Gordon Wallace

Who was Gordon Wallace?

Sir Gordon Wallace KC, born Gordon Isaacs was an Australian judge.

Wallace was born at Redfern in Sydney to coachbuilder Jacob Albert Clarke Isaacs and Euphemia, née Wallace. He attended Sydney Boys' High School from 1912 to 1915, and in 1916 entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon, as a staff cadet. He graduated as a lieutenant on 10 December 1919 and worked for the British Army before joining the Australian Staff Corps. After his resignation he served in the Citizen Military Forces, becoming a major by 1929. He also studied law at the University of Sydney, receiving his Bachelor of Law in 1927. He married Marjorie Mary Mullins on 19 May 1927 at Vaucluse, converting to Anglicanism from congregationalism.

Isaacs was called to the bar on 10 May 1928 and changed his name by deed poll in 1933 in order to counter anti-Semitism, although he was never Jewish. He was appointed King's Counsel in 1940, and wrote on Australian company law with Percy Spender and later with John Young. World War II saw him resumed service with the Citizen Military Forces and from 1942 with the Australian Imperial Force. He commanded an anti-aircraft battery in Sydney from 1940 to 1942 and was briefly posted to New Guinea and the Northern Territory. He was transferred to the reserve of officers as an honorary colonel in October 1944. In 1940 he had run as one of three United Australia Party candidates for the federal seat of Parramatta.