Howard William Olney (born 7 October 1934) is the Australian Aboriginal Lands Commissioner. Olney was born in Nedlands and attended Perth Modern School and the

University of Western Australia University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UW ...

. He was admitted as a solicitor in 1957 and as a

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judi ...

in 1965, being called to the bar in 1974. He became

Queen's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

in 1980 and served as a Labor member of the

Western Australian Legislative Council The Western Australian Legislative Council is the upper house of the Parliament of Western Australia, a state of Australia. It is regarded as a house of review for legislation passed by the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, Legislative A ...

from 1980 to 1982. From 1982 to 1988 he was a Justice of the Supreme Court of Western Australia, moving to the Federal Court from 1988 to 2003. There in 1998 he wrote the opinion that denied the Yorta Yorta native title claim in Members of the Yorta Yorta Aboriginal Community v Victoria. Between 2005 and 2011 he was an acting judge for the

Supreme Court of the Northern Territory The Supreme Court of the Northern Territory is the superior court for the Australian Territory of the Northern Territory. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the territory in civil matters, and hears the most serious criminal matters. It is a ...

. He was appointed Aboriginal Lands Commissioner in 2007. (password required)

References

1934 births Living people Members of the Western Australian Legislative Council Members of the Order of Australia Australian King's Counsel Judges of the Supreme Court of Western Australia Judges of the Federal Court of Australia People educated at Perth Modern School Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Western Australia People from Perth, Western Australia {{Australia-Labor-WesternAustralia-MP-stub