Wilfred Fullagar

Sir Wilfred Kelsham Fullagar, KBE, QC (16 November 1892 – 9 July 1961) was an Australian judge who served on the High Court of Australia from 1950 until his death in 1961.

He was the oldest of three children and only son born to Sarah Elizabeth (née Law) and Thomas Kelsham Fullagar.

[1] Although Fullagar aspired to become a barrister, he considered it a financially risky move and instead began working with the Repatriation Department and Commonwealth Immigration Service.

He held that position until his appointment to the High Court on 8 February 1950, when he filled the vacancy left by the resignation of Sir Hayden Starke.

But it was his fortune to combine a most lovable nature with which won a place in the hearts of all of us with a powerful intelligence, clear and strong, yet at the same time calm and deliberate in its processes."

US Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter (writing to Dixon) said: "The Times brings me the shocking news of Fullagar's death.

So close was my professional communion with Fullagar, solely through the printed page, that I feel his death as a personal loss, though I never – to my great regret – laid eyes on him."