Richard Edward O'Connor (4 August 1851 – 18 November 1912) was an Australian politician and judge.
A barrister and later Queen's Counsel, O'Connor was active in the campaign for Australian
Federation
A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-govern ...
and was a close associate of
Edmund Barton. He served as New South Wales Minister for Justice in the
Dibbs ministry from 1891 to 1893 while a member of the
New South Wales Legislative Council (1888–98), and was a member of the constitutional committee at the Federal Convention that drafted the
Australian Constitution. A member of the
first federal ministry as
Vice-President of the Executive Council
The Vice-President of the Executive Council is the minister in the Government of Australia who acts as the presiding officer of meetings of the Federal Executive Council when the Governor-General is absent. The Vice-President of the Executiv ...
, O'Connor led the government in the
Senate, the first person to do so, from 1901 to 1903, playing a key role in the development of that chamber's role in Australian politics.
O'Connor resigned from Parliament in 1903 to become one of the inaugural justices of the
High Court of Australia, which he had helped to create. He had a reputation as a liberal and independent-minded justice who occasionally voted with the progressives on industrial matters after 1906. He was also the first 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 ...
from 1905 to 1907, and he continued to serve on the High Court until his early death in 1912.
Early life
Richard Edward O'Connor was born in the
Sydney suburb of
Glebe
Glebe (; also known as church furlong, rectory manor or parson's close(s))McGurk 1970, p. 17 is an area of land within an ecclesiastical parish used to support a parish priest. The land may be owned by the church, or its profits may be reserved ...
on 4 August 1851. His mother was Mary Anne, ''née'' Harnett, while his father was
Richard
Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stro ...
, an Irish-born
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
who at that time served as librarian to the
New South Wales Legislative Council, and would later become Clerk of the
Legislative Assembly, chairing its first meeting.
His family believed itself to be descended from the Irish republican rebel
Arthur O'Connor, and also counted the prominent Tasmanian pioneer
Roderic O'Connor among their relations.
Richard Edward, sometimes known as Dick, attended St Mary's College, a
Benedictine
, image = Medalla San Benito.PNG
, caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal
, abbreviation = OSB
, formation =
, motto = (English: 'Pray and Work')
, foun ...
school in
Lyndhurst, from 1861 to 1866 before matriculating at
Sydney Grammar School in 1867 and studying 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 ...
. From a young age his closest friend was
Edmund Barton, in whose Cabinet O'Connor would later serve.
[ He won the Wentworth medal for the best English essay in 1870, and received a ]Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...
in 1871 and a Master of Arts
A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Th ...
in 1873.
While studying for his master's degree from 1871 to 1874, O'Connor worked as a clerk in the New South Wales Legislative Council, after which he was articled with Frederick Darley (afterwards Chief Justice), remaining solvent with contributions to the ''Freeman's Journal
The ''Freeman's Journal'', which was published continuously in Dublin from 1763 to 1924, was in the nineteenth century Ireland's leading nationalist newspaper.
Patriot journal
It was founded in 1763 by Charles Lucas and was identified with rad ...
'', the ''Echo'' and the ''Evening News''.[ He was admitted to the bar on 15 June 1876.][ An enthusiastic debater, he was a regular participant at the Sydney School of Arts Debating Club, encountering future political foes and personal friends William McMillan and ]George Reid
Sir George Houston Reid, (25 February 1845 – 12 September 1918) was an Australian politician who led the Reid Government as the fourth Prime Minister of Australia from 1904 to 1905, having previously been Premier of New South Wales fr ...
.[ Establishing his own law practice, he served as Crown Prosecutor for the northern district. He married Sarah Jane Hensleigh on 30 October 1879 at St Joseph's Catholic Church in ]Delegate
Delegate or delegates may refer to:
* Delegate, New South Wales, a town in Australia
* Delegate (CLI), a computer programming technique
* Delegate (American politics), a representative in any of various political organizations
* Delegate (Unit ...
on the border between New South Wales and Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
(Sarah came from Bendock).[
]
Colonial politics
In the dispute between protection
Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although th ...
and free trade
Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econ ...
that formed the backbone of Australian colonial politics in the late nineteenth century, O'Connor was a committed protectionist. Despite this, Sir Henry Parkes
Sir Henry Parkes, (27 May 1815 – 27 April 1896) was a colonial Australian politician and longest non-consecutive Premier of the Colony of New South Wales, the present-day state of New South Wales in the Commonwealth of Australia. He has be ...
, the Premier of New South Wales
The premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster Parliamentary System, with a Parliament of New South Wales acting as the legislatu ...
and a free trader, had him appointed to the New South Wales Legislative Council on 8 February 1888. The protectionist George Dibbs
Sir George Richard Dibbs KCMG (12 October 1834 – 5 August 1904) was an Australian politician who was Premier of New South Wales on three occasions.
