Robert Garran
Sir Robert Garran QC | |
---|---|
Secretary of the Attorney-General's Department | |
In office 1 January 1901 – 9 February 1932 | |
Preceded by | New office |
Succeeded by | George Knowles |
Solicitor-General of Australia | |
In office 1 September 1916 – 9 February 1932 | |
Preceded by | New office |
Succeeded by | George Knowles |
Personal details | |
Born | Robert Randolph Garran 10 February 1867 Sydney, Colony of New South Wales |
Died | 11 January 1957 Canberra, Australian Capital Territory | (aged 89)
Spouse |
Hilda Robson (m. 1902) |
Parent |
|
Alma mater | University of Sydney |
Occupation |
|
Sir Robert Randolph Garran
Garran was born in
Over the following three decades, Garran provided legal advice to ten different
In addition to his professional work, Garran was also an important figure in the development of the city of Canberra during its early years. He was one of the first public servants to relocate there after it replaced Melbourne as the capital in 1927. He founded several important cultural associations, organised the creation of the Canberra University College, and later contributed to the establishment of the Australian National University. Garran published at least eight books and many journal articles throughout his lifetime, covering such topics as constitutional law, the history of federalism in Australia, and German-language poetry. He was granted a state funeral upon his death in 1957, the first federal public servant to receive one.
Early life
Garran was born in Sydney, New South Wales, the only son (among seven children) of journalist and politician Andrew Garran and his wife Mary Isham. His parents were committed to social justice, Mary campaigning for issues such as the promotion of education for women, and Andrew advocating free trade and Federation, and as editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and later promoting them as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council.[2]
The family lived in
Garran attended
After graduating, Garran began to study for the Bar examination. He was employed for a year with a firm of Sydney
Federation movement
Garran, like his father, was strongly involved in the Australian Federation movement, the movement which sought to unite the
On joining the bar soon became involved with Edmund Barton Q.C., later the first Prime Minister of Australia, and the de facto leader of the federation movement in New South Wales. Garran, along with others such as Atlee Hunt, worked essentially as secretaries to Barton's federation campaign, drafting correspondence and planning meetings.[16] At one late night meeting, planning a speech Barton was to give in the Sydney suburb of Ashfield, Barton expressed the phrase "For the first time, we have a nation for a continent, and a continent for a nation"; Garran later claimed that the now famous phrase "would have been unrecorded if I had not happened to jot it down."[17]
In June 1893, when Barton's Australasian Federal League was formed at a meeting in the Sydney Town Hall, Garran joined immediately and was made a member of the executive committee. He was one of the League's four delegates to the 1893 Corowa Conference and a League delegate to the 1896 "People's Convention", or Bathurst Conference, a conference attended by Barton, Reid, League members, the Australian Natives' Association (mainly Victorian) and other pro-federation groups.[1] At Corowa he was part of an impromptu group organised by John Quick which drafted a resolution, passed at the Conference, calling for a directly elected Constitutional Convention to be charged with drafting the Bill for the Constitution of Australia. The proposal, which came to be known as the Corowa Plan, was later accepted at the 1895 Premiers' Conference and formed the basis for the federation process over the following five years.[18][19]
In 1897, Garran published The Coming Commonwealth,[20] an influential book on the history of the Federation movement and the debate over the 1891 draft of the Constitution of Australia. The book was based on material he prepared for a course on federalism and federal systems of government, which he had planned to give at the University of Sydney, but which failed to attract a sufficient number of students.[2] Nevertheless, the book was both unique and popular, as one of the few books on the topic at the time, with the first edition quickly selling out. Soon after its publication the Premier of New South Wales George Reid, who had been elected as a New South Wales delegate to the 1897–1898 Constitutional Convention, invited Garran to be his secretary. At the Convention, Reid appointed him secretary of the Drafting Committee, at Barton's request; he was also a member of the Press Committee.[21]
