PURPLE TEXT INDICATES TEXT IN MADDOCK’S WAXWORK PANELS

The Age, Tuesday, October 6, 1903, p.5

THE FEDERAL HIGH COURT
__________
TO-DAY'S INAUGURATION CEREMONY
_____
JUDGES APPOINTED YESTERDAY
_____
Yesterday the judges of the first High Court of Australia were formally appointed by the Governor-General. To-day the judges inaugurate the new tribunal, of which they are the constituent parts, through the medium of a ceremony of historic interest.
The proceedings yesterday took place in the Executive Council Chamber of the old Treasury Building. The Governor-General, Lord Tennyson, presided over a meeting of the Federal Executive-Council, which was attended by the Prime Minister and his principal colleagues. The Attorney-General, Senator Drake, produced an order appointing Sir Samuel Griffith, Sir Edmund Barton and Ex-Senator O'Connor to the High Court. This was signed by Lord Tennyson, and the three judges-elect entered the Executive Council chamber and signed the oath of allegiance to the King. The Governor-General next certified to the fact that the oath had been taken, and signed the commission which is issued to each judge giving him power. After this formal ceremony Lord Tennyson shook hands with each of the judges, and congratulated each on the high office to which he had attained.
The Executive Council had other work to do connected with the constitution of the High Court. It passed orders creating the offices of associate and clerk of court for each of the judges, fixing a salary of £300 a year for each post. It then appointed Mr. Edward Percival T. Griffith to be associate to his father, the Chief Justice. The offices of Deputy Registrar and Deputy Marshal for the State of Victoria were next created, and Mr. William O'Halloran and Mr. Archibald M'Farland were respectively commissioned to fill them. Finally each judge was provided with an official messenger, known as a tipstaff, each obtaining a salary of £150 a year. A further Order in Council exempted the associates from the Federal Public Service Act.
To-day's public inauguration of the High Court will take place, as announced, in the Banco Court, at the corner of William and Lonsdale streets, at 11.30a.m., in the presence of an assembly representing every phase of Commonwealth and State public life. Altogether some 400 persons will be seated when, on the stroke of the half hour, Sir Samuel Griffith, the Chief Justice, and his two colleagues will take their seats. The Federal and State Government Houses will be represented; the Ministry will be in full force; Parliament, headed by Sir Richard Baker, will muster in strong array; and the bar, or as many of its representatives as can squeeze into the court, will be present, in addition to others to whom invitations have been issued.
When the three justices have made the customary obeisance to the bar and public, and the latter have responded, the justices will produce their commissions, which will be read by the registrar, Mr. Castles. This done, the Chief Justice will take the special oath provided for in the Judiciary Act, by which he pledges himself "to do right to all manner of people." The other judges follow suit, and the court, ipso facto, is inaugurated. 
Only the official leaders of the bar, the Attorneys-General, will address the court. Senator Drake, as Federal Attorney-General, will lead off, after his commission has been read, with a formal and brief speech of an officially complimentary nature. Mr. B.R. Wise, the new New South Wales Attorney-General, will succeed him, and will be followed by Mr. Davies, M.L.C., Attorney-General for Victoria, and such of the Attorneys-General of the other States as happen to be in Melbourne. Finally the Chief Justice will reply to the compliments of the bar. As the desire is to compress the entire proceedings into an hour, it is not likely that the speeches will cover more than ten minutes each. If time permits the first item of real business may be taken by the court before it rises at 12.30 p.m., viz., an exparte application by the Commonwealth Government in the Tasmanian vouchers stamping case.
At 1.30 p.m. the President of the Senate will entertain the judges and inter-State public men at lunch at Parliament House.
The principal registrar, Mr. Castles, is anxious that Victorian barristers and solicitors who seek to be enrolled in the High Court list should send applications to the prothonotary of the Supreme Court of Victoria, either personally or be letter. As the prothonotary has the State roll of barristers and solicitors no certificate that applicants’ names are on the roll need be produced. As the High Court will be proceeding to Sydney next week proper arrangements will be made in due course for the recognition of duly accredited New South Wales lawyers. The Federal High Court is the only tribunal in Australia before which any and every Australian barrister has the right of audience.
