Innocent Diversions: Australian Legal Fashion Exhibition

When legal practitioners arrived from England as free settlers in the 1820s, despite the hot climate they adhered to British traditions of legal dress.  In some ways little has changed since then.

The Supreme Court Library Queensland’s new exhibition Innocent Diversions: Australian Legal Fashion, explores the history of legal dress in Australia.

Visitors can walk through the exhibits—Gowns, robes and wigs, History of legal dress, In the papers and The evolution of legal dress— to see robes and wigs worn by judges and the legal practitioners in Queensland today.

Rare items on display include the Supreme Court ceremonial robes of The Honourable George Lucas AC, the District Court ceremonial robes of Her Honour Chief Judge P M Wolfe AO, formerly the property of Chief Judge Helman (1988—94) and a full-bottomed wig and wig tin, kindly lent to the library by Mr David F Jackson QC. This wig originally belonged to The Honourable Thomas J Ryan QC (1876—1921), who was admitted to the Bar in 1901 and served as Premier and Attorney-General of Queensland (1915—19). The wig was crafted by Ravenscroft, now Ede & Ravenscroft, London’s oldest tailor and supplier of legal dress.

The Honourable Margaret White AO officiated at the launch of Innocent Diversions: Australian Legal Fashion on 18 September 2014, and an address was given by Mr Thomas Bradley QC. The exhibition is open Monday to Friday from 8.30am to 5pm in the Sir Harry Gibbs Legal Heritage Centre, Queen Elizabeth II Courts of Law, 415 George Street, Brisbane.

For more information about this new exhibition, please contact the Supreme Court Library Queensland on 07 3247 5424 or libsec@sclqld.org.au

sclqld.org.au
legalheritage.sclqld.org.au