The
portrait of Australia's first native-born Governor-General in the Australian
Dictionary of Biography, by Zelman Cowen, shows us a man of contradictions.
A fierce supporter of the White Australia Policy, Isaac Isaacs nonetheless
prided himself on speaking some Chinese as well as several European
languages. No socialist, he nevertheless conceded the necessity of state
intervention to achieve decent wages and conditions.
Isaacs was born in Melbourne, moving to Yackandandah at the age of
four and Beechworth a few years later. His father was a tailor. After
teaching at local schools, he entered the Crown Law Department, studying
Law part-time at Melbourne University from 1876.
Isaacs used to begin studying at 4am in order to keep his full-time
job. He was a brilliant student, with exceptional recall, and graduated
in minimum time taking his LLM in 1883. His capacity for hard work,
which later led Sir Robert Garran to comment that "By day he carried
on the biggest practice of the Victorian Bar; by night he did full justice
to the duties of Attorney-General", was evident from the first.
In 1890 he appeared before the Full Supreme Court no fewer than 19 times.
Isaacs was first elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly to the
seat of Bogong, which included his childhood towns of Yackandandah and
Beechworth. A fervent supporter of Federation, he stepped down as Premier
of Victoria to win the federal seat of Indi. In 1905, he was appointed
Attorney-General. In 1906, he was appointed to the High Court of Australia
where he served for almost a quarter of a century.
In 1931, Isaacs was appointed Governor-General. He retired in 1936.
During these years of Depression, Isaacs voluntarily gave up a quarter
of his salary and refused the judge's pension to which he was entitled.
Towards the end of his life, Isaacs caused consternation in the Jewish
community by his opposition to "political Zionism" and his
ad hominem attacks on those who opposed British policy in Palestine.
He is remembered, nonetheless, as a jurist who believed in the courts
as "living organs of a progressive community" and worked always
to improve social conditions.
Image: Isaac Alfred Isaacs (National Library of Australia)
