 8th World Netball Championships in Sydney in 1991. She was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her service to netball in 1990.

Hyland was Inducted into The Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1989 as a General Member for her contribution to the sport of netball. In 2008, she was an inaugural inductee into the Australian Netball Hall of Fame as a General Member and inducted into the Queensland Sport Hall of Fame in 2010.

Hyland passed away on 29 May 2015. Netball Australia CEO Kate Palmer paid tribute to her leadership and her innovative nature that ultimately led to the transformation of a new era for Netball Australia.

‘Deirdre’s leadership was characterised by her ability to share her vision and create change,’ Palmer said. ‘An intelligent and thoughtful person, Deirdre’s legacy to netball and sport in Australia has been profound.’

Bev Reaston has practised law in Cairns since 1980 and was the first lawyer in the city to combine fulltime work with mothering after she had her first child in 1983. She has practiced exclusively in the area of Family Law in Far North Queensland for over thirty years, developing expertise across a wide range of areas including complex children’s matters, international relocations and high end property cases. She is (in 2016) the Queensland Representative of the Family Law Council of Australia. She was one of the first appointed Independent Children’s Lawyers in Cairns.

As well as working in private practice (most recently in partnership with her husband, Jim, and Deanne Drummond at Reaston Drummond Law) Reaston has been engaged with a number of community organisations, ranging from local kindergarten and sporting committees to community law services. She has served terms on the management committees of the Cairns Regional Domestic Violence Service, Legal Aid and the North Queensland Women’s Legal Centre.

Bev Reaston was interviewed by Nikki Henningham for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of AustraliaCATALOGUE RECORD.

Patricia Smithurst Schlosshan was the daughter of Cyril Smithurst, a respected pharmacist in Gunnedah, north-eastern New South Wales, and his wife, Eileen. She attended St Mary’s College, Gunnedah and the University of Sydney, receiving a Sporting Blue in athletics for 1955 and graduating with a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1956. Although admitted to the New South Wales Bar, she did not practise as a barrister. Smithurst married American lawyer Dr Bodo Schlosshan whom she had met in London in 1956 and together they lived in Paris and New York before settling in Frankfurt am Main and raising a family of six. In 1967, Smithurst received a Master of Arts from Cornell University for her dissertation entitled ‘Heinrich Boll’s Concept of Reality, 1949-1960’.

Koula Kossiavelos is a magistrate of the Magistrates Court of South Australia. She has made a significant contribution to the Greek community, including as member of a long-standing steering committee which succeeded after ten years in establishing a Chair of modern Greek studies at Flinders University. She was a legal advisor and National President of the Pan-Arcadian Federation of Australia and an Australian delegate at the International Conference of Council of Hellenes Abroad. A former barrister and solicitor, she served articles with the firm Johnston, Withers, McCusker & Co before joining Martirovs, Kadis & Metanomski where she became a partner. Later establishing herself as a sole practitioner, she practised in a wide range of civil cases, including personal injury claims, family law, criminal-injuries compensation claims, civil litigation, industrial law and defamation. She continues to support community legal organisations and to promote a multicultural society.

Koula Kossiavelos was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.

Kathleen Trevelyan (nee Hayes) was an early chairman of the Discrimination Board and also served as an alderman at the Ku-ring-gai Council in the 1960s. Trevelyan attended New Zealand’s Epsom Girls’ Grammar in Auckland and studied Arts at Victoria College, Wellington. In 1938, she was appointed secretary of the Wellington branch of the Society for the Promotion of the Health of Women and Children, also known as the Plunket Society. After coming to Sydney in the late 1930s, she worked in Chalfont Chambers, later becoming associate to Mr Justice (later Sir) Bernard Sugerman of the Land and Valuation Court. During her associateship, she undertook a Bachelor of Laws degree at the University of Sydney, graduating in 1959. On 29 February 1957, she became the seventh woman to sign the Bar Roll of counsel and to actively practise at the New South Wales Bar. She had a broad practice with an emphasis on family law. In time she became the head of chambers at Parramatta. In the 1960s, she was honorary secretary and then vice-president of the Women Lawyers’ Association of New South Wales.

The Hon. Justice Jane Mathews AO was the first woman to be admitted to full judicial office in New South Wales, and she has continued to pave the way for women lawyers on a number of fronts. Mathews became the State’s first female Supreme Court judge, as well as its first female District Court judge and its first Crown prosecutor. In addition to these positions, she has served as president of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and on the bench of the Federal Court of Australia. Other roles have included president of the International Association of Women Judges, following her involvement in establishing the Australian chapter of the organisation, and deputy chancellor of the University of New South Wales. Patron of the Women Lawyers’ Association of New South Wales, Mathews was appointed an Officer in the Order of Australia for service to the judiciary, to the legal profession, to the University of New South Wales, and to music.

Mathews passed away on 31 August 2019. Recognised as a trailblazer in her field, prominent lawyers said the ‘”adored” and down-to-earth Mathews, who had a deep commitment to social justice, left an indelible mark on the legal profession and the women who followed in her footsteps.’

Jane Mathews was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.

Robyn Bicket has enjoyed a long and distinguished career in the Commonwealth public service. She has represented the Australian Government in the United Kingdom and at the United Nations in Switzerland. She was the first lawyer in the Australian Department of Immigration to be posted to the Australian High Commission in London as First Secretary Immigration. She also has the distinction of having been the Department of Immigration and Citizenship’s very first chief lawyer. She has made a significant contribution to immigration and humanitarian policy, governance, public sector reform and management in Australia. In 2001 Bicket was awarded the Secretary’s Public Service Medal in the Australia Day Honours List, for services to the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs.

Robyn Bicket was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein in the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.