The first barristers arrived in Melbourne in 1839, the same year as Charles La Trobe, but only 14 were admitted to practice before 1851. Separation from NSW and the discovery of gold totally transformed the Bar, with fifty new barristers being admitted by 1854. All came from the United Kingdom and brought with them the traditions, ethics and etiquette of the English, Irish and Scottish bars, though these transplanted somewhat uneasily to the rough and ready makeshift courts of the goldfields.

Speaker Peter Yule, one of Australia’s leading historians, is a member of the RHSV Council, and of the La Trobe Society. He is an Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, University of Melbourne. His most recent publication, Vic Bar, a commissioned major history of the Victorian Bar from its earliest days in the late 1830s to the present, has just been published by Australian Scholarly Publishing. His lecture in honour of Professor AGL Shaw will give insights into the legal system in Port Phillip from the 1830s to Separation in 1851.

The AGL Shaw Lecture is presented each year by the RHSV and the La Trobe Society and forms part of the RHSV’s annual Distinguished Lecturer Series. A list of previous lecturers can be viewed here.