Murray Farquhar

Who was Murray Farquhar?

Murray Farquhar OBE was the Chief Stipendiary Magistrate of New South Wales between 1971 and 1977. Farquhar was born in the mining city of Broken Hill, New South Wales in Far West New South Wales. He attended Broken Hill High School and served in the Australian Army in the Second World War. After his military service, he studied law, practiced as a solicitor and was appointed as a magistrate in 1962. He was appointed Chief Stipendiary Magistrate in 1971.

A Royal Commission conducted by Sir Laurence Street into the alleged involvement of Premier Neville Wran and Farquhar in the acquittal of former head of the Australian Rugby League, Kevin Humphreys on fraud charges resulted in Farquhar in March 1985 being sentenced to 4 years gaol for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. During his trial, it became clear that Farquhar had deep roots in the criminal community, including connections to George Freeman and Nick Paltos. Much of the investigative work in the Farquhar case was due to the efforts of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Four Corners program. Murray Farquhar has been played by both John Clayton in the docudrama The Day of the Roses and by John Wood in the drama series Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities.