Roma Mitchell
Roma Alma Flinders Mitchell was an Australian barrister and lawyer. She became Australia's first female judge, the first woman appointed Queen's Counsel in 1962, the first female chancellor of an Australian university from 1983 to 1990, and the first woman to serve as governor of an Australian state from 1991 to 1996.
Mitchell was born on 2 October 1913 in North Adelaide, the youngest daughter of solicitor Harold Flinders Mitchell and Maude Imelda Mitchell. After her father's death in World War I, she was raised by her mother and excelled academically at St Aloysius College, becoming dux and achieving top marks in French and Latin. In 1931, she entered the University of Adelaide's law school, graduating with a Bachelor of Laws in 1934. During her studies, she co-founded the Women's Law Students' Club and received the David Murray Fellowship for her academic excellence.
Mitchell was admitted to the bar in 1934 and began her legal career at Rollison & Rollison, quickly rising to partner. She was a pioneering advocate for women's rights, campaigning for equal custody, equal pay, and the inclusion of women on juries in South Australia. In 1962, she became Australia's first female QC and in 1965 the country's first woman judge. She chaired key legal reform committees, contributed to criminal law and penal reform, and led the Royal Commission on Police Dismissal in 1978. Mitchell also served in academic and human rights roles, including deputy chancellor of the University of Adelaide, and later chair of the Australian Human Rights Commission, addressing issues from discrimination to Indigenous rights.
In 1983, Mitchell served briefly as South Australia's first female acting Chief Justice before retiring from the judiciary. She remained active in public life, serving as chancellor of the University of Adelaide from 1983 to 1990 and conducting inquiries on human rights and social justice. In 1991, she became Australia's first female state governor, holding the vice-regal office until 1996 and promoting gender equality, education, and community engagement. Mitchell continued her advocacy through campaigns, boards, and foundations, attending constitutional conventions and supporting Indigenous and women's rights. She died from bone cancer on 5 March 2000, and her state funeral was attended by hundreds.
Early life and education
Roma Alma Flinders Mitchell was born on 2 October 1913 at Quambi Nursing Home on Pennington Terrace, North Adelaide, the second daughter and youngest child of Harold Flinders Mitchell, a solicitor, and his wife Maude Imelda, née Wickham. Her father was killed in battle in France in April 1918 while serving with the First Australian Imperial Force, leaving Maude to raise their two daughters. His death placed financial strain on the family, as her untrained mother struggled to support her children. After Mitchell's birth, the family lived in Renmark on the River Murray before returning to North Adelaide, where they resided on Hill Street across the Adelaide Park Lands from Medindie.Mitchell was educated at St Aloysius College from 1920 to 1930. Her mother had withdrawn her and her sister from St Dominic's Priory School and enrolled them at St Aloysius. The family later moved to Kyre Avenue, Kingswood, near the foothills of the Mount Lofty Ranges. Taught to read at home before starting school, Mitchell excelled academically, becoming dux of her school in 1928 and 1929, and placing first in South Australia in French in 1929 and Latin in 1930, after repeating her final year, as her mother considered her too young to attend university. In 1931 she entered the University of Adelaide's law school, graduating with a Bachelor of Laws in December 1934. During her studies, she co-founded the Women's Law Students' Club after being excluded from the all-male Law Students' Society, serving as its secretary in 1934 and winning its debate award in 1933 and 1934. She was awarded the David Murray Fellowship in recognition of her academic distinction.
