Mary Gaudron is sworn in as the first female Justice of the High Court of Australia, breaking a major barrier in the nation’s judiciary.
On 6 February 1987, Mary Genevieve Gaudron was sworn in as a Justice of the High Court of Australia, becoming the first woman appointed to the nation’s highest court since its establishment in 1903.[1][12][16] Her appointment by the Hawke Labor Government followed service as Solicitor‑General of New South Wales and a distinguished career in industrial and constitutional law.[1][2][11] The ceremony on that Friday marked a profound constitutional and symbolic milestone: for the first time, Australia’s supreme judicial office was no longer an exclusively male preserve.[12][15][16]
This event was historically significant on multiple levels. It capped a series of earlier breakthroughs in which Gaudron had been the first woman to hold several senior legal roles, including State Solicitor‑General and Queen’s Counsel in New South Wales.[2][3][12] Her elevation to the High Court not only recognised her intellectual strength and advocacy for equality, but also visibly challenged long‑standing assumptions about who could sit on the apex court. Contemporary commentators and later historians have emphasised that in the Court’s first century she remained its only female justice, highlighting the depth of structural barriers she had to overcome.[3][6][12]
Her appointment also triggered practical changes within the institution. The conventional form of address "The Honourable Mr Justice X" was modified to the gender‑neutral "The Honourable Justice X", signalling a broader shift towards inclusive language in Australian courts.[15] During her tenure she delivered important judgments in areas such as implied constitutional freedoms, industrial relations, and Indigenous rights, including participation in the landmark Mabo v Queensland (No 2) native title decision.[2][3][12] For women in law, 6 February 1987 stands as a defining date: it demonstrated that a woman could reach the summit of Australian judicial power and helped open the path for later generations of female judges and advocates.