Attached is the text of the inaugural Public Law Oration, delivered by Fr Frank Brennan SJ AO on 3 June 2026 at Old Government House, QUT Gardens Point, to mark the centenary of McCullough Robertson lawyers.
Delivered on the 34th anniversary of the Mabo decision, the oration traces the public law career of the speaker’s father, Sir Gerard Brennan — from his early exposure to the Queensland Bar and the High Court’s Brisbane circuit sittings, through his work as counsel for the Northern Land Council in the Woodward royal commission, his founding role on the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and Federal Court, and ultimately his judgments in Mabo and Wik as a Justice and later Chief Justice of the High Court.
The address also interpolates several of Fr Brennan’s own interventions in the Queensland public square — including his advocacy on Aboriginal sentencing principles, the Bjelke-Petersen-era church leaders’ campaign for secure land tenure, and his work on public assembly law reform — situating these alongside his father’s jurisprudence as complementary contributions to the development of land rights and administrative law in Australia.
Listen at the SoundCloud recording.