_____
THE COURT ARRANGEMENTS
As soon as the Full Court rose yesterday afternoon active preparations were commenced, under the direction of Mr. Allan, superintendent of the Law Courts, to get the Banco Court ready for tod-day’s function. A number of chairs were placed on the floor of the court and in the side galleries, which are now being used for the first time. The jury box has been reserved for vice-regal representatives, and the seat immediately behind the barristers has been set apart for the accommodation of those of the State judges who may be able to be present. Those members of the legal profession who are to deliver speeches will take their seats at the barristers’ table. The Chief Justice will not be present, as he had to leave last night for Ballarat on circuit duty. Entrance to the building will be obtained by the door in William street nearest to Lonsdale street.
During the sitting of the Full Court yesterday, Mr. Purves, K.C., asked whether it was intended to adjourn the sittings over to-day, in consequence of the congratulations to the judges of the High Court. He said it had been stated that the speeches were likely to last about three-quarters of an hour, but from what he know of those who had to speak he did not think the proceedings would be got through in that time. It might also be found that “as it was the correct thing to weep publicly at functions of this sort,” some of the judges might be overcome. Mr. Justice Holroyd intimated that the court would not sit this morning, but would resume business at 2 p.m..

The Age, Wednesday, October 7, 1903

THE FEDERAL HIGH COURT
__________
INAUGURATION CEREMONY
_____
AN HISTORICAL EVENT
_____
There are three things that are regarded as necessary to the establishment of a self-governing constitution, and these are a Legislature to enact laws, an Executive to administer them, and a court to interpret them and determine whether they are being rightly administered. Therefore, it was not until the establishment of the Federal High Court that the constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia, under which we have been living for nearly three years, could be said to be completed. From that point of view the inauguration of this high legal tribunal, which took place in the Banco Court yesterday, marked an historical event of momentous interest. Arrangements were made to carry out the inauguration with due official ceremony, but the limited accommodation of the court prevented any large attendance on the part of the public. The demand for seats soon exhausted the supply, and late applicants had to submit to disappointment.
The ceremony, however, appealed far more strongly to the imagination than to the eye. Although visitors began to arrive at the Banco Court a good half hour before the proceedings were timed to commence, there was not much outward indication that anything of special interest was about to take place. A few constables stood guard at the doors; a strip of coir matting was stretched across the pavement at the Lonsdale-street entrance for the comfort of the vice-regal party, but the customary collection of the idle and curious that is such a conspicuous feature at most public ceremonies was notably absent. Inside the corridor visitors waited the arrival of friends while others hurried into court to obtain a good seat. A constable stationed there kept repeating with authoritative abruptness, "Red tickets to the left; white tickets straight through."
Entering the body of the court one encountered a scene of wigs and gowns and the continuous hum or voices. The front seats were reserved for the higher branch of the legal profession, the bar of every State of the Commonwealth except Western Australia being represented. Behind them, in elliptical rows, sat the solicitors and others whose official positions had gained them admittance. The galleries provided accommodation for the possessors of the "red tickets". 
It has been announced that the vice-regal party would occupy the jury box, but Lord and Lady Tennyson, on arrival, were conducted to the front seat of the principal gallery, and the jury box was immediately seized upon by the junior bar. In the galleries were Federal Ministers and their wives and a number of other ladies. Members of Parliament were also accommodated there, and from the same point of vantage several cameras surveyed the scene.