Early years
Dibbs was born in Sydney, son of Captain John Dibbs, who 'disappeared' in the ...
appointed him Minister for Justice on 23 October 1891, a position in which he worked closely with his friend Barton, who was Attorney General. O'Connor also served as Solicitor General from 19 July to 13 September 1893.[ In these portfolios he worked for electoral reform and supported the cause of ]Federation
A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-govern ...
.[ After becoming Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council in 1892 he exercised considerable control over that body, but his influence was greatly diminished after he and Barton were forced to resign from the ministry on 14 December 1893,][ having accepted briefs in a case in which they were required to argue against the railway commissioners, a government department.][ O'Connor remained in the Legislative Council but embarked on an overseas tour, travelling to ]Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
, Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
, England and Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
.[
In 1895, O'Connor returned to New South Wales and successfully defended the protectionist demagogue ]Paddy Crick
William Patrick Crick (10 February 1862 – 23 August 1908) was an Australian politician, solicitor and newspaper proprietor. He was described by author Cyril Pearl as an irresistible demagogue, who "looked like a prize fighter, dressed like a ...
against conspiracy charges relating to the George Dean
George Dean (14 November 1867 – 7 May 1933) was a ferry boat master in Sydney, Australia, who was charged with attempting to poison his wife. A large part of the Sydney public came to believe that Dean was innocent and that his wife and her moth ...
attempted murder case; he was appointed Queen's Counsel
In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister o ...
in 1896 and acted as a judge on the Supreme Court from November 1898 to March 1899.[ He also remained active politically. As a founding member of the Australian Federation League in 1893, he was appointed a vice-president of the People's Federal Convention held at Bathurst in November 1896.][ He was elected as a delegate to the Australian Federal Convention in 1897 and served on the constitutional committee with Barton and the former ]South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
n Premier Sir John Downer. He organised the "nexus clause" which guaranteed the Senate half as many members as the House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
, arguing that this would act as an incentive to keep parliamentary numbers, and therefore expenditure, comparatively low.[
O'Connor resigned from the Legislative Council on 16 July 1898,][ in order to contest the lower house seat of ]Young
Young may refer to:
* Offspring, the product of reproduction of a new organism produced by one or more parents
* Youth, the time of life when one is young, often meaning the time between childhood and adulthood
Music
* The Young, an American roc ...
against the sitting Labour member, Chris Watson. He focused his campaign on Federation issues but was surprised to be easily defeated by 1,244 votes to 876. Financial difficulties necessitated his focus on legal work rather than campaigning during the second Constitution referendum in 1899, although he still managed to speak most nights.[ Following the success of Federation, O'Connor was to be a member of the first Commonwealth ministry, and was instrumental in the affair that became known as the Hopetoun Blunder. Lord Hopetoun, Australia's first Governor-General, had commissioned Sir William Lyne to form a government, since Lyne was Premier of the largest state, New South Wales. O'Connor was one of those who refused to serve under Lyne, who had been lukewarm on the issue during the Federation campaigns, and was significant in the negotiations that led to Lyne's resignation of the commission in Barton's favour. On 1 January 1901, O'Connor was appointed ]Vice-President of the Executive Council
The Vice-President of the Executive Council is the minister in the Government of Australia who acts as the presiding officer of meetings of the Federal Executive Council when the Governor-General is absent. The Vice-President of the Executiv ...
, an honorary post, in Barton's Cabinet.[
]
Federal politics
O'Connor stood for the Senate at the 1901 federal election in March and was elected in the fourth position, with 40% of the vote (electors cast six votes, with the six candidates with the highest totals winning election). The only Protectionist
Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. ...
Senator from New South Wales, he was appointed Leader of the Government in the Senate, and was instrumental in the evolution of that house as subordinate to the House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
,[ although he encouraged the introduction of legislation into the Senate.][
O'Connor, who had only one ministerial colleague in the upper house, tabled standing orders for the Senate on 10 May 1901 in conjunction with those tabled in the House of Representatives, but the chamber instead adopted a committee to formulate standing orders of its own.][ He was a vigorous supporter of the ]White Australia policy
The White Australia policy is a term encapsulating a set of historical policies that aimed to forbid people of non-European ethnic origin, especially Asians (primarily Chinese) and Pacific Islanders, from immigrating to Australia, starting i ...
, although he also supported voting rights for Aborigines and other "coloured persons who are naturalised subjects", and supported Dalgety as the site for the national capital.[ He was also an advocate of ]proportional representation
Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...
for the Senate as representative of the "true majority",[ and managed to guide the 1902 Customs Tariff Act through the Senate with minimal interference.][ He worked during this period under great financial difficulty as his position as Vice-President of the Executive Council carried with it no salary beyond that of a Senator, and parliamentary sessions 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 ...
