The Victorian Bar's Arts and Collections committee oversees the commission of portraits of the Bar's illuminaries past and present as well as the maintenance, cataloguing and display of the Bar's art collection and artefacts. The Bar's portrait collection is located in the Peter O'Callaghan QC Gallery in the foyer of the Owen Dixon Chambers East and West.
Lady Beatrice Reid (nee McCay)
Beatrice McCay (known as “Bix”) was born in Castemaine in 1901 and obtained her LLB (Hons) from the University of Melbourne in 1923. She continued her studies to obtain a Master of Laws in 1925 and was only the third woman to do so. She was an active member of university life and, for a number of years, was the only woman on the committee of the Law Students’ Society of Victoria. She was also the secretary of the University Debating Society for two years, and a vice president for one year.
On 10 June 1925, Beatrice McCay became the second woman (after Joan Rosanove) to sign the Victorian Bar Roll (No. 224). She read with Robert Menzies and, in doing so, became the first female Reader at the Bar.
Beatrice was diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1929. The following year she married a fellow lawyer, George Reid, at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne. She left the Bar around that time.
In 1936, due to ill health Beatrice stepped back from her previously active involvement in the community, which had included helping the disadvantaged and volunteering at the Yooralla kindergarten. However, she maintained roles as a Special Magistrate for the Children’s Court and as Vice President of the Legal Women’s Association.
George Reid entered State politics in 1947 and his ministerial appointments included that of Attorney General from 1967-73. He became Sir George Reid.
Lady Beatrice’s portrait was painted by Douglas Baulch in 1966. It has been generously loaned to the Victorian Bar by his son, Kevin.
Douglas Baulch
(1917 – 1996)
Douglas Baulch was born in Malvern, Victoria in 1917. He studied at the Prahran Technical College, where Sidney Nolan was among his classmates and William Dargie was a mentor. He later taught at Monash University for 15 years and also ran his own art school at home. He was a member of the Victorian Artists Society and exhibited extensively with it.
During the 1930’s Baulch worked as a commercial artist, as well as in Athol Shmith’s renowned photography studio. At the outbreak of World War II, Baulch joined the Royal Australian Air Force as a commercial artist. In 1964 he exhibited at Victoria Government House for the Queen’s visit. Douglas Baulch’s works are displayed in private collections around the world in the UK, US, Belgium, Paris and Hong Kong.
Lillian Lieder QC
(1948-2001) VBR Number 1064 (1973)
Born in Munich in 1948, Lieder’s family immigrated to Melbourne in 1951. After completing schooling at Presbyterian Ladies’ College, Lieder took an Honours degree in law at the University of Melbourne and was articled at Gilbert Field and Warne. Lieder signed the Roll in 1973 (VBR No. 1064), reading with Frank Walsh (later Judge Walsh of the County Court). At that time, there were only five women at the Victorian Bar, almost all practicing in family law. Drawing on her volunteer involvement with drug and alcohol rehabilitation organization, The Buoyancy Foundation, Lieder developed an expertise in the then-emerging field of drug trials and earned a reputation at the criminal bar as “an extremely intelligent and fearsome opponent”. She appeared for the defence and the Crown in all jurisdictions from the Magistrates’ to the High Court, and was particularly noted for her intellectual prowess in appellate matters.
Lieder was Vice President of the Victorian Council for Civil Liberties (now Liberty Victoria), a member of the Mental Health Review Board and the ethics committees of the Prince Henry and Alfred Hospitals. She also taught at the Leo Cussen Institute and was a moot master at Melbourne Law School.
In 1991, Lieder became the first woman practicing in crime to take silk in Victoria. Lieder had three sons, including Mathew Kowalski (VBR No. 3267).
This portrait was commissioned by Lieder’s colleagues at the criminal Bar as a memorial tribute following her early death from cancer in 2001.