Garran recorded in a letter to his family during the convention's Melbourne sitting that:
The committee professes to find me very useful in unravelling the conundrums sent down by the finance committee... The last two nights I have found the drafting committee fagged [tired] and despairing, and now they have pitched the conundrums at me and gone out for a smoke; and then I worked out algebraic formulas to clear the thing up, drafted clauses accordingly, and when the committee returned we had plain sailing.[22]
Garran joked that the long work of the drafting committee breached the
Throughout 1898, following the completion of the proposed Constitution, Garran participated in the campaign promoting Federation leading up to the referendums at which the people of the colonies voted whether or not to approve the Constitution. He contributed a daily column to the
Public service
On the day that Federation was completed and Australia created, 1 January 1901, Garran, feeling like " a junior barrister suddenly promoted to the final court of appeal", Garran later said of this time that:
I was not only the head [of the department], but the tail. I was my own clerk and messenger. My first duty was to write out with my own hand Commonwealth Gazette No. 1 proclaiming the establishment of the Commonwealth and the appointment of ministers of state, and to send myself down with it to the government printer.[27]
In this role, Garran was responsible for organising the
Garran and his fellow staff aimed for a simple style of legislative drafting, a goal enabled by the fact that there was no pre-existing federal legislation on which their work would have to be based.[1] In Garran's opinion the approach, which was put into practice many years before the similarly principled plain English movement became popular in government in the 1970s, was intended "to set an example of clear, straightforward language, free from technical jargon."[29][30] Subsequent parliamentary drafters have noted that Garran was unusual in this respect for deliberately setting out to achieve and improve a particular drafting style, and that it was not until the early 1980s that such discipline among drafters re-emerged.[31]
However, Garran himself admitted that his drafting could be overly simplistic, citing the first customs and excise legislation,[30][32] developed with the Minister for Trade and Customs Charles Kingston and Assistant Parliamentary Draftsman Gordon Castle,[33] as an example of the style taken to excess.[30] The style was also once parodied by foundation High Court Justice Richard O'Connor as follows:
Every man shall wear –
(a) Coat
(b) Vest
(c) Trousers
Penalty: £100.[27][29]
The Attorney-General's Department also managed
Garran worked with eleven Attorneys-General as Permanent Head of the Department.[37] Garran regarded the first Attorney-General, Alfred Deakin, as an excellent thinker and a natural lawyer, and on occasion "[spoke] of Deakin as the Balfour of Australian politics."[38][39] He was also very much impressed with the fifth Attorney-General, Isaac Isaacs, who was an extremely diligent worker, and two time Attorney-General Littleton Groom, who was "probably one of the most useful Ministers the Commonwealth has had."[40]
Solicitor-General
In 1916, Garran was made the first Solicitor-General of Australia by Billy Hughes, who had since become Prime Minister as well as Attorney-General.[41] The creation of the office and Garran's appointment to it represented a formal delegation of many of the powers and functions formerly exercised by the Attorney-General.[1][42][43]
Garran developed a strong relationship with Hughes, giving him legal advice on the
The partnership between Garran and Hughes is regarded by some as unusual, given that Garran was "tall, gentlemanly, wise and scholarly", and patient with his staff, whereas Hughes was "short of stature [and] renowned for bursts of temper."
Garran accompanied Hughes and
Following the war, Garran worked with Professor
Through the 1920s and early 1930s, Garran prepared annual summaries of legislative developments in Australia, highlighting important individual pieces of legislation for the Journal of Comparative Legislation and International Law.[58]
Towards the end of his time as Solicitor-General, Garran's work included the preparation of the Debt Conversion Agreement between the Government of Australia and the governments of the states, which involved the federal government taking over and managing the debts of the individual states, following the
Personal life and retirement
In 1902, Garran married Hilda Robson.
