Retired Judge Alan Demack dies in Rockhampton at 90
The incredible legacy of a legal trailblazer who was the first judge to sit in Queensland’s Family Court and serve as the state’s first Integrity Commissioner is being honoured after his death at age 90.
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The first judge to sit in the Queensland Family Court and serve as the state’s Integrity Commissioner has died, aged 90.
The Honourable Alan George Demack AO, who was also the last Supreme Court judge to preside over cases in the old Rockhampton Supreme Court building, passed away peacefully at Bethany on Tuesday, January 28 2025.
His wife of 65 years, Dorothy, died in May and they leave behind five children and many grandchildren, including daughter Anne Demack who is a Federal Circuit Court judge at Rockhampton.
He was appointed as Integrity Commissioner – Queensland’s first – in 2000, after he retired as head of the Central Region Supreme Court.
Judge Demack’s career in the Supreme Court was the longest in Central Region’s history – 22 years.
He was also the first to judge of the Family Court in Queensland after the Family Law Act came into effect in 1975.
Labor Party stalwart and former Rockhampton MP Robert Schwarten said Judge Demack was former Queensland Premier Peter Beattie’s personal choice for the commissioner role.
“He served with impeccable manners and impeccable observance of the law,” he said.
“He was the logical choice for Queensland’s first Integrity Commissioner.
“He was a man of great dignity and somebody who left his mark on the legal community and general community of Rockhampton.”
The commissioner’s role is to provide confidential advice on ethics and integrity issues to current and, in certain cases, former ministers, MPs, ministerial chiefs of staff, senior public servants, statutory office holders, and other persons or classes of persons prescribed by regulation.
For a man who was passionate about social justice, the commissioner’s role was also a reflection of his concerns he addressed in roles he had in the Uniting Church, according to South Rockhampton Uniting Church Reverend Andrew Gillies.
Judge Demack was a pastor, church counsellor, chair of the church council, lay preacher, choir member and involved with the national and international Ecumenical movement.
He even defended a man, David Bertram Brooks, who burnt down the Queensland Supreme Court Building at North Quay in Brisbane in 1968 and left behind a hand-written note quoting a rare translation of the Biblical verse “Judge not lest you be judged sinner”.
He was initially appointed as a Judge of the District Court of Queensland in 1972, when he was only 37.
Four years later, he was appointed as a Senior Judge of the Family Court of Australia and then two years later took up his appointment as the Central Judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland in Rockhampton when the court was housed in the old 19th century stone courthouse on East Street.
In his career he also served as chairperson of the Commission of Inquiry into the Status of Women (1973), chairperson of the Commission of Inquiry into Youth (1974-75), a member of the Supreme Court library committee (1974-75), chairperson of the Queensland Marriage Guidance Council (1975-78), chairperson of a Queensland Government committee inquiring into teacher education (1977-78), chairperson of the board of management of Rockhampton Lifeline (1980-91), chairperson of the special committee to inquire into the Laws Relating to Artificial Insemination, In Vitro Fertilisation, and Other Related Matters (1983), chairperson of the government committee examining the transition of Capricornia College of Advanced Education to university status (1990) and chairperson of the Queensland Redistribution Commission (2007-08).
It was during the last couple of years of his service to the Queensland Supreme Court that he presided over cases in the new building.
Mr Schwarten said Judge Demack oversaw the construction of the new building and “became the ‘go to judge’ for all matters in its design and functionality”.
He retired in 2000 after 28 years’ service as a judge and was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List that year.
Former Rockhampton Supreme Court Justice, the Honourable Duncan McMeekin KC reflected on his memories of a “very courteous gentleman” who was “scholarly” and often talked about his singing capabilities.
His first memory of the man who became a regular feature in his life was when Hon McMeekin KC was a student at the University of Queensland when Judge Demack addressed the first class to study family law on the subject just after the Family Law Act was passed.
He said Judge Demack had just been appointed the first judge of the family court for Queensland and because there were yet to be any cases, ergo any decisions to study, Judge Demack addressed them on how he was expecting the act to work.
“It was a great honour to the students to learn from a real-life judge,” Hon McMeekin KC said.
He said before becoming a judge, he worked on “some weighty matters” with Arnold Bennett KC, who was Queensland’s leading barrister at the time and once gave jury members a strong dose of laxatives to prove his client’s innocence of strychnine poisoning in a murder trial.
“He was favoured by that fellow way back when he was a young barrister,” Hon McMeekin KC said.
“He was exposed to a lot of interesting work at an early stage in his career.
