1944-2005

Bondi Junction resident Robert William ‘Bob’ Bellear was Australia’s first Aboriginal judge. From a poor background, he grew up with eight siblings and joined the Australian Navy aged 17. For the next seven years he worked on board HMAS Cerberus, Anzac, Sydney and Hobart and at the HMAS Kuttabul shore base. His job was to remove asbestos lagging from steam pipes in the engine and boiler rooms. Almost 40 years later, he was diagnosed with lung cancer caused by asbestos exposure and smoking.

He studied for his Higher School Certificate part-time in 1972-73 and, motivated by social justice issues facing the Aboriginal community, was accepted to study law at the University of NSW. The year after he graduated, he was admitted as a barrister in NSW. He appeared in civil, workers’ compensation, family law and criminal cases across the state, often instructed by the Aboriginal Legal Service. He also helped create the service and the Legal Aid Commission.

Bellear acted for traditional landowners in land right claims and in 1987 was appointed Counsel Assisting the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, which took three years. In 1991 he was made a public defender in NSW. In 1993, he was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Law from Macquarie University and in 1996 was appointed a NSW District Court judge – the first Aboriginal appointed to the judiciary. He fulfilled that role until his death in 2005.

Bellear remained a crusader for Aboriginal justice as a director of the Aboriginal Medical Service, the Aboriginal Housing Company and the Aboriginal Children’s Service, the Aboriginal Legal Service and as a founding director of Tranby Co-operative College. In 2008, he received the Waverley Council Local Hero award.

Bob spent his final months enjoying Bondi Beach with his wife Kaye and their children. His state funeral at Sydney Town Hall was attended by more than 1000 mourners. Justice Viginia Bell told the funeral: “When he spoke on behalf of his clients, he talked from a position of an understanding of disadvantage and such innate decency that he made himself a very powerful advocate.”

Rose Bay Secondary College’s library is named in his honour.

Courtesy Kaye Williams Bellear, Fairfax Media and the Gujaga Foundation.