Sir (John) Mostyn Hanger (3 January 190811 August 1980) was a judge in

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. He was Chief Justice of Queensland and

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of Queensland (deputy for the

Governor of Queensland The governor of Queensland is the representative of the monarch, currently King Charles III, in the state of Queensland. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia, governor-general at the national level, the governor Governors of ...

Early years

Hanger was born on 3 January 1908 at

Rockhampton Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. In the , the population of Rockhampton was 79,293. A common nickname for Rockhampton is "Rocky", and the demonym of Rockhampton is Rockhamptonite. The Scottish- ...

to parents Thomas Hanger and Myfanwy Granville-Jones. Australian Dictionary of Biography He was the second of five children, including the playwright Eunice Hanger. He was educated at Gympie High School where his father was the headmaster. Hanger became captain of the school and later dux of the school in 1925. He won a scholarship to attend and study at the

University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...

where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts in 1929. Later, he obtained a Masters of Law in 1941 from the University of Queensland and lectured in company law at the university. He married Greta Lumley Robertson at St Andrew's Presbyterian Church 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 ...

on 8 April 1936.

Wartime service

Hanger enlisted in the

Royal Australian Air Force The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the principal Air force, aerial warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army. Constitutionally the Governor-Gener ...

on 25 May 1942 and became a flight lieutenant. He served in

Merauke Merauke is a large town (''kelurahan'') and an administrative district (''distrik'') in Merauke Regency of South Papua Province, Indonesia. It is also the administrative centre of Merauke Regency, and is considered to be the easternmost city in I ...

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until 2 May 1945.

Legal career

After leaving University, he obtained a position as a clerk in the

Supreme Court of Queensland The Supreme Court of Queensland is the highest court in the Australian State of Queensland. It was formerly the Brisbane Supreme Court, in the colony of Queensland. The original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court allows its trial division to ...

. He was called to the Queensland bar on 21 November 1930, although he did not practice as a barrister until 1932. Hanger was appointed a

King'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 1950. He was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland on 23 July 1953. He was President of the Industrial Court of Queensland between 1962 and 1971. He was appointed senior

puisne judge Puisne judge and puisne justice () are terms for an ordinary judge or a judge of lesser rank of a particular court. The term comes from a combination of the two French words, (since, later) and (born) which have been combined as or ; meaning ...

in April 1970 to the Supreme Court. He became Chief Justice of Queensland on 12 May 1971. While Chief Justice, he was

of Queensland between 9 March 1972 and 21 March 1972 and also between 20 March 1977 and 21 April 1977. He was also appointed deputy governor of Queensland for a time in 1973. He retired in July 1977 after being Chief Justice for seven years. He found that he spent less time in court hearing and deciding cases and more time on administration. He said that this "was work which was not to my liking and more and more I found that what had been a pleasure was becoming a chore". He died on 11 August 1980 at the Brisbane suburb of

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Cases

A decision in which he ruled against re-employing forty five men by

Mount Isa Mines Mount Isa Mines Limited ("MIM") operates the Mount Isa copper, lead, zinc and silver mines near Mount Isa, Queensland, Australia as part of the Glencore group of companies. For a brief period in 1980, MIM was Australia's largest company. It has ...

led to an unsuccessful attempt to remove him from the court. At the time, his wife held shares in the company. The decision was reviewed by the

full court A full court (less formally, full bench) is a court of law sitting with a greater than normal number of judges. For a court which is usually presided over by one judge, a full court has three or more judges; for a court which, like many appella ...

of the Supreme Court.''R v Industrial Court and Hanger (President of Industrial Court) and Mount Isa Mines Ltd'' . The full court held that Hanger did not need to disqualify himself from hearing the matter as his wife's shareholding was separate, and that the shareholding was minor in relation to the number of shares issued by the company. In 1974 he heard the case of ''Lambert v McIntyre''. This case concerned the refusal of a motorist to blow into a breathalyser machine to test whether the motorist had driven after drinking alcohol. The motorist refused to blow and the magistrate which heard the case dismissed it as the motorist refused to blow rather than failing to blow. Hanger discussed the difference on "refusing" and "failing to". He said that "the two words have not the same meaning. One may fail to do something without refusing; one may refuse to do something in words and yet do it." The motorist was found guilty of failing to blow. In another notable case, Hanger ruled that "compulsory unionism" clauses in industrial awards could not be ordered by the State Industrial Commission.

Family

Sir Mostyn Hanger was survived by his wife, daughter, and three sons. His son John Mostyn Hanger, born on 21 June 1937, followed in his footsteps and became a Judge of the District Court of Queensland, serving in that role from 1976 to 1993. In 1993, John Mostyn Hanger (Jnr) was appointed to the role of Senior Judge of the District Courts, and he served in that role until his retirement in 2001.

Honours

Hanger was appointed 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 ...

(KBE) in 1973.

Opera Australia Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, New South Wales, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House accompanied by the Opera Australia Orchestra runs for approximately eight months of the year, with t ...

award the Sir Mostyn Hanger Opera Scholarship each year in honour of Hanger, and Sir Mostyn Hanger Chambers in Southport also bear his name.

References

Sources

External links

Queensland Supreme Court Library photo of Hanger in Judicial Robes
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hanger, Mostyn 1908 births 1980 deaths Chief justices of Queensland Australian Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Australian King's Counsel Judges of the Supreme Court of Queensland