In 1927, Garran had moved from his home in Melbourne to the newly established capital
Garran retired from his governmental positions on 9 February 1932, a fixed retirement date on the day before his sixty-fifth birthday. He soon returned to practise as a barrister, and within a month he was made a King's Counsel.[68] However, he occasionally carried out more prominent work. In 1932, he was selected on the advice of the then Attorney-General John Latham to chair the Indian Defence Expenditure Tribunal, to advise on the dispute between India and the United Kingdom regarding the costs of the military defence of India.[1] In 1934, along with John Keating, William Somerville and David John Gilbert, he formed a committee which prepared The Case for Union,[69] the Government of Australia's official reply to the secessionist movement in the state of Western Australia.[70]
Garran served on ANU's council from 1946 until 1951. Garran was also involved with the arts; he was a founding member of the Australian Institute of Arts and Literature and its president 1922-1927.[71] He was the vice-president of the Canberra Musical Society, where he sang and played the clarinet, and in 1946 won a national song competition run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.[56] Garran also published translations of Heinrich Heine's 1827 work Buch der Lieder ("Book of Songs") in 1924,[72] and of the works of Franz Schubert and Robert Schumann in 1946.[73]
Garran died in 1957 in Canberra. He was granted a state funeral, the first given to a public servant of the Government of Australia.[1] He was survived by his four sons; his wife Hilda had died in 1936. His memoirs, Prosper the Commonwealth, were published posthumously in 1958, having been completed shortly before his death.[74]
Legacy
Garran's "personality, like his prose, was devoid of pedantry and pomposity and, though dignified, was laced with a quizzical turn of humour."[1] His death "marked the end of a generation of public men for whom the cultural and the political were natural extensions of each other and who had the skills and talents to make such connections effortlessly."[56]
Garran's friend Charles Studdy Daley, a long time civic administrator of the Australian Capital Territory, emphasised Garran's contribution to the early development of the city of Canberra, particularly its cultural life, remarking at a celebratory dinner for Garran in 1954 that:
"There has hardly been a cultural movement in this city with which Sir Robert has not been identified in loyal and inspiring support, as his constant aim has been that Canberra should be not only a great political centre but also a shrine to foster those things that stimulate and enrich our national life... his name will ever be inscribed in the annals, not only of Canberra, but of the Commonwealth as clarum et venerabile nomen gentibus.[65][75]
However Garran is perhaps best remembered as an expert on constitutional law, more so than for his other contributions to public service. At his death, Garran was one of the last remaining of the people involved with the creation of the Constitution of Australia.[56] On his experience of Federation and the Constitution, Garran was always enthusiastic:
"I'm often asked 'has federation turned out as you expected?' Well yes and no. By and large the sort of thing we expected has happened but with differences. We knew the constitution was not perfect; it had to be a compromise with all the faults of a compromise... But, in spite of the unforeseen [sic] strains and stresses, the constitution has worked, on the whole, much as we thought it would. I think it now needs revision, to meet the needs of a changed world. But no-one could wish the work undone, who tries to imagine, what, in these stormy days, would have been the plight of six disunited Australian colonies."[27]
Former Prime Minister John Howard, in describing Garran, said:
"I wonder though if we sometimes underestimate the changes, excitements, disruptions and adjustments previous generations have experienced. Sir Robert Garran knew the promise and reality of federation. He was part of the establishment of a public service which, in many ways, is clearly recognisable today."[76]
At one level, Garran's remarkable career epitomises the hay day, or Indian Summer, of the meritocratic bourgeois elite born in Australia in the third quarter of the 19th century. At another level, his exceptional influence as an eminence grise bespeaks his fluency in construction, be it in poetry translation or legislative drafts, even if always out of commonplace materials. He lacked the imagination to range beyond the stock assumptions of the day regarding race, sex and Empire, assumptions he fully shared.[77] This, inevitably, only made his influence stronger.
