Sir John Patrick (Jack) Dwyer

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) ...

(24 June 1879 – 25 August 1966) was a native of Aberfeldy, Victoria who became Chief Justice and

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

of the State of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

from 1945 to 1959.

Early life

Dwyer was born on 24 June 1879 at

Aberfeldy, Victoria Aberfeldy is a locality in Victoria, Australia on Mount Lookout, northeast of the Thomson Dam, east of Melbourne. History The area began to be inhabited in 1871 following the discovery of alluvial gold, although access was made difficult by ...

, the elder son of Thomas Dwyer (b.1842 in Tipperary, Ireland) and Elizabeth Donaldson (b. 1855 in Melbourne, Australia). In Aberfeldy, the children were orphaned when their mother died in September 1884 and their father died just over a year later, in December 1885. Both parents are buried in th
Aberfeldy Cemetery
Dwyer and his younger brother and sister were taken in by their mother's Scottish parents, David and Annie Donaldson, in nearby Morwell. ''The Morwell Historical Society News'', 1973, Compiled by IT Maddern, accessed 30 Aug 2018, http://www.morwellhistoricalsociety.org.au/newsletters/Vol121973.pdf. Seeing his academic achievements at the Morwell primary school, his grandmother enrolled him at

Geelong College , motto_translation = Thus one goes to the stars , established = , type = Independent, co-educational, day and boarding, Christian school , denomination = in association with the Unitin ...

in 1890, where he excelled at cricket and football in addition to his academic work. Dwyer graduated as

dux ''Dux'' (; plural: ''ducēs'') is Latin for "leader" (from the noun ''dux, ducis'', "leader, general") and later for duke and its variant forms (doge, duce, etc.). During the Roman Republic and for the first centuries of the Roman Empire, '' ...

of the school in 1893, aged 14. In 1894 he attended the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

gaining a law degree, and became an articled clerk in 1897.

Legal and military career

Dwyer was called to the Victorian Bar in 1902 but relocated to Western Australia in 1904 following an offer of employment with

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

barrister (and MP) Matthew Moss. He was admitted to the Western Australian Bar in the same year. In 1908 Dwyer married Emily Louise Munro Irgens at St John's Church in

. The couple had no children, and their story has been kept alive by the Irving family, since Dwyer's aunt, Mary Edith Donaldson had married George Irving, a grazier, in 1906. After a brief period with Albany law firm Hayes and Robinson Dwyer returned to Fremantle as junior partner to Moss in 1911. During World War II, Dwyer enlisted with the Australian Imperial Forces on 30 May 1916 shortly after the

ANZAC The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) was a First World War army corps of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. It was formed in Egypt in December 1914, and operated during the Gallipoli campaign. General William Birdwood comma ...

withdrawal from

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, and was commissioned as a lieutenant a year later. Arriving in France four months before

Armistice Day Armistice Day, later known as Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth and Veterans Day in the United States, is commemorated every year on 11 November to mark Armistice of 11 November 1918, the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I a ...

, Dwyer served with the 44th Battalion during the closing stages of the German counteroffensive and in the immediate aftermath of the war itself. He returned to Australia in early 1919 and was officially demobilised on 23 July. After the war Dwyer resumed his legal practice as a senior partner of the firm Moss, Dwyer, Unmack and Thomas and was selected by the Barristers Board as a member of the three-person committee to consider the establishment of a law school at 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 became a lecturer at the new law school in 1928 and in 1929 was appointed as a judge of the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

. On 1 January 1946, Dwyer was appointed

Chief Justice of Western Australia The Chief Justice of Western Australia is the most senior judge of the Supreme Court of Western Australia and the highest ranking judicial officer in the Australian state of Western Australia. The chief justice is both the judicial head of the Su ...

. He was knighted in the same year and further honoured with a in 1949.

Retirement

Dwyer retired from the Court on 28 February 1959 at the age of 79. He continued his support and active involvement in the cultural and sporting life of his community. He died on 25 August 1966 at his home in

Shenton Park Shenton is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Sutton Cheney, in the Hinckley and Bosworth district, in the county of Leicestershire, England, situated south-west of Market Bosworth. Shenton was formerly a chapelry an ...

. After a state funeral he was buried with his wife, in the

Karrakatta Cemetery Karrakatta Cemetery is a metropolitan cemetery in the suburb of Karrakatta in Perth, Western Australia. Karrakatta Cemetery first opened for burials in 1899, the first being that of wheelwright Robert Creighton. Managed by the Metropolitan Ce ...

.Mather, K 2020, "Tipperary meets Lanarkshire in Australia: the kith and kin of Sir John Dwyer KCMG", ''Genealogical Society of Ireland Journal'', vol. 21, pp. 5-15. Many of his personal papers and photographs were donated to th
Old Court House Law Museumn
in Perth by Caroline ELizabeth Pummer, a journalist and Dwyer's wife's niece.

Early life

Legal and military career

Retirement

References

See also