The ceremony was arranged to commence at 11.30am. Some ten minutes before the half hour Lord and Lady Tennyson arrived. Among those present in the galleries were – Mr. Deakin (Prime Minister), Mrs Deakin, Miss Deakin, Sir John Forrest (Minister for Home Affairs), Lady Forrest, Mr A. Chapman (Minister of Defence), Major-General and Lady Hutton, Mrs Drake, Senators Best, Stewart, Smith, Pearce, Sir Langdon Bonython and Messrs Kirwan, R. Edwards, Hartnoll, Knox and Crouch, M's P. On the front bench of the body of the court were Mr. J.G. Drake (Federal Attorney-General), Mr. Purves K.C., Mr. Higgins, K.C.; Mr. Isaacs, K.C.; Sir John Quick, K.C.; M.P.; Senator Dobson and Mr. L.E. Groom, M.P. Others present were Mr. Justice a'Beckett, Mr Justice Hood, Mr. Justice Holroyd, Acting Judge Hamilton (New South Wales), Mr Duffy, K.C.; Mr. Carlile, K.C.; Mr. Cussen, K.C.; Senator Keating, Professor Harrison Moore, Sir Matthew Davies, Messrs Chas. Powers (Federal Crown Solicitor), Garran, Friend. Byrne, Mitchell, Bryant, Guest, Weigall, Ogier, Wasley, Woolf, Goldsmith, Eggleson, Woinarski, Fookes, Rigby, Derham, Campbell, Starke, Davis, Vasey and Sanderson.
A few minutes after the half hour the commend for "silence" was given, and the Chief Justice (Sir Samuel Griffith), Mr. Justice Barton and Mr. Justice O'Connor, arrayed in their judicial robes, made their appearance in that order, the two new judges in their new role looking strangely altered to those who had known them in their political spheres. Mr. Justice Barton took up his position on the right of the Chief Justice, and Mr. Justice O'Connor on the left. The audience stood up to receive them, and remained standing while each of the judges handed his commission to the Registrar (Mr. G.H. Castle), who read them out aloud. The Registrar then administered the oath to the Honors in turn. The completion of that ceremony marked the formal constitution of the court.
Mr. Drake handed to the Registrar his commission as Federal Attorney-General. During the reading of this document a brief consultation took place between their Honors. Mr. Justice O'Connor was informed by the Chief Justice of Mr. Justice Barton's view of the matter, but whether it concerned some knotty legal point or an invitation to dinner was left entirely to the imagination of the audience. To the reading of Mr. Drake's commission the Chief Justice replied with the brief sentence, "We congratulate you, Mr. Attorney."
Mr. Drake then rose to offer congratulations to their Honors on behalf of the bar of the Commonwealth. After formally tendering congratulations to the "first justices of the High Court of Australia.", he said the country was to be congratulated on the establishment of a court which embodied the judicial power of the Commonwealth, and would be the guardian and interpreter of the constitution. With the Legislature, the Executive and the High Court the constitution in its great ideals was now complete. Time would evolve the union of heart and mind and purpose which for true federation. The knowledge they had of the part that had been taken by their Honors [in] the past in guiding the aspirations of the people of Australia in the direction of the nobler conceptions of national life, the great care, skill and pains that had been devoted by them to framing the instrument of federation were assurances that the court would zealously safeguard the constitution, and that the interpretation of its provisions would harmonise with the growth and development of national life. The decisions of the court would bring life and spirit into the dry bones of the constitution, and the names of the first justices of the court would live in history with those of the illustrious expounders of American constitutional law. In the settlement of cases that might arise between State and State, and as the arbiter of the powers, rights and privileges of the individual citizen, their thorough knowledge of local laws and customs and all the complexities of our industrial and national life would ensure that equal and exact justice would be done according to the deep underlying principle of British law. He ventured to hope that the necessity for an appeal outside Australia would rarely, if ever, occur, and looked forward to the time when that provision in the constitution would remain as an historical land mark of our part in the Empire. Whatever there might be of learning or eloquence amongst his brethren at the bar would always be devoted to the service of the court, and they would be proud to assist in maintaining unimpaired its honor and its dignity. 