The Honourable Sue Crennan AC QC
The Honourable Susan Crennan AC QC was admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1980 and made Queen's Counsel in 1989. She obtained silk in New South Wales the following year. In addition to her work as a barrister, Crennan has served numerous esteemed roles across the legal profession, including commissioner of what is now the Australian Human Rights Commission, and President of the Australian Bar Association. After being appointed to the Federal Court in 2004, Crennan became a judge of the High Court of Australia in 2005, serving until 2015.
Artist - Lewis MillerLewis Miller is a highly regarded Australian artist specialising in portraiture. He has won several prestigious portrait prizes, including the Archibald Prize in 1998. His significant commissions include being made official war artist to Iraq in 2003. Miller's portraits of prominent individuals often display bold brushstrokes and expressionistic qualities, giving the viewer insights into the character of his sitters. Miller's portrait of Susan Crennan was unveiled in 2016.
The Honourable Kenneth Hayne AC QC
The Honourable Ken Hayne AC QC was born in Gympie, Queensland in 1945. He was educated at Scotch College in Melbourne and at the University of Melbourne, where he obtained First Class Honours in Arts and Law. He was the Supreme Court Prize winner of 1967. Whilst at law school he co-edited the Melbourne University Law Review with Robert Richter QC. In 1969, Ken won the Rhodes Scholarship, which he took up at Exeter College, Oxford, graduating with another First in the Bachelor of Civil Law.
He joined the Victorian Bar in 1971, reading with JD Phillips. He practised in commercial and public law. He took silk in 1984. During his time at the Bar, Ken was instrumental in developing the Victorian Bar Readers Course. He taught pleading for many years and even during his time as a judge made time to speak to each cohort of readers. Among his other contributions to the Bar were long stints as a Trustee of the Bar Super Fund and director of the Melbourne Bar Pty Ltd as well as service on the Barristers’ Disciplinary Tribunal and the Rules Committee of the Supreme Court.
Hayne was appointed to the Victorian Supreme Court in 1992. Higher appointments came in quick succession. In 1995, he became a foundation member of the Victorian Court of Appeal with his mentor Phillips J and in 1997 he was appointed to the High Court of Australia. In 2002, Hayne was made a Companion of the Order of Australia for his contribution to the administration of justice in Australia. He served over 17 years on the High Court. Upon his retirement in 2015, Ken Hayne returned to the Victorian Bar.
Bill Henson - Artist
Bill Henson was born in Melbourne in 1955. He studied photography at Prahran College under commercial photographers Athol Schmith and John Cato. At the age of 19, he had his first solo exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria. He has exhibited in Australia and overseas continuously since then. In 1995, he was Australia’s representative at the Venice Biennale.
Henson’s photographs are renowned for their painterly qualities and mastery of shadows and light. He rarely undertakes commissions, although notable exceptions are his series for the Paris Opera and portraits of the conductor, Simone Young and the actress, Cate Blanchett. Henson’s portrait of Ken Hayne was completed in 2017. It is a gift from an anonymous donor, the Bar and twenty-seven of Ken Hayne’s former Associates who contributed funds.
Hartog Berkeley QC
Born in London on 14 August 1928 and schooled at Eltham College in Kent, Hartog Berkeley began an Arts and Economics course at the University of London. This was interrupted by the family migrating to Australia in 1947. He was, for some years, a sheep roustabout, then he and his brother began an interstate trucking business. From trucks to concrete, to clothing - then to the Law. He read with Tom Hughes and was admitted to the NSW Bar in October 1958.
Hartog came to Melbourne and was admitted in Victoria in June 1959. He immediately came to the Bar and read with Bill Harris (later Bar Chairman and a Supreme Court Judge). He established a large commercial practice, specialising in taxation. He taught Commercial Law at the Monash Law School. He had four Readers and took Silk in 1972.
He served on numerous Bar Committees, including as Chairman of the Ethics Committee; Chairman of the Accommodation Committee, the Equality Before the Law Committee, the Bar Centenary Committee, and of the Essoign Club - of which he was a Life Member. He was a Director of Barristers' Chambers Limited. He was Vice-Chairman of the Bar Council for more than 2 years, and Chairman for 2 years (1979-81) and, concurrently, President of the Australian Bar Association.
