Who sat on the first Bench of the High Court of Australia?
The first sitting of the High Court took place in Melbourne on 6 October 1903. The Bench was made up of three people who had been prominent in the federal movement. They were: • The Chief Justice, Sir Samuel Griffith, former premier and former Chief Justice of Queensland. • Sir Edmund Barton, the first Prime Minister of Australia and leader of the constitutional conventions which led to Australia becoming a federation in 1901. • Richard Edward O’Connor, a former minister of justice and Solicitor-General of New South Wales and the first Leader of the Government in the Senate.
