Sir Ninian Stephen

The Right Honourable Sir Ninian Martin Stephen, KG, GCMG, GBE, AK (born 15 June 1923), Australian judge and 20th Governor-General of Australia, was born in Oxfordshire, England, and migrated to Australia as a child. He was educated at the University of Melbourne, but his studies were interrupted by World War II, in which he served in the Australian Army in New Guinea and Borneo. He completed his legal studies in 1950, and was called to the Victorian Bar in 1952. By the 1960s he was one of Australia's leading constitutional and commercial lawyers.

In 1970 Stephen was appointed a Justice of the High Court of Australia, and in the same year he was knighted. Although he was appointed by a Liberal government, he proved not to be a traditional conservative upholder of states' rights. He joined the "moderate centre" of the court, between the arch-conservatism of Sir Garfield Barwick and the radicalism of Lionel Murphy. In 1982 he was part of the majority that decided on a broad interpretation of the "external affairs power" of the Australian Constitution in the Koowarta case.

Later that year Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser appointed Stephen Governor-General. Like his predecessor, Sir Zelman Cowen, he was a "safe" choice: discreet, politically neutral and with a wide knowledge of constitutional law. When Fraser was defeated by the Labor Party under Bob Hawke in 1983, Stephen had no difficulty working with a Labor government. In 1987 Hawke extended his term by 18 months, to allow Bill Hayden (to whom Hawke had promised the position) to leave politics at a time of his choosing.

Stephen was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1970, and sworn of the Privy Council in 1979. As Governor-General he was made a Knight of the Order of Australia, Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George and Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire. In 1994 the Queen appointed him a Knight of the Garter.