In 1982 he was appointed Solicitor-General for Victoria, until 1992, returning then to practice at the Bar until his retirement in June 2005.
He was also a framer and is said to have been as proud of the title Poll Hereford "stud master" as that of QC.
He was a generous man and a colourful character, devoted to the Independent Bar and the men and women of the Bar. In 1998, he instigated (with Jopling QC and Graeme Thompson) the Bar Legends and was named one in 2003. He played major roles in the gifts to the Bar of the Silks' Tapestry (1985) and the Silks' Sculpture (2003).
Hartog Berkeley QC passed away on 17 February 2019.
Photograph gifted by Mrs Anna Berkeley
Alex Chernov AC QC
Alex Chernov was born in Lithuania to Russian parents, and migrated with his family to Salzburg, Austria where he commenced his schooling. In 1949 his family migrated to Australia and he completed his schooling at Melbourne High School. He graduated as a Bachelor of Commerce (BCom.) and a Bachelor of Laws (LLB.) (with Honours) from the University of Melbourne in 1961 and 1968 respectively.
Chernov was admitted to practice and signed the Roll of Counsel in 1968, practising mostly in commercial law and equity. He was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1980. He was Chairman of the Victorian Bar 1985-86, Vice-President of the Australian Bar Association 1986-87 and President of the Law Council of Australia 1990-91. He was Vice President of LawAsia 1995-1997.
In May 1997 he was appointed to the Trial Division of the Supreme Court of Victoria, and in October 1998 to the Court of Appeal of that Court. He retired from the bench in February 2008.
In January 2009, he was appointed the 20th Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, serving in that office until he resigned to take up the office of Governor of Victoria in April 2011, which he held until June 2015.
Chernov was instrumental in founding the Australia-India Institute and served as its Chair from 2008 to 2011.He is currently its Patron. He was appointed Chair of the Public Policy Think Tank the Grattan Institute in February 2016.
Chernov was created an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the 2007 Queen's Birthday Honours list for service to the law and education and in 2012 he was named a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC)
David Rosetzky - Artist
David Rosetzky is a Melbourne-based contemporary artist working across photography, video and installation. In his black and white photographs and double exposures, human behaviour, identity, subjectivity and community come under intimate observation. Known for the elegance and aesthetic rigour of his art, Rosetzky has been commissioned to create distinctive portraits of some of Australia's most prominent figures, most recently Cate Blanchett and Jessica Mauboy for the National Portrait Gallery.
Rosetzky has participated in solo and group exhibitions in Australia and internationally, including How to Feel at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, 2011; The Third ICP Triennial of Photography and Video, International Centre for Photography, New York, 2009; Viewpoints & Viewing Points: Asian Art Biennial, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, 2009; and Face Up, Hamburger Bahnhoff, Berlin, 2003. His work is held by every major public institution in Australia, as well as numerous private collections.
The Honourable Michael Eric John Black AC QC
Michael Black was born in Egypt on 22 March 1940, where his father was serving as an officer in the Royal Air Force. After Italy entered the war, his parents decided that he and his mother should travel back to Australia, and his mother embarked with her three-month-old baby on a perilous voyage home, via Colombo.
After attending schools in Australia, Egypt and England, he completed his secondary education at Wesley College Prahran, and then read Law at the University of Melbourne. He graduated in 1963 with a Bachelor's Degree in Law.
In 1964, Black was called to the Victorian Bar, where he read with E.D. Lloyd. He had a broad common law, commercial and public law practice. He particularly relished jury matters. He had ten readers, several of whom rose to the judiciary.
Black took silk in 1980 (Victoria, 1984 in Tasmania) and developed a thriving appellate and High Court practice, notably representing the Tasmanian Wilderness Society in the Dams case, and the Commonwealth in the Daintree and Lemonthyme world heritage matters in the High Court.
Over various periods at the Bar, Black was a member of the Victorian Bar Council and various of its committees, including as the foundation Chair of the Victorian Bar Readers Course. He was also was a member of the Council of Legal Aid Victoria and a Defence Force Advocate from 1987 until 1991.
