Howard Olney

Howard William Olney AM KC (born 7 October 1934) is the Australian Aboriginal Lands Commissioner.

Olney was born in Nedlands and attended Perth Modern School and the University of Western Australia. He was admitted as a solicitor in 1957 and as a magistrate in 1965, being called to the bar in 1974. He became Queen's Counsel in 1980 and served as a Labor member of the Western Australian Legislative Council from 1980 to 1982. From 1982 to 1988 he was a Justice of the Supreme Court of Western Australia, moving to the Federal Court from 1988 to 2003.[1] There in 1998 he wrote the opinion that denied the Yorta Yorta native title claim in Members of the Yorta Yorta Aboriginal Community v Victoria. Between 2005 and 2011 he was an acting judge for the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory. He was appointed Aboriginal Lands Commissioner in 2007.[2]

  1. ^ "Howard Olney (1957)".
  2. ^ "Olney, Howard William". Who's Who in Australia. 2011. Retrieved 30 September 2011. (password required)