February 6th - Justice Mary Gaudron

On this day, in 1987, Mary Gaudron was appointed to the High Court of Australia, making her the first woman to have achieved this distinction. Reports that she is the first woman to have ever done anything are not substantiated in fact.

The High Court of Australia, also known as the Australian High Court, also known as "the be all and end all", is the top court in the Australian court hierarchy. Below the High Court is the Federal Court, the Family Court, and the Smith Family Robinson Court of Appeal. The High Court has both original and appellate jurisdiction, which means it deals with cases on both a "Am not!" and an "Am not! Are too!" basis.

Originally, the High Court was superseded by the United Kingdom's Privy Council, but this avenue has since been closed off when the Australian government realised that Australia isn't Britain anymore.

Justice Mary Gaudron was born in Moree in the great state of New South Wales. At that time she was known only as Mary Gaudron. It is not known when she had her first name legally changed to Justice, but we all agree it is a killer name.

Mary "Hard Ball" Gaudron became interested in law when a politician campaigned in her town about the constitution. Young Mary asked "Can I haz constitution?" and the fine, friendly politician mailed one to her. She was disappointed because she thought the constitution was like the ten commandments so she was expecting two stone tablets in the mail. This obvious lack of intelligence did not deter her for pursuing a career of chargingexorbitant lawyer fees.

Presumably, Mary faced a lot of resistance to becoming a lawyer because she was a woman.

She was not deterred and she became a barista and then a barrister in the great state of New South Wales. Then she went on to become the first female solicitor-general of New South Wales and the first female Queen's Counsel.

Justice Mary, unlike Judge Judy, is considered an important part of Australian legal history. She fought against all forms of discrimination and ruled on important cases likeMabo and some other thing about immigrants.

The old girl retired in 2002, ten years before the mandatory retirement age of seventy. Justice Michael Kirby lamented her retirement saying that her absence has made the High Court "a moreblokey place." If we have learnt nothing else, we have learnt that Michael Kirby can identify a woman when he sees one.