greatly interfered with the running of his Sydney law practice. He had been offered a knighthood by Barton in 1902 but refused, lest he appear as "Sir Richard" before the bankruptcy courts. The number of salaried ministers was capped by the Constitution, but O'Connor was forced to write to the Attorney General, his friend Alfred Deakin, that he could not continue to work without remuneration.[ As a result, Deakin arranged for O'Connor's ministerial colleagues to each contribute £200 a year to a fund for honorary ministers.][
On 29 July 1903, O'Connor introduced legislation for the establishment of a High Court of Australia, describing it as vital in "maintaining the balance of the Constitution".][ Attacked as extravagant, the Judiciary Act was nonetheless passed, and O'Connor resigned his portfolio on 24 September, resigning from the Senate on 27 September.][ He and Barton, who had likewise resigned, were appointed the first Puisne Justices of the High Court, with ]Sir Samuel Griffith
Sir Samuel Walker Griffith, (21 June 1845 – 9 August 1920) was an Australian judge and politician who served as the inaugural Chief Justice of Australia, in office from 1903 to 1919. He also served a term as Chief Justice of Queensland and t ...
as Chief Justice.[
]
High Court justice
O'Connor was a liberal justice who saw judges as "not only the interpreters, but also the guardians of the Constitution", advocating the Court's primacy over the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is the highest court of appeal for the Crown Dependencies, the British Overseas Territories, some Commonwealth countries and a few institutions in the United Kingdom. Established on 14 Aug ...
on these matters.[ He worked well with Griffith and Barton, although he was the most frequent dissenter in their decisions.][ The Court demanded a high standard of advocacy and acquired a reputation for overturning decisions made by the state supreme courts, and the justices' travelling expenses were cut by Sir Josiah Symon, Attorney General in the short-lived Reid government, in December 1904.][ O'Connor argued that abolishing tipstaves was a more efficient way of dealing with the Court's increasing expenses and no decision was reached until ]Isaac Isaacs
Sir Isaac Alfred Isaacs (6 August 1855 – 11 February 1948) was an Australian lawyer, politician, and judge who served as the ninth Governor-General of Australia, in office from 1931 to 1936. He had previously served on the High Court of Au ...
, taking office with the expansion of the Court in July 1906, was able to broker a compromise.[
O'Connor was appointed the first 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 ...
in February 1905, a position he accepted with reluctance. He found it difficult to keep up with both positions, despite taking "a good deal of trouble with rbitrationdecisions", and resigned from the Arbitration Court in 1907.[ With the appointment of H. B. Higgins to the High Court with Isaacs in 1906, that body had become far less unanimous, with O'Connor sometimes agreeing with the two new justices on industrial matters.][ Assailed by ailing health but forced to continue working since he still lacked a pension, he travelled overseas in 1907–08 and 1912.][
]
Death and legacy
O'Connor, still a sitting justice, died from pernicious anaemia
Pernicious anemia is a type of vitamin B12 deficiency anemia, a disease in which not enough red blood cells are produced due to the malabsorption of vitamin B12. Malabsorption in pernicious anemia results from the lack or loss of intrinsic ...
at St Vincent's Hospital in the suburb of Darlinghurst
Darlinghurst is an inner-city, eastern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Darlinghurst is located immediately east of the Sydney central business district (CBD) and Hyde Park, within the local government area of the City of Sydney. ...
on 18 November 1912, aged 61; he had suffered from chronic nephritis for some years.[ He was buried in the Anglican section of ]Rookwood Cemetery
Rookwood Cemetery (officially named Rookwood Necropolis) is a heritage-listed cemetery in Rookwood, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest necropolis in the Southern Hemisphere and is the world's largest remaining operating ...
, though with Catholic rites. He was survived by his wife Sarah, who died in 1925, and by six of his seven children. Of his two daughters, Winifred married Alexander Maclay (son of the Russian anthropologist and explorer Nicholas Miklouho-Maclay
Nicholas Miklouho-Maclay (russian: Никола́й Никола́евич Миклу́хо-Макла́й; 1846 – 1888) was a Russian Imperial explorer. He worked as an ethnologist, anthropologist and biologist who became famous as one of ...
), and Kathleen married the pianist and composer Roy Agnew. His eldest and youngest sons, Richard and Roderic, were killed at Armentières in 1916; the others, Arthur and Desmond, survived.[ After his death he received tributes from, among others, Barton, who believed "that assiduous toil did much to shorten a life that was most precious", and Griffith, who described O'Connor as "absolutely fearless in the performance of his judicial duties".][ Billy Hughes, then serving as Attorney General in the ]Fisher
Fisher is an archaic term for a fisherman, revived as gender-neutral.
Fisher, Fishers or The Fisher may also refer to:
Places
Australia
*Division of Fisher, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives, in Queensland
*Elect ...
Labor government, recalled that O'Connor "never exhibited any trace of personal enmity".[ The suburb of O'Connor in Canberra is named in his honour.]
References
External links
High Court biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnor, Richard
1851 births
1912 deaths
Justices of the High Court of Australia
Protectionist Party members of the Parliament of Australia
Members of the Cabinet of Australia
Members of the Australian Senate for New South Wales
Members of the Australian Senate
People educated at Sydney Grammar School
Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council
Deaths from pernicious anemia
Australian King's Counsel
20th-century Australian politicians