Ceremonial dress

Items worn by Dr Bray as Judge and Chief Justice of Supreme Court of South Australia on ceremonial occasions.

The robes worn by barristers and judges date from the 17th century, but have seen some modifications over the years. There is a distinction between the robes worn in court and those worn for official and ceremonial occasions such as the opening of Parliament. There are also some differences in the robes worn depending on the type of case being heard by judges.

Educated at St Peter's College and the University of Adelaide, John Jefferson Bray was a classical scholar, playwright and poet as well as a lawyer. His legal career began as an articled clerk at the firm of Genders, Wilson and Pellew in 1930. Bray was admitted to the Bar in 1933 and was awarded his Doctorate of Laws in 1937. He was appointed a part-time lecturer at the University of Adelaide during World War Two (having been unable to sign up for the armed forces on account of his extreme short-sightedness). In 1957 Bray was appointed Queen's Counsel.

In 1960 Bray defended Rohan Rivett, editor-in-chief of Adelaide's The News newspaper, against charges of libel brought against him by the Premier, Thomas Playford, relating to the Royal Commission into the Rupert Max Stuart case (see PRG 1098/31 for Bray's records of this case). Emerson describes Bray's conduct in Rivett's case as showing 'more than any other in [his] career...his fearlessness as an advocate' (Emerson, p. 186). Bray was appointed Chief Justice of South Australia by the state's Attorney-General Don Dunstan in 1967. He has the unusual distinction of being appointed directly to the post, without having previously served as a judge.

Bray was a member of the Libraries Board of South Australia from 1944 to 1987. He remains the longest serving Libraries Board member to date. On his retirement, the State Library's reference section became known as the Bray Reference Library (until redevelopment in 2001 when his name was given to a suite of study rooms in the State Library).

From the mid-1950s Bray began writing in earnest, beginning with a verse play, Papinian (performed for the first time in 1955). Bray was vice-president of the South Australian branch of the Fellowship of Australian Writers and was involved with the staging of Writers' Week for the Adelaide Festival of Arts in its first three years (1960, 1962, 1964). He participated in many poetry readings during Writers' Weeks in subsequent years. Bray also served as a member of the drama advisory board of the Festival. He was involved with Adelaide's Friendly Street Poets from its inception in 1975.

Bray became Vice-Chancellor of the University of Adelaide in 1968. He retired from the Bench in 1978. The following year Bray was made a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in recognition of 'service to the law, literature, and to the community'. A bronze bust of John Bray, by South Australian sculptor John Dowie, stands in the State Library of South Australia.

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