Sir Cyril Ambrose Walsh KBE (15 June 1909 – 29 November 1973) was an Australian judge who served on the

High Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is the apex court of the Australian legal system. It exercises original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified in the Constitution of Australia and supplementary legislation. The High Court was establi ...

from 1969 until his death in 1973.

Early life

Walsh was born in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, New South Wales, the son of Michael and Mary Walsh. He grew up in the western suburb of Werrington, where his father owned a dairy farm. He was educated at St Joseph's Convent School and later at Parramatta High School in the Sydney suburb of

Parramatta Parramatta (; ) is a suburb (Australia), suburb and major commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney. Parramatta is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, on the banks of the Parramatta River. It is co ...

. In 1926, he won the T E Rofe Prize, worth £6, for the best history essay in the state, writing on the Mutiny on the ''Bounty''. (Including image of Walsh at age 17.) Walsh commenced studies at 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 ...

in 1927, living at St John's College. Walsh graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1930 and a Bachelor of Laws in 1934, both with honours. He also won the University Medals in English, Philosophy and Law, and first-class honours in English, Philosophy and

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, was awarded the James Coutts Scholarship for English and was the joint winner of the John George Dalley Prize. His cumulative undergraduate record is regarded as the finest record before or since for any law student at the university. On 28 November 1942, Walsh married his wife Mary at the St Joseph's Catholic Church in Burwood Heights, they would later have three sons together. The family lived mainly in the inner western Sydney suburb of Summer Hill.

Legal career

On 26 May 1934, Walsh was admitted to the New South Wales Bar, where he began to practise as a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

. His office was located in the Chalfont Chambers building in central Sydney, where his neighbours included future

Chief Justice of Australia The chief justice of Australia is the presiding justice of the High Court of Australia and the highest-ranking judicial officer in the Commonwealth of Australia. The incumbent is Stephen Gageler, since 6 November 2023. Constitutional basis Th ...

and High Court colleague Garfield Barwick. Walsh's main work was in equity. He argued many equity cases in the

Supreme Court of New South Wales The Supreme Court of New South Wales is the highest state court of the Australian States and territories of Australia, State of New South Wales. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil law (common law), civil matters, and hears ...

in the 1940s and 1950s, and argued at least ten cases before the High Court in that time. In January 1954, Walsh was made a Judge of the

, an appointment which was widely accepted as well-deserved, although Walsh was relatively young at the age of 44. On 3 May 1955, Walsh was appointed to the Council of St John's College as a Fellow, and was later deputy chairman of the council from 1969 to 1972. In 1958 he was appointed as the head Judge of the newly established Commercial Causes List in the Supreme Court. The most notable case he was involved in at this time was the famous Wagon Mound (No 2) case, which was ultimately appealed to the Privy Council, which relied significantly on Walsh's findings of fact, almost all of which were not challenged. In 1962, Walsh was selected by Barwick (then the Foreign Minister of Australia) as Australia's representative to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East. On 1 January 1966, he was elevated to the newly established

Court of Appeal of New South Wales The New South Wales Court of Appeal, part of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, is the highest court for civil law (common law), civil matters and has appellate jurisdiction in the Australian state of New South Wales. Jurisdiction The Court o ...

(a branch of the Supreme Court), the first specialist appellate court in Australia.

High Court

Walsh was appointed to the High Court on 3 October 1969. Also that year he was made a

Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

, and on 1 January 1971 was appointed to the

Judicial Committee of the Privy Council The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is the highest court of appeal for the Crown Dependencies, the British Overseas Territories, some Commonwealth countries and a few institutions in the United Kingdom. Established on 14 August ...

. Walsh was only on the High Court for a short period of time, but participated in several important cases including the Concrete Pipes case and the Payroll Tax case. Walsh remained on the bench of the High Court until his death from

multiple myeloma Multiple myeloma (MM), also known as plasma cell myeloma and simply myeloma, is a cancer of plasma cells, a type of white blood cell that normally produces antibody, antibodies. Often, no symptoms are noticed initially. As it progresses, bone ...

on 29 November 1973. The High Court sat on 30 November in a special sitting to commemorate Walsh. Barwick, then the Chief Justice, delivered the

eulogy A eulogy (from , ''eulogia'', Classical Greek, ''eu'' for "well" or "true", ''logia'' for "words" or "text", together for "praise") is a speech or writing in praise of a person, especially one who recently died or retired, or as a term o ...

in which he said: "The Court has lost a Justice from whom increasingly distinguished service was confidently expected."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walsh, Cyril 1909 births 1973 deaths Justices of the High Court of Australia Judges of the Supreme Court of New South Wales Australian Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Deaths from multiple myeloma Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom