Street family

Kenneth Street

The Street family is the only three-generation dynasty in Australian judicial appointments. Three members of the family were Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and Lieutenant Governor of New South Wales. The narrator of the ABC series, Dynasties said: "Among the great and powerful of the law, no family sits higher than the Streets. They've been at the forefront of the legal establishment for over a century. Three successive generations of Street men have been Chief Justices of New South Wales."^[1]

• Sir Philip Whistler Street KCMG (1863–1938)^[2] was the eighth Chief Justice of the NSW Supreme Court. His father was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly and his mother was a granddaughter of William Lawson, who found the first crossing across the Blue Mountains (New South Wales). On 24 July 1906 he was appointed as an acting judge of the Supreme Court and on 11 February 1907 he was made a full judge. He became Chief Justice on 28 January 1925 and occupied that office until his seventieth birthday in 1933. He is the second longest serving judge in New South Wales history. He was appointed Lieutenant Governor of New South Wales in 1930, and administered the state from May to October 1934, January to February 1935, and January to August 1936 - the Lieutenant-Governor administers New South Wales in the absence of the governor.

• Sir Kenneth Whistler Street, KCMG, KStJ, (1890–1972)^[3] was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court on 7 October 1931. He thus joined the bench of which his father, Sir Philip Street, was then chief justice. In 1949, as senior puisne judge, Street acted as chief justice when Sir Frederick Jordan died. He was confirmed in that office from 6 January 1950 and was sworn in on 7 February. Street was Lieutenant-Governor from 1950-1972. His wife Jessie Street was a prominent human rights activist and campaigner.

• Sir Laurence Whistler Street AC, KCMG, QC (born 1926)^[4] was appointed as a judge of the NSW Supreme Court in the Equity Division. He became the state's second-youngest Chief Justice when he was appointed in 1974 and he retired in 1988. He was the son of Sir Kenneth Street and Jessie Street and was Lieutenant Governor from 1974-1988.

Sir Laurence's elder daughter, Sylvia Emmett, and his younger son, Alexander Whistler Street SC are both judges of the Federal Circuit Court of Australia, and his younger daughter, Sarah, is a solicitor turned head-hunter with Carmichael Fisher. His grandson, James Emmett, is a junior barrister in Sydney. Another grandson, Charles Street, is a maritime lawyer at Norton Rose Fulbright Australia. Another grandson, Robert Emmett, pleaded guilty on 1 May 2015 to child sex offences committed while working as a teacher at St Andrew's Cathedral School.^[5] A granddaughter, Isabella Street, is also a solicitor.^[6] Street's son-in-law, the Hon. Justice Arthur Emmett, was a judge of the Federal Court of Australia. He was appointed to the New South Wales Court of Appeal at a formal ceremony on Thursday, 7 March 2013.^[7]

References

1. Dynasties: Street
2. Bennett, J. M. (1990). "Street, Sir Philip Whistler (1863 - 1938)". 12. Melbourne: Australian Dictionary of Biography, Melbourne University Press.
3. Bennett, J. M. (2002). "Street, Sir Kenneth Whistler (1890–1972)". 16. Melbourne: Australian Dictionary of Biography, Melbourne University Press.
4. The Honourable Sir Laurence Whistler Street, K.C.M.G., A.C.
5. http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/teacher-robert-emmett-guilty-of-filming-up-students-skirts-possessing-child-abuse-material-20150501-1mxpi3.html
6. Justinian: On the couch - Sandy Street
7. The Hon. Justice Arthur Emmett appointed to NSW Court of Appeal Retrieved 9 August 2013.