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barrister in New South Wales. In 1969, he left that firm, took up chambers in Canberra, and practised solely as a
barrister, mainly in the fields of common law civil actions and criminal law.
Between 1965 and 1967, O’Leary served as Vice-President of the Australian Capital Territory Law Society,
and as President between 1967–70. During the period of his presidency, the Law Society suffered open hostility
from the Commonwealth Attorney-General, Nigel Bowen, (later to become Chief Justice of the Federal Court of
Australia) over law reform issues and in particular over the provisions of a new Legal Practitioners Ordinance
which would introduce a divided profession into the Territory. In 1969, the Ordinance having been signed by
the Governor-General, despite the opposition of the Law Society, O’Leary and his predecessor, B C Meagher,
persuaded the Senate to disallow the Ordinance. A new ordinance organising the profession on a divided basis was
reintroduced in 1970 but was again disallowed by the Senate. In the same year, the government relented and the
Legal Practitioners Ordinance (No 2) 1970, which provided for a fused profession, was finally introduced.
From 1969 to 1977 O’Leary was a member of the Executive of the Law Council of Australia, serving as
Vice-President between 1972–1974 and as President between 1974–1976. Following Cyclone Tracy, in 1975 he
organised the establishment of a fund to assist members of the Northern Territory legal profession who had lost
property as a result of the Cyclone.
From 1961 to 1981, O’Leary served as a member of the Faculty of Law of the Australian National University
and lectured part-time in Practice and Procedure (1971–1981). Between 1972 and 1982, he became the first Director
of the Legal Workshop at the University. This innovative course provided for a means of practical teaching as an
alternative to articles of clerkship before admission. In this period he also visited, lectured, assisted or advised
in a number of other countries and cities which proposed to set up similar courses (Papua New Guinea; Toronto,
Canada; Birmingham, United Kingdom; Harvard, United States of America; Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern
Ireland; Dublin, Eire). In 1976, he was elected an Honorary Member of the American Bar Association; served as
an acting judge of the National Court of Papua New Guinea and as a Counsellor for both the International Bar
Association and Lawasia.
Between 1977 and 1981 O’Leary served as the first Chairman of the Australian Legal Education Council,
the purpose of which was to rationalize legal training, both academic and practical, at a national level, and to
encourage continuing legal education for practitioners.
In 1982 and 1983, O’Leary served two terms as an Acting Judge of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory.
In 1983, he was appointed a permanent Judge of the Court. Following the retirement of the first Chief Justice,
Sir William Forster, he was appointed as the Court’s second Chief Justice on 12 September 1985. It is fair to
record that he was not the first choice for this position. Justice Muirhead had been Acting Chief Justice for seven
months following Sir William’s retirement in February, but he declined the position as he also wished to retire.
At the time of O’Leary’s swearing in as Chief Justice, the Tuxworth government announced its intention to
bring into operation dormant statutory provisions establishing the Court of Appeal and Court of Criminal Appeal.
Forster, who had argued that the Court was still too small to establish its own appellate courts. had resisted this
step. The first sitting of the new courts of appeal was held on 28 April 1986. In the meantime, efforts were made to
draft new rules of court not only to modernise the existing rules, but also to provide rules of the new appeal courts.
The new rules came into force later the following year, and were largely the result of the O’Leary’s influence.
As a Judge and Chief Justice O’Leary was hard working, respected as a jurist, and above all, courteous.
He maintained good relations with the legal profession. As Chief Justice, he saw himself as first amongst equals.
He did his best to ensure that the appeal courts were seen as of equal quality to the Federal Court of Australia and
other State Appeal Courts. A number of important decisions affecting the interpretation of the Criminal Code, which
came into force on 1 January 1984, were decided whilst he was a Judge of the Court. As an administrator, he sought
to curb delays in hearing cases, encouraged the Law Society to introduce an effective system of continuing legal
education, and to simplify rules relating to legal costs.
On 31 July 1987, O’Leary retired on medical advice and left the Northern Territory to live in Perth. He was
appointed Queens Counsel on 1 August 1987.
O’Leary was the co-author of two books on civil procedure, namely, Principles of Practice and Procedure (with
Alan Hogan) (Butterworths, Sydney 1976) and Supreme Court Civil Procedure. New South Wales (with Mr Justice
PW Young and Alan Hogan) (Butterworths, Sydney, 1987). His other main interests were reading and music.
He was a competent pianist. His wife was a violinist who played first violin in the Canberra Symphony Orchestra,
and with the Sydney and Melbourne Elizabethan Trust Orchestras formed to play with the Australian Ballet.
After arriving in Darwin, she made a significant contribution to the Darwin String Orchestra, which was eventually
to form the nucleus of the Darwin Symphony Orchestra.
(1972) 46 Australian Law Journal, 49, 157; (1978) 52 Australian Law Journal 117; (1985) 59 Australian Law Journal 638; Northern Territory
News, 12 September 1985 & 31 July 1987; personal information; Transcripts of Ceremonial Sittings of Supreme Court of the Northern Territory
12 July 1982, 12 September 1985 & 31 July 1987; Who’s Who in Australia, 1988; S M W Withycombe, Ethos and Ethics, 1993.
DEAN MILDREN, Vol 3.O’LOUGHLIN, JOHN PATRICK (1911–1985), Roman Catholic priest and Bishop of Darwin, was born at
Brompton, South Australia on 25 July 1911, second child of Michael O’Loughlin and his wife Mary Florence,
nee McGee. Educated at first by the Sisters of St Joseph he completed his secondary schooling at the Christian
Brothers Rostrevor College in Adelaide. Straight from school O’Loughlin joined the Missionaries of the Sacred
Heart and he took his permanent vows on 26 February 1933. He was ordained priest on 30 November 1935.
He was later to receive the degree of Doctor of Divinity from the Gregorian University in Rome.