John Hailes Flood "Gaffer" Nagle was a lawyer, soldier and prominent jurist, who served as a justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, Australia, from 1960 until 1983.
11 Facts About John Nagle
1.
2.
John Nagle's father, Valentine Flood Nagle, was a solicitor in Albury.
3.
An avid sportsman, John Nagle represented the Riverina district in rugby and Jaguar in the Monte Carlo Rally.
4.
In 1960, John Nagle was appointed to the State's Supreme Court by the Heffron Labor Government, just a year after taking silk.
5.
John Nagle enjoyed the respect of politicians on both sides and was selected by the Willis Liberal Government to head a royal commission into the State's troubled prison system in 1976.
6.
Two months later, with the Liberals out of office, newly-elected Labor Premier Neville Wran removed the two other members of the commission, leaving John Nagle to preside alone.
7.
John Nagle was promoted to chief judge at common law in 1979 and retired from the bench in 1983.
8.
John Nagle retired to his 700-hectare sheep and cattle property outside of Albury.
9.
John Nagle's report criticised both the lead investigator, Joe Parrington, and former federal Labor minister Al Grassby.
10.
In 1995, John Nagle published a biography of David Collins, the first judge-advocate in colonial New South Wales.
11.
John Nagle was a patron of the arts, serving as a trustee of the Art Gallery of New South Wales and a patron of the Albury-Wodonga Regional Art Foundation.