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The Honourable Sir William Deane AC KBE

William Patrick Deane was born in Melbourne in 1931. He was educated at St Christopher's Convent in Canberra, St Joseph's College in Sydney and Sydney University, where he graduated in Arts and Law. He worked for a period with the Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department in Canberra before travelling to Europe where he studied international law and was awarded the Diploma (cum Laude) of The Hague Academy of International Law in 1955.

After his return to Australia, William Deane worked for a period with a law firm and lectured at Sydney University. He was called to the bar in 1957 when he was just 26 years old. He was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1966.

In 1977 William Deane was appointed a judge of the Federal Court and the President of the Australian Trade Practices Tribunal. In 1982, the Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser, appointed him a Justice of the High Court of Australia, Australia's highest court. In his 14 years on the High Court bench, Sir William favoured the rights of individuals over governments and he sat in judgement over significant cases such as the 1983 Franklin River case and the 1992 Mabo case.

He retired from the High Court in November 1995 subsequent to the announcement of his appointment as Governor-General by the Prime Minister, Paul Keating. He was sworn in as Australia's 22nd Governor-General on 16 February 1996.

As Governor-General, Sir William made Australia's disadvantaged his priority and he spoke out on his desire to see meaningful Reconciliation between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians. In his inaugural 1996 Vincent Lingiari Memorial Lecture, Some Signposts from Daguragu he said:

..It should, I think be apparent to all well-meaning people that true reconciliation between the Australian nation and its indigenous people is not achievable in the absence of acknowledgement by the nation of the wrongfulness of the past dispossession, oppression and degradation of the Aboriginal peoples....Where there is no room for national pride or national shame about the past, there can be no national soul.

..the way to reconciliation from this time on is necessarily a path of compromise. In turn, the necessity of compromise on both sides will not be accepted unless there is general and genuine recognition of the fact that national reconciliation is of vital importance to national pride, true national unity and national reputation.

As Governor-General, I must be conscious of the need to avoid becoming involved in divisive or party political debate. It is, however, permissible for me to make a plea to the Aboriginal peoples to recognise the progress that has been made in recent years....and to point out to non-Aboriginal people how much remains to be done to overcome or alleviate the terrible problems which are the present consequences of past oppression and injustice.

Racism is cruel and unjust. It cuts deep and lingers long in individual and community memories. And it is not a thing of the past....We all have a duty to do what we can to turn this around.

Sir William was appointed a Knight of the British Empire in 1982 and a Companion in the Order of Australia in 1988. He has also been honoured by many academic institutions including the University of New South Wales, the Australian Catholic University, the Queensland University of Technology and the Melbourne College of Divinity.

Sir William and Lady Deane were married in 1965. They have two children, Patrick and Mary.

Read the University of Western Australia's 2005 Vice-Chancellors' Oration presented by THE HONOURABLE SIR WILLIAM DEANE on Monday, 21 March 2005 Australia's Multiculturalism: time for assessment and renewal.