• Entry type: Person
  • Entry ID: AWE5744

Wolfe, Patricia (Patsy)

  • Her Honour, AO
  • Preferred name Wolfe, Patsy
  • Occupation Barrister, Chief Judge, Commissioner, Judge, Lawyer, Solicitor

Summary

Her Honour Patricia (Patsy) Wolfe served as Chief Judge of the District Court of Queensland between 1999 and 2014. She was the first woman to be appointed to the role. In 2014 she received the Order of Australia for her ‘distinguished service to the judiciary, to the law through legal education reform and as a mentor and role model for women’.

Patsy Wolfe came to law as a mature age student and mother, after first pursuing careers in medicine and journalism. She graduated LLB with honours from the University of Queensland in 1978 and was admitted to the Bar the same year. In 1979, she joined the Faculty of Law as a senior tutor and then went on to complete a Masters Degree in 1983. While senior tutor, she met Margaret White and Quentin Bryce and formed supportive and enduring friendships with them both.

Before being appointed to the District Court in 1995, Wolfe served as Deputy Commissioner of the Fitzgerald Inquiry Into Official Corruption (1988-89) and as a part-time Commissioner on the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (1993-95).

She is well remembered for her forthright comments made when she was chair of the Queensland Women’s Consultative Committee in 1992. When challenged as to why Queensland women needed such a committee, when there was no equivalent body for men, her response was direct and uncompromising. Men already had a powerful organisation, she said. ‘It’s called Cabinet, where men outnumber women sixteen to two…That’s why we need council as a direct line to the Premier.’

Events

  • 1974

    Bachelor of Arts, University of Queensland

  • 1978

    Admitted as a Barrister of the Supreme Court of Queensland

  • 1978

    Bachelor of Laws (Honours), University of Queensland

  • 1978 - 1980

    Senior Tutor, University of Queensland Law School

  • 1981 - 1982

    In-house, Feez Ruthning Solicitors

  • 1983

    Master of Laws, University of ueensland

  • 1983 - 1995

    Practised at the Bar in Queensland

  • 1986 - 1999

    Member, Council of Stuartholme School

  • 1988 - 1989

    Deputy Commissioner, Commission of Inquiry into Official Corruption

  • 1989 - 2003

    Member, Council of Griffith University

  • 1990

    Chair, Review into Land Policy and Administration

  • 1991 - 1997

    Member, Visiting Committee Griffith University Law School

  • 1992 - 1994

    Chair, Queensland Women’s Consultative Council

  • 1992 - 1997

    Members, National Institute Law Ethics and Public Affairs

  • 1993 - 1995

    Part-time Commissioner, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission

  • 1995 - 2014

    Judge, District Court of Queensland

  • 1999 - 2002

    Member, Key Centre Ethics Law Justice and Governance

  • 1999 - 2014

    Chief Judge, District Court of Queensland

  • 1999 - 2014

    Judge, Planning and Environment Court

  • 2003

    Centenary Medal

  • 2003

    Hon DUniv (Griffith)

  • 2014

    Officer of the Order of Australia

Published resources

Related entries


  • Friend and Colleague
    • Bryce, Quentin (1942)
    • White, Margaret J. (1943)
  • Related Women
    • Forde, Mary Marguerite Leneen (1935)