Honours
Garran was made a Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) on the day that Federation was completed and Australia created, 1 January 1901, "in recognition of services in connection with the Federation of Australian Colonies and the establishment of the Commonwealth of Australia",[78]
Garran was first knighted in 1917,[79] and was appointed as a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in 1920.[80] He was knighted a third time in 1937 when he was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG).[81]
Shortly after the establishment of the ANU in 1946, Garran became its first graduate when he was awarded an honorary doctorate of laws. He had already been awarded such an honorary doctorate from the University of Melbourne in 1937 and later receiving one from his alma mater, the University of Sydney in 1952.[1]
Memorials
Garran's influence on Canberra is remembered by the naming of the suburb of
In 1983, the former Patent Office building – then occupied by the Federal Attorney General's Department – was renamed Robert Garran Offices.[84] It was renamed the Robert Marsden Hope Building in 2011.[85]
Publications
- A problem of federation under the crown; the representation of the crown in commonwealth and states (1895).[86]
- The coming Commonwealth: an Australian handbook of federal government (1897).[20]
- The Annotated Constitution of the Australian Commonwealth by Quick and Garran (1901).[24]
- The government of South Africa (1908).[87]
- The Making and Working of the Constitution (1932).[88]
- The Making and Working of the Constitution (continued) (1932).[89]
- The Case for union : a reply to the case for the secession of the state of Western Australia by Garran and 3 others (1934).[69]
- Prosper the Commonwealth (1958).[90][91]
- The book of songs Translated by Garran (1924).[92]
- Schubert and Schumann : songs and translations Translated by Garran (1946).[93]
References
- ^ OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Irving (2001), p. 292.
- ^ Zines (2006), p. 2.
- ^ Garran (1958), p. 65.
- ^ a b Francis (1983), p. 1.
- The Maitland Weekly Mercury. 29 April 1899. p. 9. Retrieved 27 April 2020 – via Trove.
- ^ University of Sydney (1901). "Calendar" (PDF). Angus and Robertson. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
- ^ Francis (1983), pp. 1–2.
- New South Wales Government Gazette. 3 April 1890. p. 2906. Retrieved 27 April 2020 – via Trove.
- OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
- ^ Garran (1958), p. 78.
- ^ "Admission of Barristers: Dr Garran's son admitted". The Australian Star. 28 August 1891. p. 6. Retrieved 27 April 2020 – via Trove.
- ^ Francis (1983), p. 22.
- ^ Garran (1958), p. 92.
- ^ Garran (1958), pp. 96–97.
- ^ OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
- ^ Garran (1958), p. 101.
- ^ Irving, Helen (December 1998). "When Quick Met Garran: the Corowa Plan" (PDF). Papers on Parliament No 32. Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
- ^ Garran (1958), p. 104.
- ^ a b Garran, Robert (1897). The coming Commonwealth: an Australian handbook of federal government. Sydney: Angus & Robertson.
- ^ "Garran, Sir Robert Randolph (1867–1957)". National Library of Australia's Federation Gateway. Archived from the original on 8 July 2006. Retrieved 20 July 2006.
- ^ Garran (1958), pp. 119–120.
- ^ Garran (1958), p. 122.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-9596568-0-0.
- ^ William Coleman,Their Fiery Cross of Union. A Retelling of the Creation of the Australian Federation, 1889-1914, Connor Court, Queensland, 2021, p29.
- ^ "Appointment of members of staff – Attorney-General's department". Commonwealth of Australia Gazette. 12 July 1901. p. 116. Retrieved 30 May 2020 – via Trove.
- ^ a b c Rayner, Michelle (1950s). "Sir Robert Garran: a memoir of federation". Armchair chat. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 15 July 2006. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
- ^ William Coleman,Their Fiery Cross of Union. A Retelling of the Creation of the Australian Federation, 1889-1914, Connor Court, Queensland, 2021, p.431.
- ^ a b Francis (1983), p. 61.
- ^ a b c Garran (1958), p. 145.
- ^ Penfold, Hilary (8 December 2001). When words aren't enough: Graphics and other innovations in legislative drafting (PDF). Language and the Law Conference. University of Texas at Austin: Office of Parliamentary Counsel. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 September 2006. Retrieved 11 December 2006.
- ^ Customs Act 1901 (Cth)
Excise Act 1901 (Cth) - ^ a b "Castle Gordon Harwood". Legal opinions. Australian Government Solicitor. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
- OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 9 July 2013.
