Ambling Through Half a Century of Maritime Practice in Australia

• Author: Ron Salter
• Position: Consultant, DLA Piper, Melbourne
• Pages: 1-7

(2013) 27 A&NZ Mar LJ

1

The 39th Annual MLAANZ Conference

BRISBANE

13 September 2012

Frank Stuart Dethridge Memorial Address

AMBLING THROUGH HALF A CENTURY OF MARITIME PRACTICE

IN AUSTRALIA

Ron Salter*

To say that I was surprised when first approached to deliver this year’s Dethridge Address is something of an

understatement. Even to say that I felt honoured does not adequately express my feelings. To follow in the

footsteps of the eminent persons who have previously delivered this address is a humbling experience i ndeed.

While my memory is far fro m perfect, I certainly recall that in late 1974 or early 1975, I read with some interest

in the (Victorian) Law Institute Jour nal of the formation of the Maritime Law Association of Australia. Indeed,

as someone actively practising in t he jurisdiction, I recall being slightly put out that my first knowledge of the

existence of the Association emerged from the media. Nevertheless, overcoming my disappointment, I applied

to join, and in May 1975 I attended the first meeting/conference of about a dozen members held in the Palm

Lake Motor Inn in Melbourne, a venue whose only connection with maritime law was t he fact that it overlooked

Albert Park Lake! The meeting was presided over by Frank Dethridge, the Asso ciation’s first president.

The first Dethridge memorial add ress, established after the untimely death of Frank Dethridge in 1976, was

given in 1977 by the Honourable Sir Ninian Stephen, then a Justice o f the High Court. I do not think that I can

give a better description of the late Frank Dethridge than did Sir N inian at the conclusion of his address, as

quoted by His Honour Judge Tom Broadmore when delivering his Dethridge address in 2009:

He was a man learned in the la w and with a great interest in and much experience of shi pping law. T hose

members of the Victorian Bar fortunate eno ugh to be briefed by him in shipping matters were the wiser for

his counsel. His wisdom, ki ndness and moderation will long be remembered in the profession. He had

developed to an exquisite degree that high art of the instructing solicitor, how to teach counsel what he

does not know b ut needs to learn for the case in hand, while conveying the impression all the while that it

is he, the instructing solicitor, who is collecting pearls of wisdom as they fall from counsel’s lips.

In contemplating a subject for this year’s address, I determined without too much difficulty that I was not

sufficiently erudite to put myself in a position where my address might be compared in any way to previous

addresses of various High Court, Federal Court, a nd State Supreme Court Chief Justices, or such well-regarded

international jurists as Sir Michael Mustill (as he then was). I therefore concluded that I should indulge myself

to some extent by taking you on a journey through my almost 50 years in the field of maritime law. While I

imagine that the older members here today will recall with some affection ‘the good old days’, I would like to

think that for the generations of practitioners who have grown up in the last few decades, at least some of what I

have to say will be both new and interesting.

As an articled clerk, a young lawyer, and subsequently a partner in the Melbourne firm of Phillips, Fox &

Masel, I was privileged to work under the watchful eye of the late Alec Masel, who was senior partner for

almost half a century. AM, as he was fondly called, maintained quality control over the work of the firm by

reading every morning all letters which had been sent out the previous day, and summoning to his of fice for a

* Consultant, DLA Piper, Melbourne.