Sir Samuel Walker Griffith - first Chief Justice of Australia

Sir Samuel Walter Griffith
photograph
neg.4060
National Library of Australia

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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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