Julian Burnside Julian Burnside i(A47761 works by) (a.k.a. Julian William Kennedy Burnside)
Born: Established: 1949 Melbourne, Victoria, ;
Gender: Male
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BiographyHistory

Burnside, a well-known human rights activist and lawyer, attended Melbourne Grammar School and received a Bachelor of Laws from Monash University in 1973. He was made a Queen's Counsel in 1989, and acted for the Maritime Union of Australia during the 1998 Australian waterfront industrial dispute.

From this point on, Burnside began to undertake more pro bono work relating to human rights issues, and was a staunch opponent of former Prime Minister John Howard's mandatory detention of asylum seekers. He also represented Bruce Trevorrow, an Aboriginal member of the Stolen Generations, who successfully sued the South Australian Government for removing him from his family.

In 2004, Burnside was awarded the Human Rights Law Award by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. In 2009, he was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for services as a human-rights advocate.

Burnside is a patron of numerous arts organisations and has also published books on Internet law and philology.

Most Referenced Works

Personal Awards

2014 recipient Sydney Peace Prize
2009 recipient Australian Humanist of the Year Award
2009 Order of Australia Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) For service as a human rights advocate, particularly for refugees and asylum seekers, to the arts as a patron and fundraiser, and to the law.

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon Watching Brief : Reflections on Human Rights, Law and Justice Carlton North : Scribe , 2007 Z1542205 2007 selected work essay

'Watching Brief is a collection of essays and meditations on law, justice, human rights, ethics and, ultimately, on what constitutes a decent human society. It is also an impassioned and eloquent appeal for vigilance in an era in which national security trumps democratic principle, where the legal conventions of the new realpolitik owe more to Guantanamo than Geneva, and where respect for law and the principle of respect owed to all human beings are being undermined.

Julian Burnside illuminates many of our current concerns in thoughtful explorations of key historical episodes such as the Guy Fawkes' plot to blow up the British Parliament in 1605 and the Dreyfus case in nineteenth-century France. He also takes us on a fascinating tour of some of the world's most infamous trials, including those of Ned Kelly and Ronald Ryan in Australia, Roger Casement's trial for treason and the notorious Crippen case in Britain, and that of the Scottsboro Boys in the United States.' (From publisher)

2008 shortlisted Human Rights Awards Literature Non-Fiction Award
Last amended 31 Oct 2019 13:14:37
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