“No doubt that’s why he was well regarded by the government of the time to promote him as a judge when he was so young. He only had 13 years at the bar which is not very long.”
Hon McMeekin KC said he had been in Rockhampton as a barrister for six months when Judge Demack was appointed to the region’s Supreme court role.
“I appeared before him on his first day,” he said.
“Privately, he was a very courteous gentleman.
“He was a very learned sort of guy.”
Rockhampton’s current Supreme Court Justice Graeme Crow described Judge Demack as a “highly intelligent, yet humble man” who was “a uniting force” within the local legal profession.
He said Judge Demack, who had “an excellent sense of justice” and worked in important roles throughout his career “so quietly”, was “very well-liked” and “extremely well-respected”.
“His decisions in the Family Court are still cited today,” Justice Crow said.
Justice Crow pointed to Judge Demack’s childhood which may explain where the legal trailblazer’s humble nature came from.
Judge Demack’s father died six weeks before he was born.
He was then raised by his mother and her parents – his grandfather being a sawmiller and a member of the shire council for 19 years who helped establish the Caboolture Ambulance Brigade.
Judge Demack’s grandfather was President of the Show Society, the Chamber of Commerce and the Caboolture branch of the RACQ.
He was raised as a member of the congregation of the Methodist Church at Caboolture where his father was well-known and had worshipped.
Hon McMeekin KC said justice wasn’t Judge Demack’s only passion – he also loved singing.
“He could sing beautifully when he was a young man,” he said.
“He had a beautiful voice.”
Hon McMeekin KC said instead of giving speeches at legal dinners, Judge Demack would sing.
Rev Gillies said he had been involved with church choirs throughout his entire life, singing bass and baritone.
“At various times, he used to be involved with leadership in the church as well,” he said.
“He was very concerned about issues of justice and how the church could address issues, both locally and nationally and internationally in the community.
“He was very much concerned for caring for people and certainly took his role as pastoral carer really seriously and was very much loved and will be very much missed by all the members of the church, but not just us, but members of other churches that he was connected to through his concern for church unity as well.”
Rev Gillies said Judge Demack, and his wife, were both lay preachers who would assist by preaching sometimes at the five or six different congregations within the southern Rockhampton Uniting Church area.
He said he was the main lay preacher for at least 10 years and he was also involved in both the national and international Ecumenical movement, particularly the dialogue with the Catholic Church.
Judge Demack also wrote a book, “Pulpit, pew and public life: the Christian and the Secular Nation”.
Former associate Alison Buchhorn wrote in a tribute to Mr Demack when he retired as Supreme Court judge, “airline services out of Rockhampton did not operate on timetables like the ones available to us today, visits to these towns involved road trips which provided interesting punctuations to the daily courtroom life in Rockhampton”.
“Mackay was certainly a busy litigious hub and we visited there a few times during the year,” she wrote in the tributes published on the Supreme Court of Queensland website.
“You could be sure of a full calendar for each two week visit and if any trials required adjournments causing the list to collapse, there was one solicitor in particular who was notorious for arranging civil trials at short notice so that every hour of the day was used wisely.
“His Honour was very amenable to making good use of his time while in town and was very cooperative with the legal profession of Mackay.
“Mostly the trials heard in Mackay were for civil matters but there was a smattering of criminal trials heard as well.”
Acting Chief Justice of Queensland, the Honourable Debra Mullins AO said Judge Demack made an outstanding contribution as a judge for 28 years.
“He was a mentor to many lawyers and will be fondly remembered for his kindly disposition in Court,” she said.
Queensland Law Society President Genevieve Dee extended her sincerest condolences to Judge Demack’s loved ones on behalf of the Queensland Law Society.
“Judge Demack has been a pillar of the Queensland legal community, especially in his work as one of the Queensland Supreme Court’s longest-serving judges, and in his role as Queensland’s first Integrity Commissioner,” she said.
“His legacy in the legal profession will be carried on through the hard work of his daughter, Judge Anne Demack who was appointed to the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia in Rockhampton.”
A funeral announcement published online on Thursday morning stated Judge Demack was loved and loving father, father-in-law and Pop of Ian and Karen, Margery and John, Andrew and Annette, Jim and Catherine, Anne and Donald, Adrian and Katie, Amy and Jason, Rohan, Douglas, Annabel, Millie, Kristen, and Arthur.
Family and friends are invited to attend a funeral service for Judge Demack to be held at the South Rockhampton Uniting Church, Campbell Street on Friday, February 14, 2025 commencing at 11am.