The Honourable Justice Anthe Philippides, the first woman of Hellenic heritage to be admitted as a barrister in Queensland and to attain silk in Australia, was farewelled from her stellar judicial career in a fitting valedictory at the Supreme Court of Queensland on Thursday.
With her daughter in the audience, and the rest of her family on video link – her mother Ioanna, her sister Athena and their family in the US and her son – the Hon Philippides sat looking at a crowd of distinguished guests, and many colleagues from the legal profession all there to pay homage to the trailblazer.
The High Commissioner of the Republic of Cyprus, Her Excellency Martha Mavromatti, was also in attendance.
The proceedings began with Chief Justice The Hon Catherine Holmes delivering a speech that captures the breadth and depth of the Hon Philippides’ long standing and interesting career.
She was followed by Queensland’s Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman who paid tribute to the Justice’s heritage.
In her speech, Minister Fentiman paid tribute to the Justice’s parents Ioanna and Constantine (Dino) and acknowledged how their endurance and resilience had inspired Her Honour to succeed in Queensland’s legal world.
Her parents were born in Cyprus before moving to Australia where they worked hard in business, and also the community, to ensure Her Honour and her sister had every opportunity in life.
Notably, Justice Philippides’ Hellenic heritage was a recurring theme in the acknowledgments of the day, with the Justice herself stating that she changed the way people viewed judges as a women of ethnic background.
She talked about how important it was for members of the legal profession to have culturally diverse backgrounds. As the Patron of the Queensland Chapter of the Hellenic Australian Lawyers Association, Her Honour does important work in mentoring and advising up and coming legal minds of Greek background.
Her Honour’s career spanned more than three decades. In that time, Her Honour was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland in December 2000 and a Judge of the Court of Appeal in December 2014.
They were the first appointments in Australia to a superior court and an appellate court of a female lawyer of immigrant parents.
Her Honour was awarded the top prizes at the University of Queensland Law School and her outstanding First Class honours degree was further enhanced by receiving the prestigious University Medal in Law in 1983.
Her Honour became the first female law graduate of the University of Queensland to obtain a Commonwealth scholarship to undertake postgraduate legal studies abroad when the British Council selected her to read for a Masters of Law degree at Cambridge University.
While at Cambridge, Her Honour undertook a course that mainly dealt with maritime law, a subject that was not taught anywhere in Queensland when she returned home.
On her appointment to the Supreme Court, Her Honour resigned as Honorary Vice-Consul for Cyprus, having served the Cypriot community in Queensland for almost 13 years.