- ^ "Sharwood William Henry". Legal opinions. Australian Government Solicitor. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
- OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
- ^ a b "Garran Robert Randolph". Legal opinions. Australian Government Solicitor. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
- ^ Garran (1958), p. 156.
- ^ "Books of the week: the Balfour of Australian politics". The Sydney Morning Herald. 13 January 1945. p. 7. Retrieved 14 June 2020 – via Trove.
- ^ Garran (1958), p. 158.
- ^ "Appointment of Solicitor-General for the Commonwealth". Commonwealth of Australia Gazette. 9 September 1916. p. 2561. Retrieved 4 June 2020 – via Trove.
- ^ Francis (1983), p. 8.
- ^ "War Precautions (Supplementary) Regulations 1916: delegation by Attorney-General to Solicitor-General". Commonwealth of Australia Gazette. 9 September 1916. p. 2562. Retrieved 4 June 2020 – via Trove.
- ^ a b Francis (1983), p. 7.
- ^ Scott, Ernest (1941). "Chapter XIX – Prices and Price Fixing" (PDF). The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918. Vol. XI. Sydney: Angus and Robertson. p. 642.
Farey v Burvett [1916] HCA 36, (1916) 21 CLR 433 - ^ Zines (2006), p. 7.
- ^ Scott, Ernest (1936). "Chapter XVI – The Wool Purchase" (PDF). The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918. Vol. XI. Sydney: Angus and Robertson. pp. 571–572.
- ^ Scott, Ernest (1936). "Chapter IV – The enemy within the gates" (PDF). The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918. Vol. XI. Sydney: Angus and Robertson. p. 110.
- ^ Garran (1958), p. 223.
- ^ Garran (1958), p. 280.
- ^ a b Zines (2006), p. 8.
- ^ "Papers of Sir John Latham". nla.gov.au. Series 20. 1918 Imperial War Conference, 1917–1919. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
- ^ Garran (1958), p. 260.
- ^ Garran (1958), p. 262.
- ^ Garran (1958), p. 264.
- ^ a b c d Irving (2001), p. 293.
- ^ "Constitution Royal Commission". The Sydney Morning Herald. 22 September 1927. p. 12. Retrieved 30 May 2020 – via Trove.
"Constitution Royal Commission. Sir Robert Garran's evidence: where amendment is needed". The Sydney Morning Herald. 23 September 1927. p. 11. Retrieved 30 May 2020 – via Trove.
"Constitution health, pensions and trade". The Sydney Morning Herald. 24 September 1927. p. 15. Retrieved 30 May 2020 – via Trove.
"Constitution Royal Commission Solicitor-General's evidence Dominion powers". The Sydney Morning Herald. 28 September 1927. p. 14. Retrieved 30 May 2020 – via Trove.
"Federal powers, child endowment: evidence before Royal Commission". The Sydney Morning Herald. 29 September 1927. p. 11. Retrieved 30 May 2020 – via Trove. - OCLC 1680994. and
Garran, Robert; Broadbent, Joseph Edward; Bean, Edgar Layton; et al. (1932). "Commonwealth of Australia".OCLC 1680994. - ^ Garran (1958), pp. 336–338.
- ^ Garran, Robert. "Customs: 'indecent or obscene': tendency to corrupt and deprave". Legal opinion number 1459. Australian Government Solicitor. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
- .
- ^ "Marriages: Garran - Robson". The Sydney Morning Herald. 26 April 1902. p. 1. Retrieved 12 May 2020 – via Trove.
- ^ OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
- ^ "About people". The Age. 18 October 1927. p. 9. Retrieved 29 May 2020 – via Trove.
"Rhodes Scholar: Andrew Garran (Trinity)". The Age. 11 November 1927. p. 10. Retrieved 29 May 2020 – via Trove.
"Diplomat's wife in Melbourne". The Argus. 29 March 1941. p. 5. Retrieved 29 May 2020 – via Trove. - ^ a b Francis (1983), p. 17.
- ^ Francis (1983), p. 11.
- ^ "Canberra University College 1930–1960". Information Services @ ANU. Australian National University. Archived from the original on 21 July 2008.
