John Jefferson Bray

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Chief Justice of South Australia
In office
28 February 1967 – 28 November 1978
Preceded byMellis Napier
Succeeded byLen King
Personal details
Born(1912-09-16)16 September 1912
Adelaide, South Australia
Died26 June 1995(1995-06-26) (aged 82)
Alma materUniversity of Adelaide

John Jefferson Bray,

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of South Australia
.

Early life and parents

Bray was born in

Congregationalist missionaries in South Australia). His father's family had a history of involvement in South Australian politics and current affairs: Bray's grandfather was the Honourable Sir John Cox Bray, a former Premier of South Australia. On his mother's side, Bray claimed a collateral relationship to the third U.S. president, Thomas Jefferson
.

Education

Bray was educated at the state school at

Honorary Doctorate
in 1983.

Legal career

Bray trained as a lawyer and was admitted to the South Australian Bar in 1933, being appointed

Queen's Counsel in 1957.[1]

He was acting lecturer in jurisprudence at the University of Adelaide for the years 1941, 1943, 1945 (due to his being medically unfit to serve in World War II owing to extremely poor eyesight[1]), and in 1951.[2]

He served as a lecturer in Legal History at the University of Adelaide from 1957 to 1958, and then as a lecturer in

Roman Law from 1959 until 1966. He was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of South Australia on 28 February 1967 and served until his retirement from the judiciary on 28 November 1978.[2] Appointed by then Attorney-General of South Australia, Don Dunstan, he was appointed directly without having first served as a judge, which was an unusual occurrence.[1]

Bray was appointed Chancellor of the University of Adelaide in 1968, and also served as Deputy to the

Lieutenant-Governor of South Australia from 1968 until retirement.[2]

Other activities

Bray was an active member of the Libraries Board of South Australia between 1944 and 1989, the longest-serving Libraries Board member until that point. After he retired, the State Library of South Australia named its reference section as the Bray Reference Library, a name given to a suite of rooms when the library was redeveloped in 2001.[1]

He was vice-president of the South Australian branch of the Fellowship of Australian Writers, and was closely involved with the organisation of the first three Festival of Arts Writers' Weeks (1960, 1962, 1964), with his first volume of poetry launched at the second Writers' Week in 1962.[2][1]

He was at the inaugural meeting of Friendly Street Poets, and remained an active member and contributor to the society's annual anthologies, the Friendly Street Reader. The Satura Prize is a poetry prize funded by a bequest from his estate and awarded by Friendly Streets.[3]

Bray's first book of poetry was published in 1962.[1]

Honours, recognition and legacy

Bray was made a

knighthood
. He described his views as "æsthetic - traditional; social - emancipated; political - fluctuating" and his philosophies as "sceptical, some tendencies to Platonism".

Hurtle Square, Adelaide
, where he once lived.

The John Bray Poetry Award, awarded biennially since 1986 as part of the Adelaide Festival, was so named to honour his distinguished services to Australian poetry.[4]

The John Jefferson Bray Memorial in

Adelaide City Council in 1994.[2]

Bray died on 26 June 1995 in Adelaide.[1]

There is a bronze bust of Bray, sculpted by local sculptor John Dowie, in the State Library.[1]

Selected publications

Bray's publications reflected his interests, which he listed as "poetry, history, classics". As author, these included:

  • Poems (Melbourne, Cheshire Press, 1962)
  • Poems 1961-1971 (Brisbane, Jacaranda Press, 1972)
  • Poems 1972-1979 (1979)
  • Bay of Salamis and other Poems (1986)
  • Satura: Selected Poetry and Prose (1988)
  • Seventy Seven (Adelaide, Wakefield Press, 1990)

He co-edited No. 7 Friendly Street Poetry Reader (1983) with Jan Owen.[5]

He wrote two plays:[6]

  • Papinian (performed 1955)
  • The Women of Troy (performed 1966)

He also made contributions to:

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h "Bray, John Jefferson 1912-1995". Welcome to SA Memory. State Library of South Australia. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e Jude Elton, History Trust of South Australia. "John Jefferson Bray Memorial Fountain". Adelaidia. adelaidia.sa.gov.au.
  3. ISBN 978-1-86254-793-3
  4. ^ Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature: John Bray poetry award (archived page)
  5. ^ Owen, Jan; Bray, John Jefferson (1983), No. 7 Friendly St. poetry reader, Friendly Street Poets, retrieved 13 February 2021
  6. ^ "John Jefferson Bray". AusStage. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  • Australian Who's Who (see also similar Australia, British, and international biographical publications),
  • Richard Carruthers-Żurowski,The Bray Family of England, Canada, and Australia(1986), deposited in the libraries of the Hampshire Family History Society and the South Australian Society for Genealogy and Heraldry.
  • Emerson, John (2015). John Jefferson Bray: A Vigilant Life (PDF). Clayton, Vic:
    ISBN 9781922235619
    .

Further reading

External links

Legal offices
Preceded by
Chief Justice of South Australia

1967–1978 		Succeeded by
Academic offices
Preceded by Chancellor of the University of Adelaide
1968–1983 		Succeeded by
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