On 1 January 1991, Black QC was appointed Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Australia, succeeding Sir Nigel Bowen. For more than 19 years, he administered the Court, managed the Full Court hearings, presided in Full Courts, and was closely involved with guiding an ambitious program of major building projects. Over the course of his tenure, the accommodation of the court in its various district registries around the country was largely transformed, marked in particular by new and beautiful, light-filled buildings in Adelaide and Melbourne, and by refurbishments to similar effect in Hobart and Sydney.
Also, during his tenure as Chief Justice, Black supported a program of significant civil procedure and case management reform, starting with the docket system in 1999, and the adoption of specialist judicial panels in the large registries. He continued to support legal education, and he supported various initiatives in judicial education in Australia and also in the Asia Pacific Region.
On Australia Day 1998, he was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia for his services to the law, the legal profession and the judiciary.
The Hon Michael Black AC QC retired from the Federal Court on 21 March 2010, and was succeeded as Chief Justice by the Hon Patrick Keane (now the Hon Justice Keane AC of the High Court of Australia).
In retirement, Michael Black chaired the Advisory Board for the introduction of the Juris Doctor at the Melbourne University Law School, and was co-President of the International Association of Supreme Administrative Jurisdictions. He was the inaugural Judge in Residence at the Melbourne Law School 2004, and in 2010 was awarded an LL D (Honoris Causa) by the University of Melbourne.
He is currently (2014 - 2020) Chair of the Legal Services Council. Since 2012 he has also chaired the Australian Law Schools Standards Committee.
He met his wife Margaret as an undergraduate at Melbourne University. They have two children and two granddaughters.
Louise Hearman
Louise Hearman (born 1963) is Melbourne artist who grew up in Croydon and has been painting and drawing from a very young age. She attended the Victorian College of the Arts from 1982 1984. She mostly paints with oil on masonite, and work with pastel and charcoal from time to time.
Hearman first came to public notice in 1986 when she spent a year painting a mural on the inside of the concrete dome of the old gymnasium at the Missions to Seamen building in Flinders Street in Melbourne. The premises also served as her studio at that time. Sadly, that work has been painted over.
Her portrait, of the renowned photographer, Bill Henson, Bill-1383, won the 2014 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize; and in 2016, she won the Archibald Prize for her portrait of entertainer, satirist, painter and Dadaist, Barry Humphries.
Hearman's work is held in collections including Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; TarraWarra Museum of Art, Healesville; and private corporate collections.
The Honourable Diana Bryant AO QC
Diana Bryant was born in Perth, WA. She was brought up by her single mother, who was a lawyer, the owner of her own mortgage-broking practice. The family moved to Melbourne, and Diana attended Firbank Girls' Grammar School, followed by Melbourne University where she obtained her LLB. She later completed a Master of Laws degree at Monash University .
She was admitted to practice in Victoria in 1970, but thereafter moved back to Perth where she was, from 1977 to 1990, a partner of the firm Phillips Fox, specialising in family law.
Returning to Victoria in 1990, Bryant went to the Bar and established a significant practice in family law. She helped establish Chancery Chambers in 1997, the same year she took silk.
She was the first Chief Federal Magistrate, appointed in May 2000, and served in that capacity until 2004.
Bryant QC was appointed Chief Justice of the Family Court of Australia in July 2004, succeeding the Hon Alastair Nicholson, AO RFD QC. She was only the second female Chief Justice of the Family Court, after the inaugural Chief Justice, Elizabeth Evatt AC. While Bryant was a trailblazer, by the time of her retirement in October 2017, five out of 12 Chief Justices in Australia and New Zealand were female.
As Chief Justice, she placed emphasis on building trust in the Court, important process reforms, and international engagement. She absorbed the intense public scrutiny to which the Court is subject and fought hard to ensure that it was properly resourced. She brought significant compassion, warmth, wisdom and energy to the role. Both as an advocate and later as a judge, she was renowned for her sense of justice and fairness. She had a particular interest in surrogacy and family violence. She was, and remains, a passionate advocate for the welfare of the child.
