Owen Dixon
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The Right Honourable Sir Owen Dixon OM GCMG QC |
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| 6th Chief Justice of Australia | |
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In office 18 April 1952 – 13 April 1964 |
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| Nominated by | Robert Menzies |
| Appointed by | William McKell |
| Preceded by | Sir John Latham |
| Succeeded by | Sir Garfield Barwick |
| Justice of the High Court of Australia | |
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In office 4 February 1929 – 18 April 1952 |
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| Appointed by | Stanley Melbourne Bruce |
| Preceded by | H. B. Higgins |
| Succeeded by | Sir Alan Taylor |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 28 April 1886 Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia |
| Died | 7 July 1972 (aged 86) Melbourne, Australia |
| Nationality | Australian |
Sir Owen Dixon OM GCMG QC (28 April 1886 – 7 July 1972) was an Australian judge and diplomat who served as the sixth Chief Justice of Australia. A judge of the High Court for thirty-five years, Dixon was one of the leading jurists in the English-speaking world and is widely regarded as Australia's greatest-ever jurist.
Dixon was born in Hawthorn in suburban Melbourne in 1886. His father, JW Dixon, was a barrister and subsequently a solicitor. He attended Hawthorn College and later the University of Melbourne, graduating with an Arts degree in 1907. During this time, he developed his lifelong love of the classics from his classical philology professor, Thomas George Tucker. He was also influenced by professor of law, William Harrison Moore. His B.A. became an M.A., as was the custom then, a year later upon the payment of a small fee. He then studied law at Melbourne Law School and was awarded a Bachelor of Laws in 1908.
Dixon was later awarded honorary doctorates from Oxford,Harvard, and the University of Melbourne.
Dixon was admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1910. In December 1911, he appeared before the High Court of Australia for the first time, aged just 25 years. After a slow start, his career became stellar, and he was made a King's Counsel in 1922. In the 1920s, Dixon was a prominent member of the Victorian Bar, along with his colleagues and friends John Latham (who would precede Dixon as Chief Justice of Australia and Robert Menzies (later the longest serving Prime Minister of Australia). He regularly appeared in the High Court of Australia and the Privy Council in London. At the time of his appointment to the High Court in 1929, he was the acknowledged leader of the Bar in Victoria, and indeed Australia. In 1920, he married Alice Brooksbank (1893–1971). They had four children: Franklin (1922–1977), Ted (1924–1996), Betty (1928- ) and Anne (1934–1979).
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