The Study: Rosemary Balmford interview

Rosemary Balmford with her collection of birdbooks

The Study

Podcast No.10: Interview with Rosemary Balmford

by Craig Robertson

Direct listening
There is an audio player graphic beneath the interviewee name link below. You may need Quicktime or another media player installed to use it. Click on the play arrow; this will stream the podcast without downloading the file. If you cannot see the graphic just click on the interviewee name link.
Downloads
Mac (Safari): Option-click on interviewee name link.
PC: Ctrl-click the interviewee name link, save to disk
See the Technical Page for more information.

Vale Rosemary Balmford

Unfortunately I was away on my trip to Japan when Rosemary Balmford died on 8 August, 2017. I have learnt of her death on reading a fine obituary by her son Christopher and Kerry Cue in The Age newspaper, 12 October, 2017. I am greatly saddened at her passing, as are many others: see the tributes in The Age during August.

Podcast No.10: Rosemary Balmford (14.4 Mb mpeg-4; 60 minutes)

Rosemary Balmford was a retired judge, having had a long and distinguished legal career in private practice, in legal education, as a Senior Member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (an Australian federal jurisdiction), and in the courts; she was the first woman appointed to the bench of the Supreme Court in the State of Victoria, Australia. She was a member of the Equal Opportunity Board which heard and determined the landmark Deborah Wardley sexual discrimination case. She was also an ornithologist, a keen bird observer who took her interest to the point of publishing books and articles on the subject, and also playing an important role in data gathering on birds; she helped pioneer bird atlassing in Australia. She has also contributed to the activity of many other government and non-government organisations, including the Nursing Mothers Association of Australia, now the Australian Breastfeeding Association.
Many thanks to Rory O'Brien at Museum Victoria for help with research for this interview. This interview © Copyright Rosemary Balmford & Craig Robertson, 2008.

Music in this podcast includes extracts from John McCaughey's Five Small Pieces played by Larry Sitsky on his album Comtemporary Australian Piano, 1988, and Kate Tempany's Widening Ripples from her suite The Promise of Water (2003), played by Micheal Kieran Harvey on his album rabid bay 2004; both courtesy of Move Records.

This podcast also includes my two regular themes:
Introduction and final announcements: Prelude from J.S. Bach: Prelude and Fugue in C, Book 1, BWV846, played by Ronald Farren-Price, from his album Reflections, courtesy of Move Records © 1993
Prelude to the section "In my study": a movement from G.F. Handel: Suite No. 5 in E major, played by Elizabeth Anderson on her album The Convict Harpsichordist, also courtesy of Move Records © 2003

In my study: notes on the ethical life; what the cases of Lindy Chamberlain, Jacqueline Gillespie, Helen Darville and Schapelle Corby might tell us; see In my study No.10 (4.5 Mb; 9' 51"). Note: This is an extended version of the notes included in the interview podcast which were less descriptive owing to time constraints. See: Evil Angels by John Bryson (Viking, Ringwood, Vic. 1985).

Rosemary Balmford: Selected Publications

Rosemary Balmford, A Funny Course for a Woman Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2013 (autobiography).
Rosemary Balmford, The Beginner's Guide to Australian Birds, with drawings by Rhyllis Plant, Penguin 1990.
Helen I. Aston & Rosemary A. Balmford, A Bird Atlas of the Melbourne Region, Victorian Ornithological Research Group, 1978.
Rosemary Balmford, Miserable as an Orphan Bandicoot on a Burnt Bridge: Australian Natural History and the Australian Language, Naturae, Number 3 February 1990.
Legal Education in Australia: Proceedings of the National Conference on Legal Education, Sydney, 1976, prepared by Rosemary A. Balmford, Australian Law Coucil Foundation, 1978.
Rosemary Balmford, The Administrative Appeals Tribunal in Practice, Law Insitute Journal, Vol. 58, 799-809; reprinted in booklet Administrative Law - the profession's sunrise industry, Law Insititute of Victoria, 1984.
Rosemary Balmford, Justice and Ethnicity: A View from the Bench: Administrative Appeals Tribunal, in Law in a Multicultural Australia, ed. Greta Bird, National Centre for Cross-cultural Studies in Law, Melbourne, 1991.
Rosemary Balmford, The Life of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal: Logic or Experience?, in Administrative Tribunals: Taking Stock, ed. Robin Creyke, The Centre for International and Public Law, Australian National University, Canberra, 1992.

Information on this page may be accessed and read or listened to for personal use. The material may not be copied or communicated to other parties without permission.

Back to home page