The first barristers were admitted to practice
in Melbourne in the District Court of Judge John Walpole Willis,
on 12 April 1841.
It was not until 1884 that the barristers in Victoria began
to organize themselves. Meetings that year appointed a Committee
to draft and submit to the Bar regulations for the guidance
of its members in their relations with both solicitors and clients
thus establishing the Bar as a formal organisation.
The word "Bar" is derived from the bar or rail which
formerly separated members and officers of the Court from all
others in Court.
In 1900, the organisation known as "the Bar" was established.
The Bar Council originated, as the Committee of Counsel, from
a meeting of Counsel on 20 June 1900. Twenty-five barristers
in practice at that time attended and elected a Committee of
seven members.
The Bar Roll was introduced that same year and by 1902 all barristers
then in active practice in Melbourne had signed the Roll of
Counsel kept by the Committee.
For further reference, see Arthur Dean, A Multitude of Counsellors,
A History of the Bar of Victoria (FW Cheshire 1968).
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The Silks' Tapestries
The Silks’ Tapestries were a gift to the Victorian Bar
in 1988 by 86 silks then in active practice at the Bar. They
hang high on the eastern and western walls of the foyer to
Owen Dixon Chambers West
at 525 Lonsdale Street Melbourne.
Murray Walker designed them to capture the spirit of the Bar
and its activities. Weavers from the Victorian Tapestry Workshop
wove the tapestries in wool. They were unveiled on 2 November
1988 by Lady Delacombe, wife of a former Governor of Victoria
and a leader in the establishment of the Workshop.
The following is derived from a note on the tapestries for
the Bar News in 1988 which David Byrne QC (as he then was,
now the Honourable Mr Justice Byrne) provided:
The Eastern Tapestry
This is intended to evoke the idea of barristers at work in
Court. On the left is a copy of the illuminated Roll of Counsel
held by the Supreme Court Prothonotary dating from the mid
19th century.
The volume containing this Roll is shown on the table beside
the illuminated border. The table itself and the book case
behind it is part of the furniture of the Supreme Court Library.
The crest above is, of course, the Royal Crest seen in the
Courts. The picture in the centre is a water colour by Liardet,
an artist who worked in Melbourne in its early years.
The building is the first Supreme Court with barristers and
others outside. Fashions have changed for the clothing of
the people shown in this picture, but not, it seems, for barristers.
Moving to the right across the design, we see in the foreground
a small mahogany table from the Banco Court with its Bible
and water jug and glass for witnesses. Behind it is an open
page of the modern Bar Roll kept by the Bar Council. This
shows the number and name of the person who last signed at
the time this part of the tapestry was woven. This is to fix
the date of the work.
Then to the extreme right of the design is a group of barristers
on their way to Court. At the top and the bottom of this design
and of the western tapestry is a pink border showing the pink
string which traditionally binds briefs delivered to Counsel.
The Western Tapestry
The theme of this design is barristers' chambers. In its life
of over one hundred years the most significant buildings in
which the Bar kept chambers were owned by the Bar. These are
shown in the design, – first Selbourne Chambers (the
Chancery Lane elevation). This was the home of the Bar for
some 80 years until it was demolished in 1961 or thereabouts.
To its right we see Owen Dixon Chambers in William Street
with the removalist trucks outside, showing the move into
the new building in July 1961. The bookcase to the left of
Selbourne Chambers is identifiable as part of the new Owen
Dixon Chambers West.
The remainder of the design depicts aspects of life in Chambers
including decorative items which the designer found in his
wanderings through chambers. The small owlish figure is a
doll presented to the Executive Officer of the Bar, Anna Whitney,
by one of the groups of readers in appreciation of her work
as Co-Ordinator of the Readers' Course.
The briefs poking out of the windows of Owen Dixon Chambers
are intended to show that the building is stuffed with briefs.
Likewise the number of the briefs on the bookcase at the left
marks the prosperity of the Bar.
Items which may be identifiable in the woven work include
the roll of pink tape to the right of the owlish figure and
on his left two copies of Sir Arthur Dean's familiar blue
book, "A Multitude of Counsellors", the Bar history.
The number of unsold copies of this work appearing in the
annual balance sheet of the Bar Council has from time to time
provoked mild amusement.
While the face of the telephoning barrister cannot be identified
in the tapestry, a careful examination of the finished work
will permit an identification of the statue in the declamatory
pose and of the Silk on the extreme right. The borders are
made up of illuminations from the old Roll of Counsel with
pink string at top and bottom.
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