John von Doussa fourth generation in South Australian law: judge, rights commissioner, university chancellor
John von Doussa, who was Adelaide University chancellor 2004-20, at a university alumni dinner with wife Julie.
Image courtesy Lumen, University of Adelaide
John William von Doussa was the distinguished fourth generation of the South Australian family involvement in the law profession.
The great grandson of Louis von Doussa, a South Australian attorney general (1903-04) who practised law for 60 years, John Von Doussa attended St Peter’s College in Adelaide and graduated from Adelaide University in 1962 with a bachelor of laws degree.
Von Doussa served his articles of clerkship with Thomson, Hogarth, Ross & Lewis, and was called to the bar in 1963. He served as president of the Law Society of South Australia 1982-83 and became one of the state's most prominent barristers.
In 1986, von Doussa was appointed to the supreme court of South Australia and to the federal courts of Australia from 1988 to 2003. He presided over the landmark “Carpets case” (1994) when which damages were awarded to a group of Aboriginal artists under the Copyright Act 1968 and Trade Practices Act after their intellectual property rights were seen to have been infringed by a Perth import company using their designs on carpets made in Vietnam.
In 2001, von Doussa delivered a controversial judgment on the Hindmarsh Island bridge controversy. He was "not satisfied that the restricted women's knowledge was fabricated or that it was not part of genuine Aboriginal tradition". His ruling directly contradicted the Hindmarsh Island royal commission findings.
Von Doussa was made an additional judge on Australian CapitalTerritory supreme court, followed by roles as non-resident judge on the Vanuatu court of appeal (1997), supreme court of Fiji (2003) and supreme court of Nauru (2010).
In 2003, von Doussa replaced Alice Tay as president of the Australian human rights and equal opportunity commission. For periods in 2006 and 2007, he was also acting sex discrimination commissioner and acting commissioner responsible for age discrimination. Von Doussa was also president of the Asia Pacific forum of national human rights institutions and chair of the Australian Competition Tribunal.
Von Doussa was appointed chancellor of his alma mater Adelaide University for two terms (2004-10). He was awarded the honorary degree of doctor of the university, its highest honour, by his successor as chancellor, Robert Hill. Von Doussa was appointed an officer of the Order of Australia in 2010 for his service to justice, human rights and education.
