27 Facts About George Winterton

George Graham Winterton was an Australian academic specialising in Australian constitutional law.

George Winterton served as a member of the Executive Government Advisory Committee of the Constitutional Commission from 1985 to 1987.

George Winterton was born in Hong Kong on 15 December 1946.

George Winterton's father practised medicine in Japanese-occupied Hong Kong and, in May 1947, he and his family sailed to London on the MV Lorenz.

George Winterton attended the local primary schools until 1958 when he started at Hale School, then in West Perth.

In 1968, George Winterton graduated with first class honours in law from the University of Western Australia.

George Winterton had won four prizes, and was placed first in his final year.

George Winterton later completed a master's degree by research in 1970, on the topic of the appropriations power under the Australian Constitution.

On graduation, George Winterton became an articled clerk with the firm of Robinson Cox and was admitted to practice in Western Australia in 1970.

In 1976, George Winterton met Rosalind Julian who, at that time, was studying arts at the University of New South Wales.

In 1973, George Winterton won a Fulbright scholarship to study law at Columbia University in New York City, where he served as an associate-in-law, teaching legal research and writing, and international law.

In 1983, George Winterton completed his Doctorate of Juridical Science at Columbia.

In 1998, George Winterton founded the Constitutional Law and Policy Review, remaining its general editor until his death.

At UNSW, George Winterton taught Public Law, Succession and Advanced Equity, Advanced Administrative Law, International Law and, ultimately, Federal Constitutional Law, the High Court of Australia, Comparative Law, Legal History and Comparative Constitutional Law.

George Winterton was promoted to professor of law, and was awarded a Jubilee Medallion in 1999.

In 2004, George Winterton took up a position of Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Sydney, where he taught Federal Constitutional Law, High Court of Australia, and Comparative Constitutional Law.

George Winterton did not sever his ties with UNSW, where he had several colleagues in his field, and the university recognised his service by appointing him Emeritus Professor in 2004.

In 1998 George Winterton developed a rare sarcoma in his left leg, and in 2001 he was diagnosed with bowel cancer.

George Winterton died in Sydney on 6 November 2008, aged 61.

George Winterton was survived by his mother Rita, wife Ros, four children and his brother.

George Winterton provided legal advice to Commonwealth and state governments, other public bodies and law firms.

George Winterton criticised Sir Garfield Barwick and Sir John Kerr for not having paid closer attention to the constitution before Kerr, the governor-general, sacked the Whitlam government in 1975, with Barwick's advice.

George Winterton served as a member of the Executive Government Advisory Committee for the Constitutional Commission in 1986 and 1987, chaired by Sir Zelman Cowen.

George Winterton was appointed as a delegate to the 1998 Constitutional Convention.

George Winterton proposed a new preamble for the Constitution and amendments necessary to reflect a minimalist Republican model.

George Winterton spelt out certain principles which should guide the formulation of a new constitutional preamble.

The inaugural George Winterton Lecture was delivered by Chief Justice Robert French, of the High Court of Australia, on 18 February 2010 at the Sydney Law School on the topic of the Executive Power under the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia.