Robert Wilfred Baker (9 April 1917 – 3 July 1985) was an Australian lawyer, legal scholar and politician, who was elected to the

Tasmanian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or Lower House, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. The other is the Legislative Council or Upper House. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Hobart. The Assembly has 25 m ...

in 1969 as a

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

member for Denison. He held his seat until 1980, when the results of the 1979 state election were voided and a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

was held, in which Baker lost his seat to fellow Liberal

Gabriel Haros Gabriel George Haros (born 9 February 1944) is a former Australian politician and the founder of the PundaZoie Company a globally acknowledged company delivering thGreening the DesertProgram – commercial solutions for sustainable agriculture, c ...

Early life and education

Baker was born in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, South Australia in April 1917 to labour relations manager Cecil Roy Baker and author Alice Daisy Turner. The family moved to Tasmania in 1919, where Baker was educated at Moonah State School and

Hobart High School Hobart High School is a coeducational secondary school with academy status, situated in the village of Loddon, near Norwich in Norfolk, England. It typically has around 850 pupils. The school previously had specialist science college status ...

, before gaining a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

from the

University of Tasmania The University of Tasmania (UTAS) is a public research university, primarily located in Tasmania, Australia. Founded in 1890, it is Australia's fourth oldest university. Christ College, one of the university's residential colleges, first pro ...

in 1939 whilst working as an articled clerk. In December that year, Baker was selected as Tasmania's

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

for 1940, but postponed his studies to enlist in the

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...

from 1940 to 1945 during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, obtaining the rank of

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

. After the war, Baker returned to Oxford to study a

Bachelor of Civil Law Bachelor of Civil Law (abbreviated BCL, or B.C.L.; la, Baccalaureus Civilis Legis) is the name of various degrees in law conferred by English-language universities. The BCL originated as a postgraduate degree in the universities of Oxford and Camb ...

(1946) and

Bachelor of Letters Bachelor of Letters (BLitt or LittB; Latin ' or ') is a second undergraduate university degree in which students specialize in an area of study relevant to their own personal, professional, or academic development. This area of study may have been t ...

(1947) at Lincoln College.

Legal career

Following his graduation from Oxford, Baker returned to Tasmania where he worked as a lawyer and joined the

in 1947 as a professor in the law faculty where he worked until 1959, also spending two years in the United States as a visiting scholar under the Carnegie Travel Award. In 1958, Baker joined the Hobart law firm Piggott, Jennings & Wood (later Piggott Wood & Baker). He was named

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of ...

in 1977, and returned to the University of Tasmania in 1981 to work as a lecturer at the law school and then at the School of Legal Practice at the Tasmanian College of Advanced Education from 1982 until his death in 1985.

Bibliography

As a requirement for his Bachelor of Letters degree, Baker completed a thesis under the supervision of

Arthur Lehman Goodhart Arthur Lehman Goodhart (1 March 1891 in New York City – 10 November 1978 in Oxford) was an American-born academic jurist and lawyer; he was Professor of Jurisprudence at the University of Oxford, 1931–51, when he was also a Fellow of Un ...

. His thesis, ''The Hearsay Rule'', was accepted and was published by

Pitman Pitman may refer to: * A coal miner, particularly in Northern England * Pitman (surname) * Pitman, New Jersey, United States * Pitman, Pennsylvania, United States * Pitman, Saskatchewan, Canada * Pitman Shorthand, a system of shorthand * Pitman ar ...

in 1950. In 1983, Baker wrote and self-published a memoir, ''Tasmania Now and Again''.

Personal life

Baker was an amateur but accomplished sportsman, in spite of a partly disabled right forearm which prevented him from joining the British military during World War II. He played

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

, but specialised in tennis, both the lawn and

royal tennis Real tennis – one of several games sometimes called "the sport of kings" – is the original racquet sport from which the modern game of tennis (also called "lawn tennis") is derived. It is also known as court tennis in the United Sta ...

varieties. In 1946, he and partner Tim Miles played in the first round of the 1946 Wimbledon Championships – Men's Doubles. He left Oxford with a

full blue A blue is an award of sporting colours earned by athletes at some universities and schools for competition at the highest level. The awarding of blues began at Oxford and Cambridge universities in England. They are now awarded at a number of other ...

in lawn tennis, having captained the university's team. During his navy service, Baker met fellow tennis player

Alison Burton Alison Violet Burton (3 November 1921 – 9 June 2014) was a left-handed Australian tennis player. She and Joyce Wood won the girls' doubles competition at the Australian Championships (now the Australian Open) in 1938, 1939 and 1940. Biography ...

in Melbourne, and they married in Oxford when he returned there to study. Their daughter, Barbara Baker, became the 29th

Governor of Tasmania The governor of Tasmania is the representative in the Australian state of Tasmania of the Monarch of Australia, currently King Charles III. The incumbent governor is Barbara Baker, who was appointed in June 2021. The official residence of the ...

in June 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Bob 1917 births 1985 deaths Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Tasmania Members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly Australian King's Counsel Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford University of Tasmania alumni Academic staff of the University of Tasmania Australian Rhodes Scholars Royal Australian Navy officers Royal Australian Navy personnel of World War II 20th-century Australian politicians Military personnel from Tasmania Politicians from Hobart Australian male tennis players Tennis people from Tasmania Sportspeople from Hobart Sportsmen from Tasmania