List of justices of the High Court of Australia

For most of 1930, two seats were left vacant due to monetary constraints placed on the court by the Depression.

With the appointment of William Webb in 1946, the number of seats returned to seven, and since then the court has had seven justices.

Appointments to the court were for life until 1977, when a mandatory retirement age of 70 was established, though several post-1977 justices have retired before reaching the age of 70 (William Deane resigned as a justice to be appointed governor-general).

Nine justices have served in the Parliament of Australia: Edmund Barton, Richard O'Connor, Isaac Isaacs, H. B. Higgins, Edward McTiernan, H. V. Evatt, John Latham, Garfield Barwick, and Lionel Murphy.

All but Evatt were appointed after their parliamentary service; Evatt resigned from the bench in order to pursue his federal political career, although he had previously served in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly.

In addition to the above, four justices served in colonial parliaments: Samuel Griffith, Charles Powers, Albert Piddington and Adrian Knox, although all concluded their political careers more than 10 years prior to their appointments.

The most recent justice to serve in state or federal parliament is Lionel Murphy.

Robert Beech-Jones was born in Tasmania but went to university in Canberra and spent most of his career in Sydney.