News & Events

Anniversary

Monday marks a most important occasion in the history of the Victorian Bar. On 12 April 1841, a Crown Prosecutor and four barristers (including Sir Redmond Barry KCMG QC) were admitted at the inaugural sitting of the Supreme Court in Melbourne. Dr Peter Yule, the author of the History of the Victorian Bar (currently in print), identifies this date as one that has the strongest case to mark the establishment of the Victorian Bar. Victoria was then the Port Phillip District of the colony of New South Wales. It would be a further ten years before Victoria separated from NSW to become a colony in its own right, and a further sixty years before Victoria became a state of the new Commonwealth of Australia. It is remarkable to consider that the Bar is, in a sense, older than Victoria as an institution and will celebrate its 180^th anniversary this Monday. The Arts & Collections Committee has curated a 180^th Anniversary display on the walkway between Owen Dixon Chambers East and West, which I would commend to members.