Catherine Anne Davani (3 June 19604 November 2016) was a

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

n judge. She was the first female to serve as a judge of the

Supreme Court of Papua New Guinea The Supreme Court of Papua New Guinea has been the highest court of Papua New Guinea since 16 September 1975, replacing the pre-Independence Supreme Court (corresponding to the post-Independence National Court) and the overseas appellate tribunal ...

from 2001 until her death. Davani was born in

Wau Wau may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Papua New Guinea * Wau, Papua New Guinea * Wau Airport (Papua New Guinea) * Wau Rural LLG, (local level government) South Sudan * Wau State, South Sudan * Wau, South Sudan, city * Wau railway s ...

Morobe Province Morobe is a province on the northern coast of Papua New Guinea. The provincial capital and largest city is Lae. The province covers 33,705 km2, with a population of 674,810 (2011 census), and since the division of Southern Highlands Province ...

, but later lived at Dorom in

Rigo District Rigo District is a district of Central Province in Papua New Guinea. It is one of the five administrative districts that make up the province. Local-level government areas * Rigo Central Rural * Rigo Coastal Rural * Rigo Inland Rural Town ...

of Central Province. She studied at

Kerevat National High School Kerevat National High School, also known as the Kerevat School of Excellence, is a government high school in the East New Britain Province of Papua New Guinea (PNG) that takes admissions from throughout PNG for Grades 11 and 12. It was founded ...

near

Rabaul Rabaul () is a township in the East New Britain province of Papua New Guinea, on the island of New Britain. It lies about to the east of the island of New Guinea. Rabaul was the provincial capital and most important settlement in the province ...

and the

University of Papua New Guinea The University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) is a university located in Port Moresby, capital of Papua New Guinea. It was established by ordinance of the Australian administration in 1965. This followed the Currie Commission which had enquired ...

before completing the Legal Training Institute course in 1984. Davani was admitted as a lawyer in November 1984, and she worked in the civil section of the Public Solicitors' Office until 1987. She studied in

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 ...

from 1987 to 1988, obtaining a masters in law from the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

, before returning to

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New ...

to work for Namaliu & Co Lawyers. She subsequently worked for Gadens Ridgeway Lawyers from 1991 to 1994, Shepherds Lawyers from 1994 to 2000 and

Blake Dawson Waldron Ashurst Australia is the Australian branch of Ashurst LLP, an international commercial law firm. The Australian headquarters of Ashurst are in Sydney. Prior to its acquisition by Ashurst, the Australian firm was named Blake Dawson, one of the ...

from 2000 until her 2001 appointment to the judiciary. She was a member of the Lawyers Statutory Committee (1995–2001) and the Papua New Guinea Law Society Council (1998–2001). Davani was heavily involved in sporting activities as well, and played

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

at a local, national and international level. She represented Papua New Guinea in three

Oceania Football Confederation The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) is one of the six continental confederations of international association football. The OFC has 13 members, 11 of which are full members and two which are associate members not affiliated with FIFA. It ...

World Cup qualifiers, and was captain of the

Papua New Guinea women's national football team The Papua New Guinea women's national soccer team is controlled by the Papua New Guinea Football Association (PNGFA). Its nickname is the Lakatoi, ''Lakatois'', which is a Motuan sailing vessel. Their home ground is the Sir Hubert M ...

in the 1994 and 1998 qualifiers. She was also a member of the Papua New Guinea Sports Commission (1993–2001), an executive member of the

Papua New Guinea Football Association The Papua New Guinea Football Association, PNGFA is the governing body of soccer in Papua New Guinea. The PNGFA is a member of both FIFA and Oceania Football Confederation, OFC, having FIFA and OFC affiliation in 1966 after being founded in 1962 ...

(1989–2004), and its vice-president (1993–1995). In 2001, she was appointed a member of the Chamber of International Arbitration for Football, and when it merged into the

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; , TAS) is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland, and its courts are located in New York City, Sy ...

, she became the Papua New Guinean representative on the court. She was married to John Davani, and they had four children. She died from cancer in November 2016 in a hospital in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, with the funeral and a ceremonial Supreme Court sitting being held in

on 14 November.

References

1960 births 2016 deaths Papua New Guinean judges People from Morobe Province People from Central Province (Papua New Guinea) Papua New Guinean women's soccer players Deaths from cancer in Queensland Women's association football players not categorized by position Papua New Guinea women's international soccer players {{PapuaNewGuinea-women-footy-bio-stub