AustLit

James Henry Muirhead grew up in Adelaide and joined AIF during the Second World War. He studied Law at the University of Adelaide and was admitted to the Bar in 1950. Muirhead was made a Queen's Council in 1967. From 1970, he served as a Local and District Court judge and in 1972 was appointed to serve on the Supreme Court of Papua New Guinea. Between 1974 and 1986 he served as a Federal Court judge and a Surpreme Court judge for the Northern Territory. Muirhead presided over the Lindy Chamberlain trial and, in 1987, was appointed to chair the Royal Commission in Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. He resigned from the Commission in 1989 to take up the appointment of Administrator of the Northern Territory for three years. The James Muirhead Chambers in Darwin were named in his honour.