Edward St John

Edward Henry St John QC (pr: Sinj'n) (15 August 191624 October 1994) was a prominent Australian barrister, anti-nuclear activist and Liberal politician in the 1960s. His political career came to a controversial end after he criticised the Prime Minister John Gorton. His book A Time to Speak was an account of his eventful three years in politics from 1966 to 1969. Justice Michael Kirby described St John as a "contradictory, restless, reforming spirit". Early life Born in Boggabri, New South Wales, Edward St John was one of eight children of a Church of England canon and a descendant of many famous St Johns, including Ambrose St John, who converted to Roman Catholicism and became a close friend of Cardinal John Henry Newman, and Oliver St John, a statesman and judge who challenged the legality of Charles I's Ship Money tax. Edward St John was educated at state schools before attending the University of Sydney. His older brother was Anglican churchman Roland St John. Career St John became a barrister in 1940 and served in the 2nd AIF in Australia, the Middle East and the New Guinea campaign between 1940 and 1945 during World War II. Upon his return he was a law lecturer at the University of Sydney. In 1959 he was an official observer at the South African Treason Trial in Pretoria. He served in 1960 as a member of the Malta Constitutional Commission. In 1966, before entering parliament, he was an acting judge of the Supreme Court on NSW. He was also President of the Australian Section of the International Commission of Jurists. In November 1966 St John was elected to the House of Representatives as the Liberal member for the safe seat of Warringah. As a barrister, St John successfully defended Richard Walsh, editor of the satirical magazine Oz at the first Oz obscenity trial in 1964. Of his last two major cases he successfully defended Thomas and Alexander Barton, two company directors charged with a series of alleged offences in which Barton company shareholders lost millions of dollars. The prosecutor for the NSW Corporate Affairs Commission was Tom Hughes QC, a former Liberal Attorney-General. The other was a major action arising out of the Chelmsford Hospital scandal.