13 Facts About Susan Crennan

Susan Maree Crennan was born in 1945 in Melbourne, one of six children born to World War 2 veteran, John Maurice Walsh, and Marie Therese, Catholics of Irish descent.

Susan Crennan attended Our Lady of Mercy College, Heidelberg and the University of Melbourne, where she received a Bachelor of Arts.

Susan Crennan later received a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Sydney.

Susan Crennan was admitted as a barrister in New South Wales in 1979 and Victoria in 1980.

Susan Crennan was made Queen's Counsel in Victoria in 1989 and in New South Wales in 1990.

In 1993, Susan Crennan was the first woman to be appointed chair of the Victorian Bar Council, and the following year the first female president of the Australian Bar Association.

Susan Crennan was appointed to the Federal Court in 2003 and took her seat on the bench on 3 February 2004.

Attorney-General of Australia Philip Ruddock, on announcing Susan Crennan's appointment, said that Susan Crennan "demonstrated, through the quality of her jurisprudence and her leadership, that she has the confidence of the legal profession and the broader Australian community".

Susan Crennan was sworn into the High Court by Chief Justice Murray Gleeson on 8 November 2005.

Susan Crennan was replaced by Victorian Court of Appeal judge Geoffrey Nettle.

In January 2008 Susan Crennan was awarded the highest Australian civilian honour, Companion of the Order of Australia, for outstanding service to the law and the judiciary, particularly through leadership and mentoring roles with legal and professional associations, as a contributor to reform, and to the community.

In 2013, Susan Crennan was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women.

Susan Crennan launched the Peter Steele Poetry Award, a scholarship available to PhD students in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne, in November 2017.