Raymond Sanders "Ray" Watson (24 December 1922 – 26 October 2010) was an Australian judge of the

Family Court Family courts were originally created to be a Court of Equity convened to decide matters and make orders in relation to family law, including custody of children, and could disregard certain legal requirements as long as the petitioner/plaintif ...

. He was one of the authors of the Family Law Act. Watson was born in Penrith,

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

to a road contractor, and received sporadic education. He worked for the New South Wales transport department in order to put himself through high school, attending

Penrith High School , motto_translation = Striving for the highest , location = Penrith, Western Sydney, New South Wales , country = Australia , coordinates = , pushpin_map = Australia Sydney , pushpin_image ...

, and studied law at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

, although his study was interrupted by service in the navy 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 ...

. He survived a

kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to d ...

attack on HMAS ''Australia'' in 1944. Just after the war, Watson lived in

Austinmer Austinmer () is a northern village of Wollongong on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia. It sits in the northern Illawarra region, south of Stanwell Park and immediately north of Thirroul. The town's main beach is Austinmer Beach, a ...

with his wife and son and ran as a Liberal candidate for Werriwa in the 1946 federal election, running on a platform of housing affordability. He gained 27,000 votes in that election. Watson represented the seat of Georges River in the 1947 state election. By 1949, he had had a second child and moved to

Kirrawee Kirrawee is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Kirrawee is located 25 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district in the Sutherland Shire. Kirrawee lies between Sutherland, to the west, and ...

, again running for election in the 1949 federal election. Watson was an avid stamp collector his entire life. He attended the local Methodist Church and became a preacher there. Watson's first wife, Alison, with whom he had four children, died in 1968. Watson became a barrister and advised the Commonwealth government as part of a committee on the reform of the Matrimonial Clauses Act 1956, which eventually became the Family Law Act 1975. He rose to sit as a judge on the first

in the 1970s, where he advocated the priority of children's welfare and

no-fault divorce In a no-fault divorce the dissolution of a marriage does not require a showing of wrongdoing by either party. Laws providing for no-fault divorce allow a family court to grant a divorce in response to a petition by either party of the marriage w ...

. In 1984, a bomb attack on their home injured Watson and killed his second wife Pearl. On 29 July 2015, 68-year-old Leonard John Warwick was arrested by detectives at Campbelltown, New South Wales over the murder of Pearl, and three other Family Court related murders between 1980 and 1985, including the shooting death of fellow judge

David Opas David Louis Opas (30 June 1936 – 23 June 1980) was a judge of the Family Court of Australia. He was shot and killed during a period when a series of related gun and bomb attacks, killing three more people, were carried out against judges and o ...

. On 23 July 2020, Warwick was found guilty of the murder of Pearl, Opas and another bombing murder. He was also found guilty of numerous other offences including other bomb incidents. Watson was contributing to legal books until he suffered a series of strokes and a brain haemorrhage in July 2003, which impacted on his mental acuity, and on 19 October 2003 he suffered head injuries in a fall and was taken to Royal North Shore Hospital. His third wife, Esme, died in 2009. Watson died on 26 October 2010.

Publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Ray 1922 births 2010 deaths Members of the Order of Australia Judges of the Family Court of Australia University of Sydney alumni Sydney Law School alumni Royal Australian Navy personnel of World War II