Owen Dixon - Early Career

Early Career

Dixon was admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1910. In December 1911, Dixon appeared before the High Court of Australia for the first time, aged just 25 years. After a slow start, his career was stellar, and he became a King's Counsel in 1922. In the 1920s, Dixon was a prominent member of the Victorian Bar, along with his colleagues and friends John Latham (who preceded Dixon as Chief Justice) and Robert Menzies (later the longest serving Prime Minister of Australia). He regularly appeared in the High Court of Australia and the Privy Council in London. At the time of his appointment to the High Court in 1929, he was the acknowledged leader of the Bar in Victoria, and indeed Australia. In 1920, he married Alice Brooksbank (1893–1971). They had four children, Franklin (1922–1977), Ted (1924–1996), Betty (1928- ) and Anne (1934–1979).