Catherine Branson
Catherine Branson | |
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Branson in 2025 | |
| 17th Chancellor of the University of Adelaide | |
| Assumed office 14 July 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Kevin Scarce |
| President of the Australian Human Rights Commission | |
| In office 14 October 2008 – 29 July 2012 | |
| Nominated by | Kevin Rudd |
| Preceded by | John von Doussa |
| Succeeded by | Gillian Triggs |
| Judge of the Federal Court of Australia | |
| In office 16 May 1994 – 13 October 2008 | |
| Nominated by | Paul Keating |
| Appointed by | Bill Hayden |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Catherine Margaret Rayner 1948 (age 77–78) Terowie, South Australia, Australia |
| Spouse | John Branson |
| Education | Presbyterian Girls' College |
| Alma mater | |
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Catherine Margaret Branson (born 1948) is an Australian former judge and solicitor who served as a judge of the Federal Court of Australia from 1994 to 2008, and later as president of the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) from 2008 to 2012.
Branson was born in Terowie in 1948 and raised on a wheat and sheep property near Hallett, South Australia. She attended local government schools before enrolling as a boarder at Presbyterian Girls' College in Adelaide. Initially intending to study psychology, she chose to study law at the University of Adelaide, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Laws in 1970.
Beginning her legal career in the 1970s, Branson worked in both public and commercial sectors. She was the first woman to serve as South Australia's Crown Solicitor before becoming a barrister with a focus on administrative law. She was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1992 and to the Federal Court of Australia in 1994, serving fourteen years and presiding over significant cases, including the Yorta Yorta native title appeal. In 2008, she became president of the Australian Human Rights Commission, while advocating for a federal charter of rights, same-sex civil marriage, and human rights compliance in detention facilities. She stepped down in 2012 to focus on family obligations.
Since 2013, Branson has held multiple academic and governance roles, including adjunct professor at the Adelaide Law School, member of the University of Adelaide Council, and advisory board member of the Andrew and Renata Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law. She has also served as chair of the university's Audit, Compliance and Risk Committee, patron of the Neurosurgical Research Foundation and Payla Fund, director of the Human Rights Law Centre in Melbourne, and board member of Cancer Council South Australia. She became deputy chancellor in 2017 and was appointed the 17th chancellor in 2020, being reappointed in 2022 and 2024 for successive terms, guiding the university through its 150th anniversary and its planned transition to Adelaide University. Branson is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law.