Legal career
Early career (1935–1962)
Mitchell was admitted to the bar in 1934 and formally admitted as a barrister and lawyer by the Supreme Court of South Australia in February 1935, three days after completing her studies. She began her articles of clerkship with Rollison & Rollison, assisted by her uncle, lawyer Frank Villeneuve Smith, but later moved to a larger firm that could hire a professional solicitor. Four months after joining, she was promoted to partner at the firm, which became Nelligan, Angas Parsons & Mitchell. She was also active in campaigns, including the 1940 fight for equal custody rights, which held that a mother should have the same authority over children as the father. Equal pay for equal effort was another cause she supported.Early in her legal career, Mitchell undertook little work in the criminal division, believing that, as a woman in a predominantly male court, she might be perceived as an oddity, potentially disadvantaging her clients. She led initiatives through the National Council of Women and the League of Women Voters and handled domestic violence cases decisively, as recalled by Len King, who was articled to her in 1948–49. In 1951, she and lawyer Sesca Zelling defied a male-only directive to attend the jubilee supper at the federal legal conference in Sydney. Mitchell was elected to the Law Society of South Australia's council in 1952 and joined its legal assistance committee, contributing to systems later influential in Britain after presenting the South Australian programme at the 1954 Commonwealth and Empire Law Conference in London. In 1958, she became the first part-time family law instructor at the University of Adelaide, where she mentored students including Margaret Nyland.
In 1960, Mitchell led a renewed and ultimately successful campaign to allow women in South Australia to serve on juries. In 1962, she led a final deputation representing seven women's organisations to Premier Thomas Playford IV, carefully presenting arguments in favour of women's inclusion. She highlighted the issue of unequal pay for government employees and argued that women jurors could assess certain witnesses, particularly in sex crime cases, with greater objectivity. Her efforts led to Playford's agreement to permit women jurors, a reform implemented three years later.
Queen's Counsel (1962–1978)
On 20 September 1962, Mitchell became the first woman in Australia appointed Queen's Counsel and established a law firm with David Haese and Doreen Curnow, later joined by Ted Mullighan, increasingly taking on court work for women affected by domestic violence, deserted wives, and those without means of support. She was appointed vice-president of the Law Council of Australia in 1963 and was expected to become its first female president. In 1965, however, attorney-general Don Dunstan offered her a position on the South Australian Supreme Court, and on 23 September 1965, Roma Mitchell became Australia’s first woman judge. Although she later described judicial life as offering "no excitement," she accepted the appointment out of a sense of moral obligation and a belief that she owed it to women. Her appointment attracted public attention, including debate over forms of address, and she received 482 letters and telegrams of congratulation. Mitchell took her seat on the Full Court on 27 September 1965, delivering remarks referencing President John F. Kennedy's inaugural address, and worked across criminal and civil jurisdictions at both first instance and appellate levels, writing judgments promptly. In the same year, she became a member of the University of Adelaide council.From 1971 to 1977, Mitchell chaired the Criminal Law and Penal Methods Reform Committee of South Australia, later known as the Mitchell Committee, which issued five reports containing 907 recommendations. The committee advocated for judges and magistrates to retain responsibility for sentencing rather than leaving it to legislation, and emphasised the need for jurists and police to be better informed on criminology and correctional systems. Its 1973 report addressed the neglect and mistreatment of Aboriginal peoples, recommending the abolition of minor offences, establishment of detoxification centres, and replacement of short-term imprisonment with supervised prohibition, as well as improved care for inmates. The 1977 report on rape recommended that husbands be indictable for the rape of a wife in cases of separation, and highlighted the outdated assumption that a wife must submit to intercourse regardless of her wishes. Mitchell also delivered the Sir John Morris memorial lecture in 1971 on "Women's Liberation and the Law" and in 1975 became the first woman to present the Australian Broadcasting Commission Boyer lectures, titled The Web of Criminal Law, presenting key aspects of the committee's work to a national audience.
In 1978, Mitchell was appointed to lead the Royal Commission on Dismissal from the Office of the Commissioner of Police, known as the Salisbury Commission, to determine whether Commissioner Harold Salisbury had misled the government, whether his dismissal was justified, and whether the Crown's prerogative to dismiss the commissioner required modification. She submitted her report on 30 May 1978, affirming all three points and demonstrating her capacity to manage complex and politically sensitive matters. That same year, she became chairman of the South Australian State Heritage Committee, and from 1974 to 1981, she served as chair of the parole board. Earlier, in 1972, she had been appointed the first woman deputy chancellor of the University of Adelaide, a position she held until her later elevation to chancellor.