Professor Peter Gray

Biography

His Honour Peter Ross Awdry Gray AM was a judge of the Federal Court of Australia for 29 years until his retirement in May 2013.  Before his appointment as a judge, he practised at the Victorian Bar.  During his judicial tenure, he also held office as a judge of the Industrial Relations Court of Australia, a Presidential Member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, a Deputy President of the National Native Title Tribunal, and Aboriginal Land Commissioner.  He was awarded Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2014 for significant service to the judiciary through the Federal Court of Australia, to legal education, and as a mentor. He was appointed an Adjunct Professor of Swinburne Law School in 2019.

Peter’s long-term interest in language and communication (including public speaking as a hobby) was enhanced by his experience as an advocate and a judge.  His work among Aboriginal Australians sparked a particular interest in cross-cultural communication, particularly in the legal system.  This interest has led him to forensic linguistics and to membership of the International Association of Forensic Linguists (IAFL) since 2003.  He has served two four-year terms as an elected member of the Executive Committee of the IAFL.  He has presented at the IAFL biennial conferences in 2007 and 2017 and was an invited plenary speaker at the IAFL biennial conference in Mexico City in 2013.  He has published on issues of expert witnesses in the International Journal of Speech, Language and Law (of which he is a member of the editorial board).  His chapter dealing with the contribution forensic linguists can make to the legal system is published in M Coulthard and A Johnson, The Routledge Handbook of Forensic Linguistics (Springer) 2010.

For many years, Peter was a member of the Indigenous Justice Committee of the Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration and he still retains his membership of the Victorian Judicial Officers’ Aboriginal Cultural Awareness Committee.  He is a member of the Elders and Respected Persons Panel of the Indigenous Law Students and Lawyers Association of Victoria – Tarwirri, and a mentor in the Victorian Bar’s scheme for mentoring Aboriginal law students and lawyers.  He is a Freeman and accredited State Trainer of Rostrum Victoria, and the President of the Camberwell Music Society.