1. Sir Charles Powers was an Australian politician and judge who served as Justice of the High Court of Australia from 1913 to 1929.
16 Facts About Charles Powers
1. 2.
Charles Powers was a talented sportsman, and at one point captained a state cricket team against a touring English side.
3.
In June 1888, Charles Powers was elected to the Parliament of Queensland as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland for Burrum.
4.
On 19 November 1889, Charles Powers became Postmaster-General and Minister for Education in the ministry of Premier Boyd Dunlop Morehead, and he held these positions until resigning with his colleagues in August 1890.
5.
Charles Powers was admitted to practice as a barrister at the Queensland bar in 1894, although since he was still in parliament at the time, he did not actually practice.
6.
From 1894 to 1895, Charles Powers was the leader of the opposition in Queensland.
7.
From 1899 to 1903, Charles Powers served as the Crown Solicitor for Queensland, and in 1903, he was appointed as the first Commonwealth Crown Solicitor.
8.
Charles Powers played a key role in preparing the prosecution in the Coal Vend cases, arising out of prosecutions brought by then Attorney-General of Australia Billy Hughes against a coal industry cartel.
9.
Charles Powers was the only solicitor to be appointed, and remains the only Justice to have not argued a case before the court.
10.
Charles Powers was the first Justice appointed without a university degree.
11.
Charles Powers was one of two justices of the Court to have previously served in the Parliament of Queensland, along with Samuel Griffith.
12.
Piddington caused the most public outrage for stating his sympathies in a telegram, although Charles Powers had actually prepared many of the arguments Hughes would wish him to uphold on the bench.
13.
Charles Powers was reappointed as Deputy President on 12 February 1921 and ultimately succeeded Higgins as President on 30 June.
14.
Charles Powers finally left the Arbitration Court on 25 June 1926.
15.
Charles Powers was created a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1929, and on 22 July that year resigned from the High Court.
16.
Charles Powers died in Melbourne in 1939 and was buried in Burwood Cemetery.