Interview with Justice Jane Mathews / interviewer, John Farquharson.

2001

59125

Mathews, Jane.

Australia. -- Federal Court.

Women judges -- Australia.

Jane Mathews talks about her family background and schooling; the beginnings of her interest in the law; being the only female at law school; being the first woman articled clerk at Blaker, Dawson, Edwards and Nicholls; going to the Bar and joining Forbes Chambers (later Frederick Jordan Chambers); discrimination she encountered; becoming the counsel assisting Royal Commission on Human Relations; being the first woman NSW Crown Prosecutor; being offered an appointment to NSW District Court Bench at age 39; being head of State Equal Opportunity Tribunal; the Hindmarsh Island bridge case, the background and difficulties that arose; women in the law and at the Bar; some of the changes that are happening; more women judges, but only one on High Court; some cases she has handled as Supreme Court judge; police verballing; the difficulty of defamation cases; talkback radio, TV, the Press and defamation; the circumstances of going from the Supreme Court to the Federal Court; the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and its effectiveness; legislation that was a showpiece for the world; being appointed deputy president of Native Title Tribunal; her marriage and divorce 13 years later. Mathews discusses dealing with refugee cases at the Federal Court and her views on asylum seekers; the review processes and processing of asylum seekers' claims; the work of the Federal Court system; her decision to take early retirement from the Federal Court; the state of the law today and access to litigation for ordinary people; as a part-time member of the NSW Law Reform Commission and work in relation to the jury system in criminal trials; the efficacy of Royal Commission type hearings; working with Clive Evatt (snr); the Whitlam dismissal; John Kerr; her other interests and involvement with the International Association of Women Judges; Justice Elizabeth Evatt; Mary Gaudron; her involvement with her father in education and the University of NSW; Sir Anthony Mason; Lionel Murphy; her interest in music and membership of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra Council and the advisory committee of UNSW chamber music group, Australia Ensemble; her love of Italy; the Saint Teilo skull and its return to Llandaff Cathedral in Wales; her career and her feelings about her legal life.

Compact disc.

Access open for research; written permission required for personal copies and public use during the lifetime of the interviewee.

Recorded on Oct. 23, 2001.

Oral History Collection.

3 sound discs (ca. 180 min.) : digital + summary (3 p.)