John Winneke
Encyclopedia
John Spence Winneke AC
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...

, RFD
Reserve Force Decoration
The Reserve Force Decoration is an Australian Military award given for long service by officers of the Reserve Forces. It is part of the suite of defence force service awards introduced in 1982, which also included the Defence Force Service Medal and the Reserve Force Medal The Reserve Force...

, QC
Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...

, RANR
Royal Australian Naval Reserve
The Royal Australian Naval Reserve is the volunteer reserve force of the Royal Australian Navy in Australia.The current Royal Australian Naval Reserve was formed in June 1973 by merging the former RANR and the Royal Australian Naval Volunteer Reserve....

 (born 19 March 1938) is a former judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria
Supreme Court of Victoria
The Supreme Court of Victoria is the superior court for the State of Victoria, Australia. It was founded in 1852, and is a superior court of common law and equity, with unlimited jurisdiction within the state...

 and the President of the Court of Appeals division of the Supreme Court of Victoria
Supreme Court of Victoria
The Supreme Court of Victoria is the superior court for the State of Victoria, Australia. It was founded in 1852, and is a superior court of common law and equity, with unlimited jurisdiction within the state...

, which is the highest ranking court
Australian court hierarchy
There are two streams within the hierarchy of Australian courts, the federal stream and the state and territory stream. While the federal courts and the court systems in each state and territory are separate, the High Court of Australia remains the ultimate court of appeal for the Australian...

 in the Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n State
States and territories of Australia
The Commonwealth of Australia is a union of six states and various territories. The Australian mainland is made up of five states and three territories, with the sixth state of Tasmania being made up of islands. In addition there are six island territories, known as external territories, and a...

 of Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

.

Early life

John Spence Winneke was born to Sir Henry Winneke
Henry Winneke
Sir Henry Arthur Winneke AC, KCMG, KCVO, OBE, KStJ, QC was a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria and Governor of Victoria.- Early life and career :...

 who was Solicitor-General for the State of Victoria, Chief Justice of Victoria
Chief Justice of Victoria
The Chief Justice of Victoria is the senior judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria and the highest ranking judicial officer in the Australian state of Victoria. The Chief Justice is both the judicial head of the Supreme Court as well as the administrative head...

, and Governor of Victoria. John Winneke's grandfather Henry Winneke
Henry Winneke
Sir Henry Arthur Winneke AC, KCMG, KCVO, OBE, KStJ, QC was a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria and Governor of Victoria.- Early life and career :...

 was a judge of the County Court of Victoria
County Court of Victoria
The County Court of Victoria was established in 1852 by the County Courts Act 1852. The court has jurisdiction in the State of Victoria, Australia...

.

Winneke was educated at Scotch College
Scotch College, Melbourne
Scotch College, Melbourne is an independent, Presbyterian, day and boarding school for boys, located in Hawthorn, an inner-eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia....

 and the University of Melbourne
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...

. When he completed his legal studies, he completed his articles with Josh Shaw of the law offices of Middleton McEarchern Shaw and Birch. He was admitted to practice as a solicitor
Solicitor
Solicitors are lawyers who traditionally deal with any legal matter including conducting proceedings in courts. In the United Kingdom, a few Australian states and the Republic of Ireland, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers , and a lawyer will usually only hold one title...

 on 1 March 1962. He was called to the Victorian Bar
Victorian Bar
The Victorian Bar is the bar association for the Australian State of Victoria. Its members are barristers registered to practice in Victoria. On 19 January 2006, there were 1627 counsel practising as members of the Victorian Bar. Once a barrister has been admitted to practice by the Supreme Court...

 in 1962. He was appointed a QC
Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...

 in 1976.

Winneke was also an outstanding Australian Rules Football player, who was ruckman in Hawthorn's inaugural VFL Premiership side in 1961, playing a total of 50 games for the club.

Australian Defence Force

Winneke was commissioned as a commander
Commander
Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...

 in the Royal Australian Navy
Royal Australian Navy
The Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force: the Commonwealth Naval Forces...

. He was also appointed a Defence Force Magistrate and held an appointment as a Reviewing Officer under the Defence Force Discipline Act
Defence Force Discipline Act
The Defence Force Discipline Act of 1982 is the foundation of military law in Australia.It is legislation that governs the Australian military...

.

Noted cases

In 1970, Winneke was counsel assisting William Kaye
William Kaye
William Kaye was the fourteenth Mayor of Louisville, Kentucky from April 4, 1863 to April 1, 1865. He was born in Yorkshire, England to a clothing manufacturer, trained as a machinist, and came to Louisville in 1836...

 in the "abortion graft inquiry", which inquired into allegations of corruption involving members of the Victorian Homicide Squad.

In 1981, he was appointed as a Royal Commissioner by the Commonwealth of Australia and the State of Victoria to inquire into the affairs of the Builders Labourers Federation
Builders Labourers Federation
The Builders Labourers Federation is an Australian trade union organisation which existed from 1911 until 1972, and from 1976 until 1986, when it was permanently deregistered in various Australian States by the federal Labor government and some state governments of the time. This occurred in the...

.

He appeared as senior counsel for Mr and Mrs Chamberlain before Justice Morling in the Royal Commission
Royal Commission
In Commonwealth realms and other monarchies a Royal Commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue. They have been held in various countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia...

 into their convictions for the murder of their infant daughter. He appeared as counsel in the Royal Commission into the Westgate Bridge collapse, in the Derwent River Bridge Inquiry, and in the Housing Commission of Victoria
Housing Commission of Victoria
The Housing Commission of Victoria was a State Government body responsible for public housing in Victoria, Australia...

 Inquiry.

Judicial career

Winneke was appointed on 7 June 1995 as a judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria
Supreme Court of Victoria
The Supreme Court of Victoria is the superior court for the State of Victoria, Australia. It was founded in 1852, and is a superior court of common law and equity, with unlimited jurisdiction within the state...

 and as the President of the Court of Appeals division of the Supreme Court of Victoria
Supreme Court of Victoria
The Supreme Court of Victoria is the superior court for the State of Victoria, Australia. It was founded in 1852, and is a superior court of common law and equity, with unlimited jurisdiction within the state...

. He was appointed as the acting Chief Justice
Chief Justice
The Chief Justice in many countries is the name for the presiding member of a Supreme Court in Commonwealth or other countries with an Anglo-Saxon justice system based on English common law, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the Court of Final Appeal of...

 for a brief period in 2003. He retired from the bench on 15 July 2005.

Honours

Winneke was awarded an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 1999, and in 2004 was upgraded to the Companion of the Order of Australia
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...

(AC). Both were awarded for his significant contributions to the judiciary in Victoria.

External links

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