Ross Ibbotson Dalton Mallam (1878 – 26 May 1954), invariably known as R. I. D. Mallam or Justice Mallam, was a judge of the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Northern Territory Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the Northern Territory is the superior court for the Australian States and territories of Australia, Territory of the Northern Territory. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the territory in civil law (common law), civil m ...

History

Mallam was born in

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

, London, and in 1902 emigrated to Adelaide, South Australia, where his uncle George Bessant Mallam (1843–1910) was a successful medical practitioner who had in 1884 married Annie Isabel Kyffin Thomas (1864–1948), daughter of the influential newspaper proprietor

William Kyffin Thomas William Kyffin Thomas (4 November 1821 – 4 July 1878) was a newspaper proprietor in South Australia. William, the son of Robert Thomas, was born in Fleet Street, London and emigrated to South Australia with his father in 1836 on the . From th ...

(1821–1878). He began practising law in Kadina in 1903, then a year later in Adelaide, where he also served as managing clerk for

Paris Nesbit Paris Nesbit, QC (born Edward Pariss Nesbit; 8 August 1852 – 31 March 1927), was an Australian lawyer. Early life and education Nesbit was born at Angaston in South Australia to schoolmaster Edward Planta Nesbit and Ann, ''née'' Paris ...

. On a motion by Nesbit, Mallam was admitted as a practitioner to the Supreme Court of South Australia. In 1910 he moved to Darwin where he had a successful practice in Mitchell Street, having taken over the offices of E. P. G. Little. There he was a popular barrister and often took on 'the establishment' in court and he strongly opposed the administration of

John A. Gilruth John Anderson Gilruth (17 February 1871 – 4 March 1937) was a Scottish-Australian veterinary scientist and administrator. He is particularly noted for being Administrator of the Northern Territory from 1912 to 1918, when he was recalled afte ...

, whom he believed to be inept. He was appointed to the Supreme Court of North Australia in April 1928, replacing the despised Judge Donald Arthur Roberts, and his appointment was celebrated by both the conservative ''Northern Territory Times'' and the union-owned ''Northern Standard''. Of the appointment the ''Northern Territory Times'' said: In November 1928 he sat on the trial of Padygar and Arkikra, two Aboriginal men who had been charged with the murder of Frederick Brooks at Coniston Station. It was this murder that led to the

Coniston massacre The Coniston massacre, which took place in the region around the Coniston (Northern Territory), Coniston cattle station in the territory of Central Australia (territory), Central Australia (now the Northern Territory) from 14 August to 18 Octo ...

and these men had been arrested by William George Murray who led the punitive expedition, when many Aboriginal people were killed. Mallam rejected the confessions of both men, which had been made after they were violently arrested, as inadmissible and they were found not guilty. Mallam is reported to have remarked during the trial that Murray had ''" wed them down wholesale"''. The result of this trial led to the Commonwealth forming a Board of Inquiry into the events at Coniston. He retired in 1933 due to ill health and his vacant position on the Supreme Court was filled by

Thomas Alexander Wells Thomas Alexander Wells (13 September 1954) was a judge of the Northern Territory Supreme Court in Darwin, Australia. He was known for having misdirected the jury in a high-profile case in 1934, which was later overturned in an appeal in the Hig ...

. After a year in Adelaide he moved to Melbourne, where he died in 1954.

Recognition

Mallam Street, Ludmilla is named for him. as is Mallam Crescent Alice Springs.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mallam, Ross 1878 births 1954 deaths History of the Northern Territory Judges of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory British emigrants to Australia