Roma Mitchell

Dame Roma Flinders Mitchell (1913 – 2000) was an Australian lawyer, judge and state governor. Mitchell was the first Australian woman to be a judge, a Queen's Counsel, a chancellor of an Australian university and the Governor of an Australian state. She was considered a pioneer of the Australian women's rights movement. Mitchell was made a Justice of the Supreme Court of South Australia in 1965. She was Governor of South Australia from 1991 to 1996. Mitchell also served as Chancellor of the University of Adelaide from 1983 to 1990 and was a member of the Council for the Order of Australia from 1981 to 1990. She received a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), Dame Commander and a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC), Australia's highest civilian honour. She was also Chairman of the Human Rights Commission and President of the Churchill Fellowship. Her leadership was marked by pioneering women’s rights, and by her clarity of thought and vision, and decisiveness.