Former judge turns attention to community charity work
ONE of Queensland’s most high-ranking female justices hasn’t missed a beat since leaving the bench, setting her sights on another lofty cause.
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TRAILBLAZER Margaret McMurdo, AC, has wasted no time tossing aside the horsehair, jabot and silks after retiring as president of the Queensland Court of Appeal a little over a year ago.
She hinted as much in her valedictory speech in March last year when she said she had “wide community and cultural interests and a much loved, large, extended family” and she’d had to place a great many things on the back burner for her career.
“I hope that my departure from the court at this time will allow me to build a productive post-judicial life,” she said at the time.
Her retirement, which came a couple of years after the public spat involving senior members of the judiciary – McMurdo among them – and the Newman government-appointed Chief Justice Tim Carmody, followed years of hard graft to get ahead in what was a thoroughly male-dominated profession when she graduated from the University of Queensland’s law school.
Admitted to the Queensland bar in 1976, McMurdo was just 36 when she became the first female judge appointed to the District Court in 1991 and then the Children’s Court in 1993. When she became president of the Court of Appeal in 1998 she was the first woman to head an appellate court in Australia.
She wasn’t kidding about catching up on quality time. In an interview with Insight, McMurdo says that immediately after her retirement she began “unshouldering and started my long to-do list”.
This included a few days kayaking and camping with her sister and her partner, undertaking a creative writing course at the State Library, and delivering the 30th anniversary Griffith University 2017 Tony Fitzgerald lecture as well as a wide range of other speaking engagements.
In between the guest lecturing was some travel that took in Cambridge, London, Paris and cycling 260km along the Canal de Garonne from Bordeaux to Toulouse, gardening, “more precious time with family and friends”, studying French, mastering the souffle “sometimes”, attending an oil painting course (a present from her children), and relishing daytime performances of plays and concerts and gallery visits.
“And I played the wicked stepmother in the panto Cinderella, Queen of the Desert, directed by Clarissa Rayward of the Brisbane Family Law Centre,” she says. “It was a hoot and raised $12,000 of much needed funds for the Women’s Legal Service.
“I also try to stay fit – jogging, walking the dog, swimming, body surfing, yoga and pilates.”
B ut there are also labours of love – some old and some new.
“I have the great pleasure of chairing the board of Legal Aid Queensland – it’s a privilege to work with so many talented, good-hearted people.
“I’m also the patron of Women’s Legal Services, Caxton Legal Service and LawRight’s Civil Justice Fund, and together with prominent lawyers and other retired judges, I’ve been assisting the Australia Institute lobby for a federal anti-corruption body.”
Among her newer labours, McMurdo has taken over as chair of the Queensland Community Foundation, a charitable trust set up in 1997 by former premier Mike Ahern.
Of this she says: “I enjoy it. I’m seldom happier than when with like-minded philanthropic people.
“I genuinely get a kick out of taking small steps to improve the community, locally and globally.
“I would love Queenslanders all over this vast decentralised state to know what QCF does – that it’s a vehicle through which you can make tax deductible donations which will keep on giving to charities in Queensland forever.
“(And to know) that charities can apply for grants from the QCF general fund, that the foundation has grown its capital fund from $300,000 to over $80 million and has given more than $20 million to charities in Queensland over the past 20 years.”
QCF money has gone to a vast range of charities and community agencies, including health and medical research, and children and youth, disability and animal welfare groups.
McMurdo says QCF’s structure, which relies on sponsors to cover administrative costs, means every dollar donated goes into the fund.
“But this means we have limited finances for marketing and public relations.”
McMurdo agrees the nature of philanthropy is changing.
“I think the new philanthropists want to see value for their donation and that’s a good thing.
“They want immediate proof their gift has made a difference and expect a degree of personal connection with the resulting positive change.
“With new technologies and the global village phenomena we’re certainly seeing more widespread community giving.
“For example, communities of interest are springing up among individuals who feel empathy for someone, somewhere in the world, whose plight touches their heart. This leads to spontaneous ‘go fund me’ internet-based campaigns, which are outside the traditional charity structure.
“Technological change is renewing philanthropy and in some ways democratising it so it’s now within the means of many individuals or small groups to set up campaigns for diverse projects throughout the world.
“While this is wonderful, QCF also wants to fill the needs of charities here in Queensland doing vital work which might not have such an immediate heartstrings appeal.
“The new philanthropy is fantastic but we need philanthropy in all its wonderful guises.”
On June 15, during Philanthropy Week, the QCF will be hosting the annual philanthropy awards at a gala lunch at Brisbane’s City Hall. The awards will recognise Queenslanders who have given to a range of charities and causes around the state.
Businessman Anthony Pratt, who has pledged to give away $1 billion in his lifetime, will be guest speaker.
Email Margaret Wenham or Amanda Horswill
The Courier-Mail is a proud sponsor of QCF. Tickets available here
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