John Jefferson Bray, (16 September 1912 – 26 June 1995) was an Australian lawyer, judge, academic, university administrator, Crown officer, and poet. From 1967 to 1978, he served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of South Australia.

Early life and parents

Bray was born in Adelaide, South Australia on 16 September 1912, the elder son of Harry Midwinter Bray (1879–1965), an Adelaide stockbroker, and his wife, Gertrude Eleanore Stow (members of whose family were 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 Sevenhill in the Clare Valley; at St Peter's College, Adelaide; and at the University of Adelaide, where he earned a B.A. in 1932, an LL.B.(Hons.) in 1933 and an LL.D. in 1937. He was granted an Honorary Doctorate in 1983.

Bray trained as a lawyer and was admitted to the South Australian Bar in 1933, being appointed Queen's Counsel in 1957.

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.

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

right|thumb|"Address to the pigeons in Hurtle Square", a poem by Bray, features on the western face of the John Jefferson Bray Memorial Fountain in [[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.

The John Jefferson Bray Memorial in Hurtle Square, Adelaide, was commissioned by the Adelaide City Council in 1994.

Bray died on 26 June 1995 in Adelaide.

He wrote two plays:

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

He also made contributions to:

:* Well and Truly Tried (1982), a festschrift for Sir Richard Eggleston

:* Adelaide Law School Centenary Essays (1983)

:* Australian Law Journal

See also

  • Judiciary of Australia

References

  • 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.

Further reading