On top of her administrative and other duties as head of jurisdiction, she regularly sat in Court on matters covering family law and general federal law, at first instance and on Appeal.
She has been a passionate advocate for women in the legal profession. She was a founding member of the Women Lawyers Association of Western Australia. In 2009, she was appointed Patron of Australian Women Lawyers, in place of founding patron, Mary Gaudron QC. She was inducted into the Western Australian Women's Hall of Fame in 2018.
In 2012, Diana was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for "distinguished service to the judiciary and to the law, particularly to family law policy reform and practice, through the establishment of the Federal Magistrates Court, and to the advancement of women in the legal profession" .
Sally Ross - Artist
Melbourne based artist Sally Ross is a contemporary genre painter whose practice is exclusively derived from photography. The photographic source material of her subjects presents a graphically resolved composition for the artist to reinterpret in her signature detail. Indeed, the sitting process for the current portrait The Hon. Diana Bryant AO involved the subject being photographed by the artist in the first instance before being rendered in oil on wood.
Sally Ross is a 4-time Archibald Prize finalist. Recent notable sitters portrayed by Ross include Academy and Emmy Award winning Australian film director/producer Eva Orner; celebrated Sydney gallerist and philanthropist, Roslyn Oxley AO; human rights and social justice lawyer George Newhouse; and Nellie Castan.
Sally Ross's portraits are included in the collections of the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra and the National Gallery of Victoria.
The Honourable Raymond A Finkelstein AO QC
The Hon Ray Finkelstein AO QC was born in Germany, to Polish parents, in 1946. He arrived in Australia with his parents in 1951. He studied at Elwood High School and graduated from Monash University in 1970. Between 1971 and 1975 he worked as a solicitor and also as a tutor at Monash University.
Ray was called to the Bar in 1975 and was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1986. Thereafter, he concentrated on appellate work, often acting for State and Federal Governments and their instrumentalities. He was acting Solicitor General for the State of Victoria during 1992.
As counsel, Ray was the leader of the commercial and equity Bar in Victoria. He appeared regularly in the High Court, including in seminal constitutional and company law cases.
In 1997, he was appointed a judge of the Federal Court of Australia. As a judge, Ray helped shape several areas of law, in particular in the areas of insolvency and commercial law.
While a judge of the Federal Court, Ray held additional appointments as Deputy President of the Australian Competition Tribunal and the Copyright Tribunal of Australia. In December 2008 he was appointed President of the Australian Competition Tribunal.
On 30 June 2011, Ray retired as a judge of the Federal Court of Australia and President of the Competition Tribunal.
Following his retirement from the bench, Ray was appointed Adjunct Professor in the Law Faculty at Monash University. During 2011 and 2012, he Chaired the Independent Inquiry into Aspects of the Media.
Polly Borland - Artist
Los Angeles based photographer and artist, Polly Borland left her home town of Melbourne in the late-1980s to pursue what has become a remarkable international career. After successfully emerging in the spheres of reportage and editorial photography, since 2000 Borland has almost exclusively concentrated on her personal work as an artist.
The artist's most celebrated portraits include Her Majesty, The Queen, Elizabeth II, which was commissioned by invitation from Buckingham Palace to mark the monarch's Golden Jubilee in 2002; and Nick Cave in a blue wig, held in the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria.
In 2000 the National Portrait Gallery, London, in association with the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra, commissioned the exhibition Australians, comprising 50 photographic portraits of celebrated expatriate Australians living and working in the UK at that time. Notable sitters in the exhibition included Clive James, Geoffrey Robertson QC, Germaine Greer, Cate Blanchett, Barry Humphries and Kylie Minogue. Within Borland's creative oeuvre, it is this series that best represents the context for the artist's current portrait The Hon. Ray Finkelstein AO QC.
Polly Borland's photographs are included in the collections of MONA; the Andy Warhol Foundation; the National Portrait Gallery; and Parliament of Australia among many more. In 2018-2019, the National Gallery of Victoria held a survey exhibition of Borland’s work, Polyverse.