Laurence Street

The Honourable Sir Laurence Street AC, KCMG, KStJ, QC
14th Chief Justice of New South Wales
In office 28 June 1974 – 1 November 1988
Appointed by	Elizabeth II
Preceded by	Sir John Kerr
Succeeded by	Murray Gleeson
Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales
In office 1 July 1974 – 24 July 1989
Preceded by	Sir Leslie Herron
Succeeded by	Murray Gleeson
Personal details
Born	(1926-07-03)3 July 1926 Sydney, Australia
Died	21 June 2018(2018-06-21) (aged 91)
Nationality	Australian
Children	Sandy Street Sylvia Street Kenneth Street Sarah Street Jessie Street
Mother	Jessie, Lady Street
Father	Sir Kenneth Street
Relatives	Street family
Alma mater	Sydney Law School
Military service
Allegiance	Australia
Branch/service	Royal Australian Navy
Rank	Commander
Battles/wars	Second World War

Sir Laurence Whistler Street, AC, KCMG, KStJ, QC (3 July 1926 – 21 June 2018) was the 14th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales.^[1] He was the youngest to serve in these viceregal offices since 1844 and the third consecutive generation of the Street family to do so, the only such case in Australian history.^[2] Street fought in the Second World War and went on to become a commander in the Royal Australian Navy Reserve and an honorary colonel in the Australian Army Reserve. He further chaired acquisitions for the Royal Australian Navy's defence capabilities.^[3]

Following his retirement from the bench in 1988, Street became the chairman of Fairfax Media and a director of the Monte dei Paschi di Siena bank, where he earned the nickname "Lorenzo the Magnificent".^[4] He furthermore pioneered alternative dispute resolution, chaired the integration of protocols between the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, and chaired naval warship acquisitions. Upholding his mother's legacy of support for Indigenous Australians, he ascertained the return to Australia of Indigenous Australian remains from the National History Museum in London, the first such mediation.^[5]

Early life and family[]

Street was born in Sydney, New South Wales, the son of Kenneth Whistler Street and Jessie Street (née Lillingston). He was the grandson of Sir Philip Whistler Street.^[6] Both his father and grandfather were Chief Justices of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and Lieutenant-Governors of New South Wales before him.^[7] His mother Jessie was a prominent suffragette, the daughter of Charles Alfred Gordon Lillingston and Mabel Harriet Ogilvie, who was in turn the daughter of Australian politician Edward David Stuart Ogilvie and Theodosia Isabella Ogilvie (née de Burgh).^[8] He attended the Cranbrook School. At age 17, he joined the Royal Australian Navy and was deployed to fight in the Second World War. Returning from the war, he studied law at Sydney Law School.

Career[]

Street became a barrister at the New South Wales Bar in 1951. As a barrister, he practised extensively in equity, commercial law and maritime law. In 1965, he was appointed as a judge of the New South Wales Supreme Court in the Equity Division.^[9] In 1974, at age 47, Street became the youngest Chief Justice since 1844.^[1] In 1976 he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George.^[10] He retired in 1988^[9] and was appointed Companion of the Order of Australia in 1989.^[11]

Following his retirement from the bench, Street became a director and later chairman of Fairfax Media and a director of Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the oldest bank in the world. He also held office as Australian and world president of the International Law Association, London of which he was a life vice president. He was a member of several professional organisations, including an Honorary Fellow of the Australian Institute of Building^[12] and an Honorary Member of the Society of Construction Law Australia. He was a patron of the Jessie Street National Women's Library and the Jessie Street Trust, which uphold his mother's legacy in women's rights and Indigenous Australian rights. In 1986 he became the first patron of ADRA - Australian Dispute Resolution Association, a professional mediation association and accreditation body. From 1989, he worked prolifically in mediation and alternative dispute resolution. This work included 1,500 mediations, mainly involving major commercial disputes.^[9]

In 2007, Street led the review of a decision by Queensland's Director of Public Prosecution in the 2004 case of an Indigenous Australian death in custody, and conducted the first mediation over the return to Australia of Indigenous Australian remains from the National History Museum in London.^[13] In 2008, he chaired the integration of procedural protocols between the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and the Commonwealth Director of Prosecutions, and chaired an inquiry into the Defence Force Disciplinary System. In 2005, he has also oversaw the Defence Department's $8 billion air warfare destroyer project.

Family[]

Street's first wife, Susan (née Watt) Street was the first female chair of the Eastern Sydney Health Service, in which capacity she oversaw the hospitals of Sydney's eastern suburbs. She is the daughter of Ernest Alexander Stuart Watt (1874–1954), a shipping heir by whom she is the niece of Lieutenant-Colonel Walter Oswald Watt, the granddaughter of Australian politician John Brown Watt, and the great-granddaughter of Australian politician George Kenyon Holden.^[14] By Susan, Street had four children: Kenneth, Sylvia, Alexander and Sarah. By his second wife, Penelope (née Ferguson) Street, he had one daughter, Jessie, who is a lawyer and god-daughter to Charles, Prince of Wales.^[15] All three of Street's daughters are Sydney Law School graduates, as he was. His eldest daughter, Lieutenant-Commander Sylvia Emmett (née Street), is a federal judge and the spouse of Arthur Emmett, a former federal judge and Challis Lecturer in Roman Law at Sydney Law School.^[16] His eldest son Kenneth is a businessman. His youngest son Commander Alexander "Sandy" Street is a federal judge. Sarah Farley (née Street), is a businesswoman and board member of the Prince of Wales Hospital Foundation.^[17] Sir Laurence's sister Philippa married the Australian Test cricketer and journalist Jack Fingleton.^[18]

Death and legacy[]

Street died on 21 June 2018. He had a state funeral at the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall in July 2018.^[19] In an elegy before 700, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull spoke of his mentor: "As a barrister, he was as eloquent as he was erudite, as formidable as he was fashionable […] Laurence had movie star good looks coupled with a charisma, charm and intellect, a humility, a humanity that swept all before him […] His nickname, Lorenzo the Magnificent, was well earned."^[20] Turnbull recalled how Street had provided a reference for him to attain a Rhodes Scholarship. New South Wales Attorney General Mark Speakman praised Street as "a giant of the law in NSW",^[21] and Chief Justice of New South Wales Tom Bathurst remembered him as "one of the outstanding jurists of the 20th century."^[22]

References[]