Australia's First Woman on Its Top Court Has Died

Mary Gaudron, the first woman to sit on Australia's High Court, has died aged 83. The Guardian

Her death was reported on 14 September 2026. She joined the court in 1987 when she was 44. She served until 2003.

She was born on 5 January 1943 in Moree, New South Wales. She studied law at the University of Sydney on a scholarship. At first she worked in defamation and industrial law. Defamation deals with harm to reputation. Industrial law deals with work and workplaces.

In 1972 she became the first woman on the NSW Bar Council, the group that leads courtroom lawyers in the state. That same year she argued the equal pay case before the conciliation and arbitration commission, the national workplace umpire that set wages at the time. Former Labor minister Clyde Cameron had picked her to speak for female workers. ABC In 1974 she became deputy president of that commission. In that job she ran a test case on maternity leave. In three years she went from bar leader to lawyer in a national pay case to decision maker on leave.

In 1987 she joined the High Court under Chief Justice Sir Anthony Mason. ABC The High Court is Australia's top court. It has the final say. She sat on the decision in Mabo v Queensland, the case about Indigenous land rights called native title. Susan Crennan was the second woman on the court after Gaudron. Gaudron served from 1987 to 2003. That time covered the late Mason years and the Gleeson years. It involved much work on the Constitution and federal law.

After she left the court in 2003, she worked in Geneva for the International Labour Organization. She became president of its administrative tribunal, a small court that settles job disputes for staff of international bodies.

She was once handed a copy of the Australian Constitution by Bert Evatt. High Court

The broader context here is how connected her jobs were. She argued for equal pay, then decided on maternity leave, then decided national cases as a High Court judge, then led decisions on staff disputes. Those are different legal worlds. Her career tied them together.

Looking at what this means for the High Court, her 1987 appointment opened the door for women who came after. Crennan was next. Later courts have been judged in part against the change Gaudron made. Her papers and decisions will now be read again closely, especially on fairness, work and native title, and on how a first appointment changes a court.