The New South Wales Attorney-General (Mr. B.R. Wise, K.C.), who offered congratulations on behalf of the bar of that State, made a more discursive speech, but as it was delivered in a clear musical voice it was exceedingly pleasant to follow. "The personal expressions of goodwill from the mother State to three graduates of the University of Sydney who had practised at the New South Wales bar could be more appropriately mentioned on another occasion", but he desired to touch upon "the Federal aspect of this unique occasion. Australia had not entered upon the full endowment of her constitution, having achieved that legal unity which was essential to political unity, and would breathe the vitality of living organism into the Commonwealth." Mr Davies (Attorney-General of Victoria) followed with congratulations, and touched upon the fact that their Honors' duties would be more onerous and more important than the duties of those who would succeed them, in that they would have to be the interpreters of the constitution. Mr. L.E. Groom, M.P, in the absence of the Queensland Attorney-General, spoke on behalf of the bar of that State, and the chorus of congratulations was concluded by Senator Dobson speaking on behalf of the Tasmanian bar.
During the course of those speeches it was interesting to contemplate the way in which they were received by their Honors. All three were studiously attentive, but in their own different ways. The Chief Justice closely watched each speaker, as if he were engaged in the mental exercise of anticipating his remarks. Mr. Justice Barton kept his eye steadily in front, presumably without direction to any particular object. He appeared to be trying to realise, in listening to these frank expressions of good will, how far he was removed from the world of political strife Mr. Justice O'Connor, with his head inclined to one side, critically inspected the desk before him.
The Chief Justice, in replying to the speeches, said that he could not do so adequately. There was no apparent emotion in his voice, but his opening sentences were not audible at any distance from the bench. 
The occasion, he continued, was a unique one, and could never be repeated. He would be than human if he had not been moved by the kind welcome he had received on his appointment to the position of the first Chief Justice of Australia. The welcome had been spontaneous, and to a very great extent, unexpected. The only discordant notes that had reached his ears in the chorus of congratulation had been manifestly founded either upon imperfect knowledge of the facts or upon defective memory. He could not refrain from expressing some feelings of exultation on attaining the greatest judicial office in the Empire outside of Great Britain, but he could not regard the future with any feelings of exultation. He had undertaken most weighty and responsible duties. The court was entrusted with powers far reaching in their effect. It would be looked to for the solution of most difficult questions, to compose strifes between the States, and possibly between the Commonwealth and the States. Upon its success or failure must depend to a great extent the future well being of the Commonwealth. His brother justices and hi himself had before them to excite their emulation the great traditions of the British Empire and the noble traditions of the Supreme Courts of the Australian States. They would do what they could, but it was not a matter for exultation. In some cases it would be optional with the citizens to say whether they would trust the court with the decision of their cases, or whether they would have recourse to the great tribunal that sat in the centre of the Empire. They could not but be conscious of the fact that on the way in which they were able to discharge their duties would depend to a great extent the future of the court. For his own part he entered upon his duties with great fear. But he was giving to the task all the abilities he possessed and he trusted that he would be able to occupy his seat to such end that at the close of his life he might really have earned the confidence which was now offered so generously. 
Mr. Justice Barton said it would not have been necessary for him to add one word to what had been said by the Chief Justice, were it not that it might be thought that he was unappreciative or ungrateful. He wished to thank them for the kindness which prompted the congratulations and for their assurance of loyalty. It would be sad to contemplate a bench which imagined itself capable of performing its duties efficiently without the assistance of a competent bar. From his experience of many of them and from their reputation he knew that assistance would be given.
Mr. Justice O'Connor thanked the representatives of the Australian bar for the generous confidence that had been given to them, but their responsibilities were the treater when they knew so much was expected of them. He was sure that the promise of assistance to them in the discharge of their duties would be fulfilled. Such had been the tradition of the English bar and the practice in these States.
The court adjourned until 11 a.m. the following (this) day, the ceremony having lasted a little less than 30 minutes.