SAC Old Scholars
SAC Memorabilia 2024,
St Aloysius College Archives
Dame Roma Mitchell
An advocate for women’s rights and a great role model for women, achieving many ‘firsts’ in her career.
Roma Mitchell was born in Adelaide in 1913. She attended St Aloysius College from 1919 to 1930 and was dux of the school in 1929 and 1930. She won a scholarship to study law at Adelaide University, receiving her degree in 1934.
Dame Roma was an advocate for women’s rights, supporting equal pay for women and the right of women to sit on juries. She was a great role model for women, achieving many ‘firsts’ in her career.
1962 – First Australian woman appointed to the Queen’s Counsel
1965-1983 – First woman to be appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of South Australia. She was still the only female judge in South Australia when she retired 18 years later in 1983.
1979-1981 – Chairman of the South Australian Parole Board
1981-1986 – Chairman of the Commonwealth Human Rights Commission
1981-1990 – Member of the Council for the Order of Australia
1983-1990 – Chancellor of the University of Adelaide (first woman Chancellor in an Australian university)
1991-1996 – Governor of South Australia (first woman Governor in Australia)
1996-2000 – Chair of the Ministerial Board on Ageing (South Australia)
Awards
1971 – Appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for her services to Law
1982 – Created Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for her service to the community
1991 – Appointed Companion of the Order of Australia (AC), Australia’s highest civilian honour, for services to the law, to learning and to the community
2000 – Made a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO), receiving her honour directly from The Queen in a private investiture
2001 – Inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women
The annual Dame Roma Mitchell Justice Scholarship was introduced in 1990 in recognition of Dame Roma’s outstanding contribution to the promotion of a more just society. The Scholarship offers free tuition from Year 7 to Year 12 for a student demonstrating potential in academic studies, art, drama or music.
Dame Roma died on 5 March 2000 with a State Funeral held at the St Francis Xavier Cathedral, Adelaide. Two SAC Dame Roma Mitchell Justice Scholarship students and Principal Sr Judith Redden represented the St Aloysius College Community at the Requiem Mass. Thirty-six SAC Year 11 and 12 students formed a guard of honour for Dame Roma Mitchell as she left the Cathedral for the last time.
A life size bronze statue of her stands in Prince Henry Gardens, in front of Government House on North Terrace.
By Carol Grantham
St Aloysius College Archivist, 2026
References
Mitchell, Roma Flinders (n.d.). The Australian Women’s Register. https://www.womenaustralia.info/entries/mitchell-roma-flinders/
National Archives of Australia. (1965). Roma Mitchell in 1965, wearing the robes and wig of a Justice of the Supreme Court of South Australia [Photograph]. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roma_Mitchell_1965.jpg CC BY 3.0.
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