Elegance of expression marked his judgements
CHARLES AUGUSTINE SWEENEY, QC, CBE, KCSG FEDERAL COURT
JUDGE 27-4-1915 - 22-12-2007
CHARLES Sweeney, who survived the first attacks by Kamikaze
pilots during World War II before rising through the legal ranks to
become a Federal Court judge, has died after a long battle with
Parkinson’s disease. He was 92.
A member of the Australian Navy Volunteer Reserve, he served in
intelligence and was also officer of the watch when Japanese midget
submarines attacked Sydney Harbour.
Born in Tasmania two days after the first landings at Gallipoli,
he experienced first-hand many salient events in Australia over
nearly a century.
The only child of Charles Sweeney, whom he revered, and Elsie
Paice, who died when he was five, he was a child of the Depression,
which instilled in him values of personal frugality, resilience and
lifelong hard work, as well as appreciating the transformational
nature of education.
Educated in Melbourne, with his final school days at St Kevin’s,
he credited his grandmother Catherine Sweeney in part for his
lifelong love of learning and deep religious faith.
Charles graduated from Melbourne University with honours in arts
and law, and later completed a master of arts. He was president of
the Newman College Students’ Club, captained the college’s first
XVIII and played for the University Blues. He joined the bar in
1939, having read with John Barry (later Sir John Barry) and having
been articled to Oswald Burt.
Charles was serving on HMAS Australia during the battle of Leyte
Gulf when it was subject to the first attacks by Kamikaze pilots.
He was immediately below the bridge when it was struck; more that
30 crew, including the skipper, Captain Emil Dechaineux, were
killed.
Charles married Betty Need in December 1945, and after the war
he returned to the bar. In 1949, he appeared before the Privy
Council on appeal for the claimant mother in the famous “Whose
Baby?” case. In the 1950s, he represented a number of successful
applicants for television licences before the Australian
Broadcasting Control Board in Melbourne and Sydney. He took silk in
1955, and from 1959 he represented the racing industry in the royal
commission into off-course betting; the findings led to the
establishment of what is now Tabcorp.
In 1963, Charles was appointed a deputy president of the
Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission and was
involved in a number of notable basic wage decisions in the 1960s
that contributed to the economic growth of Australia.
In 1970, he was appointed the federal judge in bankruptcy, with
sole responsibility for the administration of its authority in
Australia. In 1977, he was appointed to the Federal Court of
Australia when it was established, and had been for some time its
longest serving member when he retired in 1995.
Having been appointed for life, he elected to retire some months
after his 80th birthday. He noted that his decision to retire was
not a choice made in haste; during his judicial career he had seen
13 federal parliaments, six governors-general and 15
attorneys-general. He also observed that he had to be careful of
the timing so as not to deprive himself of a farewell!
He sat as a judge in every capital city in Australia and
performed on numerous occasions and with distinction the role of
chief justice of the Federal Court in the absence of the
incumbent.
In the ceremony farewelling him from the court he was described
by David Habersberger, QC (now Justice Habersberger, then
representing the Australian Bar Association) as exhibiting courtesy
and civility, patience and tolerance, humanity and an elegance of
expression in his judgements. He had also been described in his
barrister days by Justice William Kay, as “notorious for the fact
that he fought cases with a minimum of words. In cross-examination,
he never asked a superfluous question. It was great to be briefed
as his junior, but not to be opposed to him.”
In his retirement speech, Charles referred to his long
association with Sir Eugene Gorman, the undisputed leader of the
common law bar during the middle of the last century. It was as a
16-year-old schoolboy with dreams of the bar that he had first met
Sir Eugene in 1931. Sir Eugene became his generous guide,
philosopher and friend over many years.
Charles also served with distinction in a wide variety of
activities outside the legal profession. In 1973 he became chairman
of the organising committee of the 40th International Eucharistic
Congress held in Melbourne, which was attended by Pope John Paul
II. The same year he was awarded the Order of Commander of the
British Empire and the papal honour of Knight Commander of St
Gregory the Great.
He was for many years vice-chairman of the VATC (now the
Melbourne Racing Club), which reflected a long family history in
thoroughbred horse training and racing. He served as chairman of
the Mercy Maternity Hospital’s planning committee and its advisory
council, and on the council of Newman College as well as the
council of Mannix College at Monash University.
He was always on hand to offer assistance and support, often
with a dry wit and a snatch of poetry or Latin aphorism.
He loved ball games and was an active sportsman all his life. In
his younger years he was Australian handball champion and a low
marker golfer playing first at Victoria Golf Club and then at Royal
Melbourne, where he also became a skilled lawn bowler. He played
golf and lawn bowls well into his retirement.
In later years he played bowls and bridge at Glenferrie Hill and
maintained the competitive edge he had always displayed in his
sporting activities. He gained great pleasure from all these
activities and from the lifelong friendships they generated.
He is survived by Betty, his wife of 62 years, four children
%26#151; lawyers Charles (now a QC) and Catherine, and doctors
William and Francis %26#151; eight grandchildren and a
great-grandchild.
Catherine Walter is Charles Sweeney’s daughter.
