Sir Hayden Erskine Starke
KCMG KCMG may refer to
* KC Motorgroup, based in Hong Kong, China
* Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George, British honour
* KCMG-LP, radio station in New Mexico, USA
* KCMG, callsign 1997-2001 of Los Angeles radio station KKLQ (FM) ...
(22 February 1871 – 14 May 1958) was an Australian judge who served on the
High Court of Australia from 1920 to 1950. He was a prominent
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
barrister before his appointment to the court.
Early life
Starke was born in 1871 in the Victorian gold rush town of
Creswick, Victoria, where his father was the Chief Medical Officer of the Creswick Hospital. Dr Anthony George Hayden Starke had emigrated from
Honiton
Honiton ( or ) is a market town and civil parish in East Devon, situated close to the River Otter, north east of Exeter in the county of Devon. Honiton has a population estimated at 11,822 (based on mid-year estimates for the two Honiton Ward ...
in
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...
in 1863 to take up the position at the new hospital in this bustling town that then rivalled
Ballarat. Hayden Starke was educated at the
Scotch College in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
.
Barrister
Starke completed a course as an
articled clerk
Articled clerk is a title used in Commonwealth countries for one who is studying to be an accountant or a lawyer. In doing so, they are put under the supervision of someone already in the profession, now usually for two years, but previously three ...
in 1892, and was admitted to the
Victorian Bar
The Victorian Bar is the bar association of the Australian State of Victoria. The current President of the Bar is Roisin Annesley KC. Its members are barristers registered to practice in Victoria. On 30 June 2020, there were 2,179 counsels ...
later that year, having won the annual Prize in Law from the
Supreme Court of Victoria. He practised as a
barrister until he was appointed to the bench of the High Court in 1920. Between 1903 (when the High Court was created) and 1920, he appeared before the court 211 times, more than any other justice of the court.
High Court
Starke was appointed to the High Court in 1920 by the
Hughes Government, following the death of Sir
Edmund Barton, a foundation member of the court. From 1920 to 1921, he was the Deputy President of the
Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration
The Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration was an Australian court that operated from 1904 to 1956 with jurisdiction to hear and arbitrate interstate industrial disputes, and to make awards. It also had the judicial functions of i ...
.
Starke was a mentor to
John Latham, an
Attorney-General of Australia and later
Chief Justice of Australia, although there was later friction between them, when Latham was Chief Justice. Starke had a reputation for being upfront and independent. Although it is common practice for the Chief Justice to compose a list of proposals, identifying which justice will hear which case, Starke would regularly arrive and hear cases, often without notice.
Starke had a tendency to dissent from the majority opinions offered by the likes of Latham and
Owen Dixon. To some extent, commentators have attributed this to personal disagreements with the other justices, as well as his ideological independence.
Starke thought that some justices, such as
Edward McTiernan
Sir Edward Aloysius McTiernan, KBE (16 February 1892 – 9 January 1990), was an Australian lawyer, politician, and judge. He served on the High Court of Australia from 1930 to 1976, the longest-serving judge in the court's history.
McTiernan ...
, and
George Rich
Sir George Edward Rich (3 May 1863 – 14 May 1956) was an Australian lawyer and judge who served on the High Court of Australia from 1913 to 1950. He is the second-longest-serving judge in the court's history, behind Edward McTiernan. ...
, were too heavily under the influence of Owen Dixon, and is said to have referred to them as "parrots" and "worms".
At one stage he was not even on speaking terms with fellow judge
H. V. Evatt
Herbert Vere Evatt, (30 April 1894 – 2 November 1965) was an Australian politician and judge. He served as a judge of the High Court of Australia from 1930 to 1940, Attorney-General and Minister for External Affairs from 1941 to 1949, and l ...
. Over 60 years after Starke's retirement, Justice
Dyson Heydon
John Dyson Heydon (born 1 March 1943) is a former Australian judge and barrister who served on the High Court of Australia from 2003 to 2013 and the New South Wales Court of Appeal from 2000 to 2003, and previously served as Dean of the Sydney ...
, in his reasons for allowing an appeal brought by
Jayant Patel
Jayant Mukundray Patel (born April 10, 1950 ) is an Indian-born American surgeon who was accused of gross negligence whilst working at Bundaberg Base Hospital in Queensland, Australia. Deaths of some of Patel's patients led to widespread publici ...
against manslaughter convictions, noted that Patel's charge sheet listed fraud charges before manslaughter charges and said: "The young Hayden Starke would have applauded this decision to place important questions of dollars and cents ahead of mere manslaughter matters".
In 1939, Starke was created a Knight Commander of the
Order of St Michael and St George. He resigned from the High Court on 31 January 1950. Starke died in 1958. A Chair of Law is named after him at the law school of
Monash University
Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university h ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Starke, Hayden
1871 births
1958 deaths
Justices of the High Court of Australia
Australian Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
People educated at Scotch College, Melbourne
People from Creswick, Victoria