Howard William Olney (born 7 October 1934) is the Australian Aboriginal Lands Commissioner. Olney was born in Nedlands and attended Perth Modern School and the

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

. He was admitted as a solicitor in 1957 and as a

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

in 1965, being called to the bar in 1974. He became

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 1980 and served as a

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

member of the

Western Australian Legislative Council The Western Australian Legislative Council is the upper house of the Parliament of Western Australia, a state of Australia. It is regarded as a house of review for legislation passed by the Legislative Assembly, the lower house. The two Houses ...

from 1980 to 1982. From 1982 to 1988 he was a Justice of the

Supreme Court of Western Australia The Supreme Court of Western Australia is the highest state court in the Australian State of Western Australia. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil matters (although it usually only hears matters involving sums of A$750,00 ...

, moving to the Federal Court from 1988 to 2003. There in 1998 he wrote the opinion that denied the

Yorta Yorta The Yorta Yorta, also known as Jotijota, are an Aboriginal Australian people who have traditionally inhabited the area surrounding the junction of the Goulburn and Murray Rivers in present-day north-eastern Victoria and southern New South Wales ...

native title Aboriginal title is a common law doctrine that the land rights of indigenous peoples to customary tenure persist after the assumption of sovereignty under settler colonialism. The requirements of proof for the recognition of aboriginal title, ...

claim in

Members of the Yorta Yorta Aboriginal Community v Victoria ''Yorta Yorta v Victoria'' was a Native title in Australia, native title claim by the Yorta Yorta people, Yorta Yorta, an Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal Australian people of north central Victoria (Australia), Victoria. The claim was dismis ...

. Between 2005 and 2011 he was an acting judge for the

Supreme Court of the Northern Territory The Supreme Court of the Northern Territory is the superior court for the Australian Territory of the Northern Territory. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the territory in civil matters, and hears the most serious criminal matters. It is aro ...

. He was appointed Aboriginal Lands Commissioner in 2007. (password required)

References

1934 births Living people Members of the Western Australian Legislative Council Members of the Order of Australia Australian King's Counsel Judges of the Supreme Court of Western Australia Judges of the Federal Court of Australia People educated at Perth Modern School Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Western Australia People from Perth, Western Australia {{Australia-Labor-WesternAustralia-MP-stub