Obituary — Nimal Wikramanayake KC

Nimal was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on 11 August 1933, into an eminent legal family (his father was a QC).  He was educated at St Thomas’ College, Mt Lavinia, Sri Lanka and then at Trinity Hall Cambridge, graduating MA (Cantab).  After being admitted to the English Bar, he and his wife Anna Maria (a fellow student at Cambridge) returned to Sri Lanka where he practiced, for a brief time, at the Bar in Colombo. In 1971, he and his wife emigrated to Australia.

Nimal joined the Victorian Bar on 26 October 1972, reading with David Blackburn. He was a distinguished legal scholar and expert in property law, from 1977 editing and later authoring, Voumard’s The Sale of Land in Victoria, the leading text on the subject.

He had one reader, Grant Holley, and was appointed silk on 17 December 2002.

As recorded in his 2022 autobiography ‘A Life in the Law: A Memoir’, Nimal’s experiences at the Victorian Bar were not always happy, but despite this, he was a respected and honoured member of our Bar. In 2023, Nimal’s photographic portrait was unveiled by the Peter O’Callaghan QC Gallery Foundation. On that occasion, Nimal said that the unveiling of the portrait was the proudest moment of his life.

He will be missed by his former colleagues, family and friends alike.