Michael Kirby

Michael Donald Kirby (born 18 March 1939) is an Australian jurist and academic who is a former Justice of the High Court of Australia, serving from 1996 to 2009. He has remained active in retirement; in May 2013 he was appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council to lead an inquiry into human rights abuses in North Korea, which reported in February 2014. Early life and education Michael Donald Kirby was born on 18 March 1939 at Crown Street Women's Hospital to Donald and Jean Langmore (née Knowles) Kirby. He was the eldest of five siblings, followed by twins Donald William and David Charles (the latter died at 18 months from pneumonia), David, and Diana Margaret. In 1943 his grandmother, Norma Gray, remarried and her second husband was Jack Simpson, National Treasurer of the Australian Communist Party. Although Kirby came to admire Simpson, neither he nor his immediate family embraced the ideology. His father supported the Australian Labor Party but never became a member. His mother, it is believed, voted for Robert Menzies (Liberal Party). Kirby attended state schools, commencing at North Strathfield Public School, followed by Summer Hill Public School for Opportunity Classes, and then Fort Street High School (then Fort Street Boys High School) in Sydney. After graduating from high school, Kirby later attended the University of Sydney, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts (1959), Bachelor of Laws (1962), Bachelor of Economics (1965), and Master of Laws (First-Class Honours) (1967). At university, Kirby was elected President of the University of Sydney Students' Representative Council (1962–1963) and President of the University of Sydney Union (1965).