Susan Maree Crennan (née Walsh; born 1 July 1945), is a former Justice of the

High Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is Australia's apex court. It exercises Original jurisdiction, original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified within Constitution of Australia, Australia's Constitution. The High Court was established fol ...

, the highest court in the

Australian court hierarchy The judiciary of Australia comprises judges who sit in federal courts and courts of the States and Territories of Australia. The High Court of Australia sits at the apex of the Australian court hierarchy as the ultimate court of appeal on mat ...

Early life and education

Crennan was born 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 ...

, one of six children born to

World War 2 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 opposing ...

veteran, John Maurice Walsh, and Marie Therese (née Henley), Catholics of Irish descent. She attended

Our Lady of Mercy College, Heidelberg Our Lady of Mercy College (OLMC), is a Roman Catholic, secondary day school for girls, situated in Heidelberg, a north-eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The college is conducted by the Sisters of Mercy, a congregation of religio ...

and 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 ...

, where she received a Bachelor of Arts. She later received a Bachelor of Laws from 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 ...

. Crennan also completed a Postgraduate Diploma (History) at the University of Melbourne on the constitutional history of the state of

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 ...

Career

Crennan was a teacher of English literature and was employed by various patent attorneys in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

and Victoria between 1967–1978. She was admitted as a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

in New South Wales in 1979 and Victoria in 1980. She was made

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 Victoria in 1989 and in New South Wales in 1990. From 1992–1997, Crennan served as a commissioner of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (now the

Australian Human Rights Commission The Australian Human Rights Commission is the national human rights institution of Australia, established in 1986 as the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) and renamed in 2008. It is a statutory body funded by, but opera ...

), the peak

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

body in Australia. In 1993, Crennan was the first woman to be appointed chair of the

Victorian Bar Council The Victorian Bar is the bar association of the Australia, Australian States and territories of Australia, State of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. The current President of the Bar is Roisin Annesley King's Counsel, KC. Its members are Barrist ...

, and the following year the first female president of the

Australian Bar Association The Australian Bar Association (ABA) is the peak body representing more than 6,000 barristers throughout Australia. The ABA was established in 1963 to serve, promote and represent its members, and advocate for fair and equal justice for all. ...

. Between 2003–2005, she was a member of the Council of the University of Melbourne. Crennan was appointed to the Federal Court in 2003 and took her seat on the bench on 3 February 2004. In September 2005 it was announced that she would succeed Justice Michael McHugh in the High Court.

Attorney-General of Australia The Attorney-GeneralThe title is officially "Attorney-General". For the purposes of distinguishing the office from other attorneys-general, and in accordance with usual practice in the United Kingdom and other common law jurisdictions, the Aust ...

Philip Ruddock Philip Maxwell Ruddock (born 12 March 1943 in Canberra) is an Australian politician and the current mayor of Hornsby Shire. Ruddock is a member of the Liberal Party of Australia and currently the state president of the party's New South W ...

, on announcing Crennan's appointment, said that Crennan "demonstrated, through the quality of her jurisprudence and her leadership, that she has the confidence of the legal profession and the broader Australian community". She was sworn into the High Court by Chief Justice

Murray Gleeson Anthony Murray Gleeson (born 30 August 1938) is an Australian former judge who served as the 11th Chief Justice of Australia, in office from 1998 to 2008. Gleeson was born in Wingham, New South Wales, and studied law at the University of Sydn ...

on 8 November 2005. The appointment made her the second female Justice to sit on the bench of the

, the first being Justice

Mary Gaudron Mary Genevieve Gaudron (born 5 January 1943), is an Australian lawyer and judge, who was the first female Justice of the High Court of Australia. She was the Solicitor-General of New South Wales from 1981 until 1987 before her appointment to ...

Retirement

After earlier plans to retire on her 70th birthday, in November 2014 it was announced that she would retire on 3 February 2015, five months before her 70th birthday. This was explained as being in order that her retirement would not coincide with the retirement of Justice

Kenneth Hayne Kenneth Madison Hayne (born 5 June 1945) is a former Justice of the High Court of Australia, the highest court in the Australian court hierarchy. Early life and education Hayne was born in Gympie, Queensland and attended Scotch College, Melbour ...

, also planned for around that time. That would have left the court with only five justices for a period, making it difficult to consider

constitutional A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princip ...

cases.High Court Justice Susan Crennan to retire, paving way for first Abbott Government appointment
Elizabeth Byrne,

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, 25 November 2014. Her final cases included consideration of the legality of the detention of 157

Sri Lankan Tamil Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, live in significant numbers in the Eastern Pr ...

asylum seeker An asylum seeker is a person who leaves their country of residence, enters another country and applies for asylum (i.e., international protection) in that other country. An asylum seeker is an immigrant who has been forcibly displaced and mi ...

s at sea in July 2014, under

Operation Sovereign Borders Operation Sovereign Borders (OSB) is a border protection operation led by the Australian Defence Force, aimed at stopping maritime arrivals of asylum seekers to Australia. The operation is the outcome of a 2013 federal election policy of the ...

. She was replaced by Victorian Court of Appeal judge

Geoffrey Nettle Geoffrey Arthur Akeroyd Nettle (born 2 December 1950) is a former Justice of the High Court of Australia, the highest court in the Australian court hierarchy, who served from 3 February 2015 to 30 November 2020. Prior to his appointment to the ...

Honours

In January 2008 Crennan was awarded the highest Australian civilian honour, Companion of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

(AC), for outstanding service to the law and the judiciary, particularly through leadership and mentoring roles with legal and professional associations, as a contributor to reform, and to the community. In 2013, Crennan was also inducted into the

Victorian Honour Roll of Women The Victorian Honour Roll of Women was established in 2001 to recognise the achievements of women from the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. The Honour Roll was established as part of the cele ...

Personal life

Susan Crennan and her husband, Michael Crennan QC, a barrister, have three children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crennan, Susan 1945 births Living people Companions of the Order of Australia Justices of the High Court of Australia Australian women judges University of Melbourne alumni University of Melbourne women Sydney Law School alumni Australian King's Counsel Australian people of Irish descent Australian Roman Catholics Judges of the Federal Court of Australia 20th-century Australian judges 20th-century women judges 20th-century Australian women