Ceremonial - Final Sitting - Melbourne -

[1999] HCATrans 12

H I G H   C O U R T   O F   A U S T R A L I A

CEREMONIAL  SITTING

ON THE OCCASION

OF

THE FINAL SITTING OF THE COURT

IN PRECINCTS OF THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Coram:

GLEESON CJ
McHUGH J

TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS

AT MELBOURNE ON FRIDAY, 12 FEBRUARY 1999, AT 9.30 AM

GLEESON CJ:   Today is the last day on which the High Court of Australia will sit in this courtroom.  Future sittings of the Court in Melbourne will be in the new Federal Courts Building overlooking Flagstaff Gardens.

The High Court has a long association with these premises.  After its establishment in 1903 the Court led a somewhat peripatetic existence.  In Melbourne, the Court originally occupied part of the Supreme Court premises until 1928 when it was given its Melbourne home on this site.  The building was designed by the Chief Commonwealth Architect, Mr J.S. Murdoch, in what is said to be “inter-war stripped classical style.”  That became the standard Commonwealth Government building style in those years.  It is the same style as old Parliament House, which was designed by the same architect in 1927, and what used to be called the Canberra Hotel.

At the time of the opening of the Court, not much fuss was made.  The Argus newspaper wrote an article about the first occasion when the High Court sat here.  The headline was: “High Court.  New Building Opened.  Absence of Ceremonial.”  The article said:

The first case called on in the new court was an appeal in the action of Bretherton and Major.  The appeal book was not ready, however, and the case was not proceeded with.

This established a pattern for relations between the Court and the profession that has continued over the years.

The article then went on to say:

An appeal from the order of the Chief Justice –

of Victoria –

in an action in which the City of Sandringham sued Tarlton Rayment, of Bath Street, Sandringham, for £47/14/4 for road construction was next argued.

Special leave to appeal was obviously not necessary in those days.

Many famous cases have been heard in this courtroom.  The Bank Nationalisation Case was argued here.  Argument lasted for 39 days.  It can safely be assumed that no case in the High Court will ever again be allocated a hearing time of that length.

The first time I ever appeared in the High Court was in this courtroom.  It was in 1965 in a case called Meyer Heine v China Navigation Co.  I was being led for the defendants by Smyth QC and Fox QC.  Our opponents were members of the Victorian Bar, Lush QC and Strauss.  I had only been at the Bar for about a year.  The Justices of the High Court seemed to me to be extraordinarily elderly men.  I know better than that now.

It is interesting to reflect that when seven Justices of the High Court sat on this Bench they would have done so in circumstances of some considerable physical intimacy.  The standards of comfort expected by the Bench, practitioners, and the public, have changed.

For nearly 15 years the Federal Court has provided chambers and courtroom facilities for Justices visiting Melbourne to hear special leave applications, and it has made available courtroom facilities for those Justices who have resided in Melbourne. The members of the Court are conscious of the many personal courtesies that have been extended to them by the Judges of the Federal Court.  I wish to take this opportunity to thank the Chief Justice, the Justices and the Registry staff of the Federal Court for all the assistance they have given over the years, and, for the co-operation which has made each journey of the High Court to Melbourne a pleasant one.

Please call the first matter.

AT 9.34 AM THE COURT PROCEEDED WITH THE BUSINESS OF THE DAY