
Sir Samuel Walter
Griffith photograph neg.4060 National Library of
Australia
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THE NATIONAL
LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA'S FEDERATION
GATEWAY
GRIFFITH, SIR SAMUEL WALKER (1845-1920)
Premier of Queensland and first
Chief Justice of Australia, was born at Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, on 21 June 1845
and came to Australia in 1854. Griffith attended Maitland High School and
Sydney University (BA hons, 1863; MA, 1870), and was called to the Bar in
Brisbane in 1867.
Griffith represented East Moreton (1872-73, Oxley
(1873-78) and North Brisbane (1878-93) in the Queensland Legislative Assembly,
and as Attorney-General in 1874. When Sir Thomas McIlwraith became Premier in
1879 Griffith became a most determined Leader of the Opposition. In November
1883 he succeeded in displacing McIlwraith and was returned as Premier and
Colonial Secretary, largely through his opposition to kanaka labour. He was
replaced by McIlwraith in June 1888 but in August 1890 again became Premier in
a coalition ministry with McIlwraith which lasted until March 1893, when he
retired to become Chief Justice of Queensland.
Griffith compiled
Queensland's Criminal Code and proposed the Federal Australasian Council which
he presided over at various times. He represented Queensland at the Colonial
Conference (London, 1887) and the Federal Conference (1890), and became
vice-president of the 1891 Convention (under Sir Henry Parkes). He was the main
draftsman of the Bill which formed the basis of Australia's constitution.
Griffith served as Lieutenant-Governor (1899-1903) and visited London
when the Commonwealth Bill passed through the British Parliament. He became a
Privy Councillor in 1901 and was the obvious choice as Chief Justice of
Australia when the High Court was established (1903).
Appointed KCMG
(1886) and GCMG (1895), he became Vice-President of the Royal Colonial
Institute (1909), honorary Doctor of Laws (Queensland 1912, and Wales 1913) and
honorary Fellow of the British Academy (1916). He retired from the High
Court in August 1919, and died in Brisbane on 9 August 1920.
Books of interest
Macrossan, John [et.al]. (1998).
Griffith, the Law, and the Australian Constitution. Brisbane: Royal
Historical Society of Queensland.
Gibbs, Harry, Sir. (1984). Sir
Samuel Griffith:An Address to Members of the Australasian Pioneers' Club at the
Queensland Annual Dinner, Queensland Club, 10 August 1894. Brisbane:
Boolarong Publications.
Graham, A.D. (Austin Douglas). [1938]. The
Life of the Right Honourable Sir Samuel Walker Griffith. [Brisbane?]: Law
Book Co. of Australasia.
Joyce, R. B. (Roger Bilbrough). (1984).
Samuel Walker Griffith. St. Lucia, Qld.: University of Queensland Press,
Dante Alighieri. Sir Griffith's lecture notes on law and the
Greek language are held in the National Library of Australia at MS 3461.
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