The McMurdo Scholarship - Justice Margaret Anne McMurdo AC (1975)

Justice Margaret McMurdo served as the President of the Queensland Court of Appeal for over 18 years (1998 -2017), becoming the first woman appointed to lead an appellate court in Australia. Her contribution to the law was recognised by the award of a Doctorate of Law honoris causa by the University in 2012.

Margaret Anne McMurdo (née Hoare) was born in Brisbane in 1954. Her father was a solicitor who, at age 34, volunteered for service as a private in the Australian Military Services in the Second World War (1940-45). He attained the rank of Major and, after returning to civilian life, went on to become senior partner of the Brisbane firm of Thynne & Macartney. Margaret was educated at New Farm State School and Brisbane Girls Grammar School (1967-71), before studying law at the University of Queensland. In 1975, she graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree. Her brothers, David Hoare (1964) and John Hoare (1974), were also graduates of the law school. She married a fellow law student, Philip McMurdo, in 1976. They have four children.

After working as Associate to Judge Demack in both the District Court (1975) and then in the Family Court (1976), she was admitted to the Bar (1976) and commenced work in the Public Defender’s Office. She served as Assistant Public Defender for many years (1977-89), before commencing practice at the private Bar (1989-91). During this period, she was a founding committee member (1978- 82) and then President (1980-81) of the Women Lawyers Association of Queensland.

In 1991, at the age of 36, Margaret McMurdo was appointed a Judge of the District Court of Queensland – becoming the first woman to be appointed to the Court. Then, in 1998, she was appointed to the Supreme Court of Queensland, to become the second President of the Court of Appeal. She was the third woman to be appointed to the Supreme Court, after Justices Margaret White and Susan Kiefel, and became a founding Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law and an elected member of the American Law Institute. She was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia (2007) and her achievements were recognised by honorary doctorates from a number of Queensland universities. Philip McMurdo QC joined her as a Judge of the Supreme Court in 2003.

Since her retirement from the Court, she has served as Chair of the Board of Legal Aid Queensland, Chair of the Board of Governors of the Queensland Community Foundation and as the Commissioner appointed by the government of Victoria to conduct a Royal Commission into the Management of Police Informants (2018-20). In 2021, she was appointed Chair of the Queensland Taskforce on Coercive Control and Women’s Experience in the Criminal Justice System.

Margaret and Philip McMurdo are known to many Law School students and recent alumni, through their continued involvement in Law School, UQLS and JATL seminars and events. In 2008, their son, James McMurdo, graduated from the Law School with a Bachelor of Laws with first class honours.

McMurdo Scholarship Recipients

• 2021 Aleisha Lanthois