Vale: Mark Glencraig Nicholls

MICHAEL RODER QC

Michael Roder QC reflects on the life of his great friend Mark Nicholls (25 August 1963 - 13 August 2021), whose immense contribution to the community belied his genuine modesty.

Ifirst met Mark Nicholls in 1974 at St Peters College in Adelaide. I was lucky to do so.

During his years at St Peter’s College Mark excelled. He became a school prefect and house captain in 1979.

He had many outside interests, including sport, all outdoor activities, scouting, and the Air Force.

After completing school he told me that he had been shortlisted for a Rhodes scholarship, but as usual he told me this news without a hint that he thought this was anything remarkable.

He did not end up heading to Oxford to study. He commenced a law and economics degree at the University of Adelaide in 1980.

During his time at university he continued to love sports, scouts and was involved in many other activities, not least of all dancing in a trademark enthusiastic style of most of the early 1980s Adelaide discos.

He and his lifelong friend Bill Reid became scout leaders at Rose Park at the age of 18. Bill remembers them speaking with bewilderment about what those parents of the late 1970s were doing entrusting their young ones’ safety to two teenagers on bush hikes and camps.

Mark also worked when he was at university, from a full three-month stint at a silo, hay fever and all, to a volunteer in a mission that he told me was supposed to be located in Vanuatu, but he ended up in Peshawar on the Afghanistan border at the age of 19.

Mark was popular throughout his law school days, not least for his beautifully written lecture notes, which he was always willing to share. It never worried him if others got a better score on open book exams with the benefit of copying his notes.

Mark graduated in 1985 with an honours degree in law and a degree in economics. He later completed a masters degree in law in 1989 whilst working full time as a lawyer.

On graduating, there were many professional opportunities for Mark. The family law firm run by his mother Illa and father Chris awaited and he practised there for a short period.

But he chose his own path. He gained a position, based in Canberra, as a High Court judge’s associate to His Honour Justice Dawson. It was, and is, highly unusual for a graduate from Adelaide law school to obtain such a position. As a young associate, he undoubtedly impressed Justice Dawson, it being notable that he was given co-authorship credits on a published journal article with the learned Judge in his first year as an associate.

Mark always had the view that he was incredibly fortunate in his life. He would often say that he had already “won the lottery” just by being born here. He was always motivated by “giving something back”.

His opportunity came in the early 1990s, a few years after the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) was established. He was appointed as General Counsel of the Commission.

The principles enshrined and the remedies now provided for in the

Mark Nicholls

Sex Discrimination Act 1984, the Racial Discrimination Act 1975and the Disability Discrimination Act 1993 are now accepted as everyday norms in Australian society but they were not entrenched in that same way when the Commission was established.

Mark was identified by the HREOC as a contributor to the landmark Stolen Generations report “Bringing them Home”, in 1997, and as a contributor to the 1994 HREOC report into the Sex Discrimination Act.

Several reports of HREOC published in the 1990s acknowledge his role in overseeing and enforcing the introduction and implementation of the groundbreaking Disability Discrimination Act 1993.

He also addressed the Australian Senate in 1997 on critical amendments to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Act, designed to ensure that there were constitutionally enforceable remedies for those who had been subject to conduct that contravened these Acts.

Mark also made submissions to the