- ^ "Sir Robert Garran appointed KC". The Sydney Morning Herald. 24 February 1932. p. 10. Retrieved 27 April 2020 – via Trove.
- ^ a b Garran, Robert; Keating, John; et al. (1934). The Case for union: a reply to the case for the secession of the state of Western Australia. Canberra: Commonwealth Government Printer.
- ^ Zines (2006), p. 10.
- ^ "Home Hunt". The Sun (Sydney). No. 5169. New South Wales, Australia. 2 June 1927. p. 19. Retrieved 27 September 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ Heine, Heinrich; translated by Garran, Robert (1924). The book of songs. Melbourne: Keating-Wood.
- ^ Garran, Robert (1946). Schubert and Schumann : songs and translations. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press.
- ^ Garran (1958).
- Lucan's epic poem Pharsalia; the phrase may be translated as "Among the people his name is honoured and distinguished."
- ^ Howard, John (19 November 1997). "The 1997 Sir Robert Garran Oration" (PDF). Prime Minister of Australia. Retrieved 19 April 2012.
- ^ William Coleman,Their Fiery Cross of Union. A Retelling of the Creation of the Australian Federation, 1889-1914, Connor Court, Queensland, 2021, p.191, p.379., p.402.
- ^ "Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) entry for Mr Robert Randolph Garran". The London Gazette (1st supplement). No. 27261. 1 January 1901. p. 1.
"Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) entry for Mr Robert Randolph Garran". Australian Honours Database. Canberra, Australia: Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 1 January 1901. Retrieved 27 April 2020. - ^ "Knight Bachelor entry for Mr Robert Randolph Garran CMG". The London Gazette. No. 30022. 1 April 1917. p. 3596.
"Knight Bachelor entry for Mr Robert Randolph Garran CMG". Australian Honours Database. Canberra, Australia: Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 17 April 1917. Retrieved 27 April 2020. - ^ "Knight Commander entry for Sir Robert Randolph Garran Knt CMG". The London Gazette (1st supplement). No. 31712. 1 January 1920. p. 4.
"Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) entry for Sir Robert Randolph Garran CMG". Australian Honours Database. Canberra, Australia: Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 1 January 1920. Retrieved 27 April 2020. - ^ "Knight Grand Cross entry for Sir Robert Randolph Garran KCMG KC". The London Gazette (1st supplement). No. 34396. 11 May 1937. p. 3081.
"Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG) entry for Mr Robert Randolph Garran KCMG CMG". Australian Honours Database. Canberra, Australia: Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 11 May 1937. Retrieved 27 April 2020. - ^ "Garran Oration". Institute of Public Administration Australia (IPAA). Retrieved 15 June 2020.
- ^ Whitlam, Fred (1959). "Sir Robert Garran and leadership in public service" (PDF). The Sir Robert Garran oration.
- ^ "Patent Office (former)". Aussie Heritage. Archived from the original on 5 May 2007. Retrieved 16 June 2007.
- ^ "New lease of life for a Canberra landmark". The Canberra Times. 5 December 2011. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
- ^ Garran, Robert (January 1895). "A problem of federation under the crown; the representation of the crown in commonwealth and states". Report of the sixth meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science. Brisbane.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Garran, Robert (1908). The government of South Africa. Cape Town: Central News Agency.
- JSTOR 20628991.
- JSTOR 20629006.
- ^ Garran, Robert (1958). Prosper the Commonwealth. Sydney: Angus & Robertson.
- ISSN 0015-7120. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
Sources
- Francis, Noel (1983). The Gifted Knight: Sir Robert Garran (PDF). Canberra: Noel Francis (Australia); Australian National University Press (worldwide). ISBN 978-0-9592095-0-1.
- "Garran Robert Randolph". Legal opinions. Australian Government Solicitor.
- Irving, Helen (2001). "Garran, Robert Randolph". In ISBN 978-0-19-554022-2.
- Zines, Leslie (January 2006). "Sir Robert Garran" (PDF). Papers on Parliament No 44. Parliament of Australia.