Rae Else-Mitchell was an active member and office bearer in a number of community organisations concerned with history, the arts, libraries, medicine, education, financial and public administration, and town planning.
18 Facts About Rae Else-Mitchell
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Rae Else-Mitchell was born in Sydney, New South Wales on 20 September 1914, the son of Francis Montague Else-Mitchell and his wife, Pearl Marie nee Gregory.
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Rae Else-Mitchell was educated at Artarmon Public School, New South Wales and Middle Park Central School, Victoria.
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Rae Else-Mitchell completed his secondary schooling at Melbourne High School.
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Rae Else-Mitchell matriculated to the University of Sydney.
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Rae Else-Mitchell relinquished his practice during World War II to become Secretary of the Commonwealth Rationing Commission from 1943 to 1945.
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Rae Else-Mitchell returned to practice in 1945, specialising in constitutional law, commercial law and equity.
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Rae Else-Mitchell was counsel for the Commonwealth and New South Wales governments in a number of Privy Council appeals from 1950 to 1956.
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Rae Else-Mitchell was editor of the Australian Law Journal from 1946 to 1958 and a lecturer in Constitutional Law at the University of Sydney from 1951 to 1958.
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Rae Else-Mitchell was appointed a Judge of the New South Wales Supreme Court on 8 September 1958.
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Rae Else-Mitchell served in the Land and Valuation Court from 1962, initially as an additional Judge from 1 January 1962, as a Deputy Judge on six occasions from 15 March 1965 to 16 August 1972, and finally as a Judge of the Court from 31 July 1972.
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Rae Else-Mitchell retired from both Courts on 1 October 1974.
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Rae Else-Mitchell was Chairman of the New South Wales Royal Commission of inquiry into rating, valuation and Local Government finance from 28 August 1965 to 2 May 1967 and Chairman of the Commonwealth Commission of inquiry into land tenures from 4 May 1973 to 6 February 1976.
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Rae Else-Mitchell was Chairman of the Legal Aid Commission ACT from 1977 to 1980 and the Commonwealth Legal Aid Council from 6 February 1980 to 1984, as well as the Committee of Inquiry into Assets and Public Debt, ACT, the National Local Approvals Committee, and the Casino Surveillance Authority ACT.
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Rae Else-Mitchell wrote numerous articles on Australian history, law, public administration, planning, public finance and land valuation.
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Rae Else-Mitchell received a number of awards and degrees for his community work.
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Rae Else-Mitchell received an honorary Doctorate of Letters from Sydney University on 16 May 1984 for his influence on the writing of Australian history and the development of library services in Australia and an honorary Doctorate of Letters from Macquarie University in 1987.
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Rae Else-Mitchell died at Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory, on 29 June 2006, survived by his second wife, Margaret, and their daughter, Rosamund.