Leo Cussen

Who was Leo Cussen?

Sir Leo Finn Bernard Cussen, Australian jurist, was a Judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria.

Cussen was born in Portland on the western coast of Victoria in 1859. He was educated at Hamilton College in Hamilton. He studied civil engineering at the University of Melbourne, graduating with a Certificate of Civil Engineering in 1879. He was a talented sportsman, and represented the University in both cricket and Australian rules football. After graduating, he took a job with the Government of Victoria's Department of Railways, where he worked on the railway between Melbourne and Ballarat.

Cussen returned to the University of Melbourne to study arts and law, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1884, and a Master of Arts and Bachelor of Laws degrees in 1886. Cussen was admitted to the Victorian Bar to practice as a barrister in September of that year. He continued to play cricket, and was a member of the Victorian Bar XI. In 1890, he was appointed as a lecturer in law at the University of Melbourne. Also in that year, he married Johanna Bevan, with whom he would have six sons and a daughter.

On 19 March 1906, Cussen was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria. He was widely regarded as an excellent judge. Sir Owen Dixon, himself regarded as Australia's foremost judge, once described Cussen as "the greatest of all judges." In 1921 he was knighted for his services as a Judge in the Supreme Court of Victoria.