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nature. With a highly tuned sense of humour, he could see an amusing side to most things, including gently
ridiculing those he thought pompous. He liked people who were individualistic, particularly Italians, and after
coming to the Territory, the ‘average’ Northern Territorian.
In 1940 Bridge married Eleanor Dalton with whom he had two children: Heather (born 1941) and Ian James
(1944–1994). Eleanor died shortly after Ian’s birth. Ian became a solicitor in Sydney and was employed with the
World Bank in Washington DC at the time of his death. On 25 August 1945 Bridge married Margaret Farrell
and there were two children of this marriage: Alan Campbell Andrew (born 1951) and Margaret (deceased).
Campbell became a barrister at the New South Wales Bar.
Following the death of Justice Kriewaldt in 1960, the Commonwealth repealed the Supreme Court Ordinance
1911 that had established the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory, and in 1961 reconstituted the Court under a
Commonwealth Act. One of the consequences of the new Act was that in addition to there being a resident judge,
judges of Federal Courts could be given commissions as ‘additional judges’ of the Court. Between 1961 and 1979
(when the Northern Territory government reconstituted the Court yet again under a Territory Act) some 12 Federal
Judges were thus commissioned. The purpose of this provision was to provide a simple and effective means of
providing for suitably qualified persons to act as judges of the Court when the resident judge was absent or his
office fell vacant. Bridge was the first resident judge under the new scheme, his appointment being announced in
September 1961.
Bridge was active in the local community and became a life member of the Northern Territory Trailer Boat
Club and Patron of the Northern Territory Basketball Association. When the Bridge family moved into the Judge’s
residence at Myilly Point, the Commonwealth built another house on the land to house two Bathurst Islanders, one
of whom worked as a gardener, the other as a cleaner, for the Judge. Bridge, in a non-patronising way, encouraged
the islanders to look after their earnings responsibly to the extent that they achieved some fame in the commercial
community by buying shares in some of Australia’s better public companies.
Bridge was an extremely capable judge, whose judgments, although not often referred to now, were lucid,
careful and concise. Appeals at the time lay to the High Court. Of the nine reported appeals from his judgments,
only one achieved any measure of success. Hard working and conscientious, he was well regarded throughout the
legal profession not only as a capable lawyer and judge, but also as a pleasant likeable man.
On 21 July 1964, Bridge was also granted a temporary commission until December 1964 as a Judge of the
Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory, the first Northern Territory judge to be commissioned in another
jurisdiction. A further temporary commission was granted in 1965.
Bridge was the last resident judge to occupy the old Sydney Williams hut in Mitchell Street that had served as
the Supreme Court building since 1948. The original Court House built in the 19th century on the Esplanade had
been occupied by the Navy during the Second World War, and remained as Naval Headquarters until that building
was demolished by Cyclone Tracy in December 1974. Plans to build a new Court House had been considered by
the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works as early as 1955 when it was recognized that there was
an urgent need for a new Court building in Darwin to house both the Supreme Court and the lower courts. A new
Court House on the corner of Herbert and Mitchell Street was ultimately officially opened in June 1965. Bridge
had little time to enjoy his new surroundings. On 28 July 1966 he died suddenly, whilst at his Sydney home, at the
age of 57.
(1961) 35 Australian Law Journal 226; (1966) 40 Australian Law Journal 108; ACA Bridge, information to author; Commonwealth
Parliamentary Papers, 1954–1955, vol 2, 577; (1960–1964) 5 Federal Law Review, iv; J Flynn, interview with author; C Humphris, Trapped on
Timor, 1990; Northern Territory News 29 July 1960, 3 February 1965, 23 February 1965, 4 June 1965, 17 June 1965.
DEAN MILDREN, Vol 3.
BRIDGLAND, RAYMOND REECE (1889–1980), Northern Territory policeman, was born on 25 August 1889 at
Robe, South Australia, the son of Thomas Bridgland and his wife Mary Ann, nee Brown. His father was a publican
at Robe. After leaving school Bridgland worked for Colton Palmer and Preston, then in January 1911 joined
the South Australian Police and served at Adelaide, Loxton, Mount Gambier and Yunta. In July 1915, aged 26,
he joined the Northern Territory Mounted Police as Constable, arriving in Darwin a month later. In November
1915 he was posted to the new police station at Daly River and stayed there until September 1917. He tried to join
the armed services but his superiors refused to give their permission. He learned early in his career that policemen
stationed at remote places often had to carry out unusual duties; when Administrator Gilruth was coming to
inspect the demonstration farm at Daly River, Bridgland had to repair all the creek crossings along an eighty-six-
kilometre stretch of road.
He was posted to Maranboy tin field until about May 1918, then to Emungalen, Darwin, Pine Creek, Darwin,
Borroloola and the Roper River in 1920. At Roper River he was kept busy dealing with cattle-killings and several
murders. He said of these postings, many of which were to relieve staff taking leave: ‘I had the disadvantage of
being a single man so they pushed you anywhere...’ At the end of 1920 he went south for his first leave since
joining the Northern Territory Police and was away six months. On his return, he spent the next two years at
Roper River and Katherine.
In 1924 Bridgland was called in from Roper River to join a search party to look for two women who were
rumoured to have survived the wreck of the Douglas Mawson in the Gulf of Carpentaria and to be wandering
in Arnhem Land with Aborigines. The party searched without success but the rumours persisted and Bridgland,
Constable McNamara and several Aboriginal trackers were sent out on another search. While they were camped
at Caledon Bay, one of the Aboriginal trackers ran away and reported incorrectly that Bridgland had been killed.