The Joan Locke Story

Joan Locke was a woman who was aiming to go where few women in the early seventies had gone before - the Bar.

One of four children of Labour-supporting Australian Irish parents, Joan spent the first 2-3 years of her adult life as a nun, before she left and joined a theatre group in Newtown .

Her decision to leap from there to study for the Bar was made because she believed she had the necessary skills. But more importantly because it would give her the opportunity to provide a voice for the underdog.

As a mature articled clerk, the unusual poise and presence she had acquired through her years in the theatre, got her noticed even at that early stage. It was her theatrical sense which allowed her to wear her legal regalia with such aplomb. A horse hair wig doesn't do it for many women but she wore hers "with panache."

Joan was admired by many, but in particular by the women who followed her into the legal profession. When she became a Barrister, there were very few female role models - and even fewer who were active members of the Labour Party.

Joan quickly set up a general practice in her own Fourth Floor Chambers in Sydney 's Phillip Street, taking on criminal cases, big and small. However, it was the pro bono work she did for the Council of Civil Liberties that earned her a reputation as a particularly "ferocious defender of people's rights".

"A people person" was, in fact, generally how Joan was described both by friends and colleagues. They also admired her sense of loyalty.

As her reputation grew, Joan was also appointed as a Judicial Registrar of the Industrial Relations Court and the Residential Tenancies Tribunal.

Joan was always a stickler for quality - particularly in her work - and so when she became ill with gynaecological cancer and couldn't live up to her own high standards, she decided to take time out. She had always intended to return, so friends were surprised when they got the phone call saying: "Darling, I've booked myself into the hospice."

Those who visited her there, say she preserved her dignity and spirit until the very end so that they almost had difficulty accepting how ill she really was.

Joan Locke's funeral was packed and endless tributes were paid. People from all walks of life attended, a tribute to the fact that she was able to move in any circle and had been an enormous source of inspiration to many.