Nationality Australia Title Chief Justice | Occupation Lawyer Name Thomas McCawley | |
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Born 24 July 1881 ( 1881-07-24 ) Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia Died 16 April 1925(1925-04-16) (aged 43)
Brisbane, Australia Resting place Toowong cemetery, Brisbane Known for Role as a leading judge in Queensland | ||
Thomas William McCawley (24 July 1881 – 16 April 1925) was a chief justice of Queensland.
McCawley was born in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. He was of Irish-Catholic background, his father having been born in County Leitrim, Ireland. On his mother's side he had German ancestry, his mother coming from Darmstadt, Germany. He was educated at the Sisters of Mercy's Hibernian Hall and a state school in Toowoomba. At the age of 14 he took a job for three years as a clerk in the Toowoomba firm of solicitors, Hamilton & Wonderley. Later, McCawley was employed by the Queensland Government Savings Bank, and was successively transferred to the offices of the public service board and the Department of Justice. Studying after hours, he passed the prescribed examinations and was admitted to the Queensland bar on 7 May 1907. In November 1910, at the age of 29 he was appointed crown solicitor, an appointment which was controversial at the time.
McCawley was a staunch Catholic. This, and his links with the Australian Labor Party in Queensland, attracted criticism from some parts of the legal profession in Queensland when he was appointed to a number of senior legal positions in the state There were objections from some quarters, both on political grounds and on the grounds of his lack of experience as practising barrister, when he was appointed as the first president of the Queensland Court of Industrial Arbitration in January 1917, and then puisne judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland in October 1917. Challenges to his appointment in the Supreme Court of Queensland and in the High Court of Australia were successful but were overturned by the Privy Council in London. During the next few years, until his premature death, he had an outstandingly successful legal career.
McCawley made contributions to industrial law and relations, and framed an award for railway employees. McCawley was made chief justice of Queensland on the retirement of Sir Pope Cooper on 1 April 1922 when he became the youngest chief justice in the British Empire . McCawley held office until 16 April 1925 when he died suddenly of a heart attack at the Roma Street railway station in Brisbane while running to catch a train to Ipswich to attend to legal affairs. He was survived by his wife, four sons and one daughter.
McCawley was given a State funeral at St Stephen's Cathedral and buried at Toowong Cemetery.
On 13 December 1927 a bronze bust of McCawley was unveiled at the Board of Arbitration in Brisbane.