Vale – The Honourable Robert Clive Tadgell AO QC

Born in 1934, he was educated first at Brighton Grammar then Wesley College. He left school in fifth form (year 11), but only after being persuaded to spend an extra year.  He subsequently completed his matriculation at Taylors College and gained a Menzies Commonwealth Scholarship. He studied law at the University of Melbourne. He completed his degree with honours and gained the Robert Craig Exhibition in Company Law and the Jenks Exhibition in Private International Law. He also became a resident in Trinity College where as a debater he won the President’s Medal for Oratory.

Clive served as associate to The Honourable Sir Reginald Sholl QC before being articled to the firm Hedderwick Fookes and Alston. He signed the Victorian Bar roll on 1 April 1960, reading with John McIntosh Young, and developed his practice particularly in corporate law and equity. He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1974 and as a justice of the Victorian Supreme Court in 1980. He became an inaugural member of the Court of Appeal from 1995 until his retirement in 2001.

He was Chancellor of the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne from 1981 to 2007 and President of the Appellate Tribunal of the Anglican Church of Australia.  He was a Fellow of Trinity College, active in the Medico-Legal Society, and served on the councils of Monash University, Melbourne Grammar and Geelong Grammar.  In 2001-02 he was a visiting Scholar to Oriel College Oxford.

He was awarded the Officer in the Order of Australia in 2005 for services to the judiciary and law, and to the community through contributions to the Anglican Church and higher education.

Clive is survived by his wife, Christina, and two sons, Hamish and Malcolm.

Clive’s funeral service will be held on Thursday, 28 July 2022 at 10.30am at St George’s Anglican Church Malvern.