Robert Bruce Burnside

After attending the Royal Naval School in London, Burnside studied law, training as a barrister.

Burnside initially had his own firm in Perth, but later went into partnership with Douglas Gawler (a future member of parliament) in Fremantle.

[1] In December 1902, Burnside was appointed to the vacant fourth position on the Supreme Court, as a puisne justice.

[2] He succeeded Frederick Moorhead, who had died after only seven months in office, and joined Edward Stone (the chief justice), Stephen Henry Parker, and Robert McMillan on the bench.

Burnside also occasionally presided over criminal trials, and headed two royal commissions in the late 1910s.