BARKER QC, Ian McClelland

Ian McClelland Barker QC (1935-2021)

The Judges of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory acknowledge the recent passing of

Ian McClelland Barker QC and extend their condolences to Ian’s wife Penny and his family.

Ian was a very distinguished member of the Australian legal profession who made an enormous contribution to the administration of justice in the Northern Territory. He was an outstanding common lawyer and a gifted cross-examiner. He retired in 2017.

Ian qualified to practise law through the Solicitors’ Admission Board process in New South Wales. He did his articles with the in-house Solicitor for Dairy Farmers and after his admission worked for a small firm in Main Street in Katoomba. In 1961, he answered an advertisement for a solicitor to go to Alice Springs. He was one of only two lawyers in Alice Springs and when Neil Hargrave was in Adelaide, Ian was the only lawyer in town.

Ian came to Darwin around 1970 and went into partnership with Nerolie Withnall. He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in August 1974 on condition that he practice as an independent barrister. After cyclone Tracy, he joined Mike Maurice and Tom Pauling in their Chambers.

Ian had a significant role in the establishment of self-government in the Northern Territory.

In 1978, he became our first Solicitor-General. He also played an important part

in the creation of Kakadu National Park.

In 1980, he joined the New South Wales Bar in Sydney. He appeared in a number of notable cases. He was senior counsel for Wheeler in R v Anunga and Ors and R v Wheeler and Anor, which resulted in the Anunga Rules. He prosecuted Lindy and Michael Chamberlain and appeared for the Crown in her appeals to the Full Court of the Federal Court and to the High Court.

He also represented Justice Lionel Murphy in his second (successful) trial and won an important defamation case for Solicitor John Marsden in Marsden v Amalgamated Television Services Pty Ltd.

He was President of the Law Society NT between 1970 and 1972 and President of the New South Wales Bar Association from 1997 to 1999. Ian was an outspoken advocate for human rights and judicial independence. He was a very effective critic of Guantanamo Bay, Australia’s anti-terrorism laws and the treatment of David Hicks.

He wrote an important monograph on the history of jury trials in New South Wales, Sorely Tried: Democracy and Trial by Jury in New South Wales.

Ian had an incisive wit with an understated sense of irony and a wonderful sense of humour.