Mary Gaudron, Australia’s first female High Court judge, has died at 83, leaving a trailblazing legal career that spanned as a barrister, deputy president of the former Conciliation and Arbitration Commission, NSW legal services commissioner, and NSW solicitor-general.

After her time on the High Court, she served on the International Labour Organisation Administrative Tribunal in Geneva, extending her influence beyond Australia.

A Sydney Law School alumna on a scholarship, Gaudron first practiced in defamation and industrial law and became the first woman to join the New South Wales Bar Council in 1972.

Born in Moree, NSW, in 1943 to working-class parents, she faced discrimination as an Aboriginal Australian, shaping her lifelong commitment to equality and social justice.

She helped shape key legal principles in Indigenous rights, including the Mabo v Queensland decision on native title, where she and Justice Deane highlighted dispossession as a dark chapter in Australia’s history.

Gaudron was a pivotal voice in Indigenous rights law and the Mabo case, which recognised native title and acknowledged Australia’s colonial dispossession.

Her role in the 1992 Mabo decision cemented her as a leading figure in advancing Indigenous rights and acknowledging the nation’s troubled history.

After leaving the High Court, she spoke openly about gender equality and the barriers women face in the workplace.

In 2000, she criticised persistent unequal views on women’s equality, calling out resistance from powerful quarters to equal participation.

Her legal studies began at the University of Sydney in 1961 as a part-time student, noting a male-dominated law faculty at the time.

Her early career confronted gender barriers, including repeated refusals of legal clerkships to women, yet she forged a path that broke multiple glass ceilings.

Born in 1943 and raised in Moree, her working-class background and adversity helped shape her resolve to pursue justice and equality.