Elizabeth Evatt House (EV)
Elizabeth Evatt House (EV)
The Hon Elizabeth Evatt AC
b. 1933
This building is named for The Hon Elizabeth Evatt AC, the third Chancellor of the University of Newcastle and a pioneering leader within the Australian legal profession. Her reforming work as a lawyer, judge, and advocate for human rights has fundamentally shaped law and society in Australia and beyond. A trailblazer for gender equality, Elizabeth Evatt was the inaugural Chief Justice of the Family Court of Australia, which introduced principles of fairness and equality into family law. Her leadership extended internationally as Chair of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and the first Australian to be elected to the UN Human Rights Committee, advancing protections for women and vulnerable communities worldwide.
Her commitment to justice was matched by her dedication to education. From 1988 to 1994, she served as Chancellor of the University of Newcastle, during a period of growth and innovation. Her tenure reflected her belief in opportunity, equity, and the transformative power of learning.
The naming of this building ensures that Elizabeth Evatt’s extraordinary contributions to law, human rights, and the University of Newcastle will be remembered for generations to come — a lasting tribute to her vision, courage, and pursuit of justice.
Elizabeth Evatt was born in 1933, the daughter of the barrister Clive Evatt QC – a senior minister in post-war Labor governments. After graduating from the Presbyterian Ladies' College in Pymble, Sydney, she studied law at the University of Sydney, as the youngest law student ever accepted, becoming the first female student to win the University's Medal for Law in 1955. Admitted to the bar in New South Wales in 1955, Evatt won a scholarship to Harvard University and was also admitted to the bar at the Inner Temple in London, United Kingdom. From 1968 to 1973, Evatt worked at the England and Wales Law Commission under Lord Scarman.
In 1973, she was invited by Prime Minister Gough Whitlam to return to Australia as Deputy President of the Conciliation and Arbitration Commission, which became the Industrial Relations Commission. From 1974–1977 she was Chair of the Royal Commission on Human Relations, which documented for the first time the then existing systemic discrimination against women in Australian social, economic and public life and which led in time to anti discrimination legislation and social, financial and legal change in favour of Australian women nation wide. Australians owe Elizabeth Evatt a debt of gratitude for her work as Chief Judge of the Family Court of Australia from 1976-88 when she pioneered the conciliatory no-fault concept of divorce which set a global example world though the publication of A Guide to Family Law.
In 1984 she was appointed as a member of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women – a committee she chaired from 1989 to 1991 during her tenure as Chancellor of the University of Newcastle.
She was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1982, in recognition of services to the law, and was the first Australian to be elected to the United Nations Human Rights Committee, serving from 1993 to 2000. She was made a Commissioner of the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission from 1995-1998. From 1988-94, she served as President of the Australian Law Reform Commission and was also a member of the United Nations Human Rights Commission from 1993 to 2001.
In 1995 Evatt was given Australia’s highest civil honour, the Companion of the Order of Australia "in recognition of service to the law, social justice and to the promotion of human rights worldwide, particularly in the areas of equal opportunity and anti-discrimination legislation and practice". In 1998 she was appointed as a judge of the World Bank Administrative Tribunal, and elected as a Commissioner of the International Committee of Jurists in 2003.
Elizabeth's career holds many 'firsts' including her milestone achievements as the first Chief Judge of the Family Court of Australia, and the first female judge of an Australian federal court. Her efforts in promoting the links between Australia and the international human rights community are acknowledged internationally.
LINKS
Hunter Living Histories and Special Collections, the University of Newcastle Library
The Honorary Justice Elizabeth Evatt, 1994
Oil on canvas
100 x 85cm
The University Art Collection