Paul Guest

Paul Marshall Guest (8 March 1939 – 15 March 2026) was an Australian representative rower, a family law barrister and Queen's Counsel who spent ten years as a judge on the bench of the Family Court of Australia, and an art philanthropist.

As a rower, he was a six-time Australian national champion, raced in nine King's Cup eights for Victoria over a 15-year period, and competed at three Olympic Games. As a Family Court justice, Guest's pivotal ruling in the "Re Patrick" case dealt with the complex area of known sperm donor's rights under the Family Law Act. Guest was also a collector and benefactor of contemporary art.

Early life and education Paul Marshall Guest was born in Victoria, Australia on 8 March 1939.

He attended Wesley College, Melbourne for his secondary education. His senior club rowing was initially from the Melbourne University Boat Club and later the Banks Rowing Club in Melbourne.

The entire winning Victorian King's Cup crew of 1962 was selected as the Australian eight to contest the 1962 Commonwealth Games. Guest was in the five seat of that eight when they rowed to a gold medal victory at those games in Perth. That same crew was encouraged to represent Australia at the inaugural FISA World Championships, the 1962 World Championships in Lucerne. They financed their trip themselves, made it through to the final and finished in fifth place.

For the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, that year's winning Victorian King's Cup eight was again selected in toto. The Australian squad took a new Sargent & Burton eight with them to the Olympics but quickly saw that its design and technology was way behind the European built Donoratico and Stampfli shells being used by the other nations. They raced in a borrowed Donoratico eight for the B final with Guest in the five seat and finished in overall eighth place in the Olympic regatta.

The same selection criteria were used for the second World Rowing Championships held at Bled in 1966. The Victorian King's Cup crew of 1966 were selected as the Australian eight and with Guest again seated at five they rowed to a tenth placing in Bled.

As the national coxless pair champions of 1968 Guest and Ramage were selected as Australia's pair entrants for the 1968 Summer Olympics and Guest was named captain of the Australian rowing squad.

After retirement from the elite level Guest coached the 1975 Victorian men's eight to a third place in that year's King's Cup. In 2019, at age 80, he set a 2,000 meter indoor rowing world record (7:26.6) for his age category.

Legal and judicial career Guest began practising law in 1965 and was admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1969. He was appointed a Queen's Counsel in 1983.

Other activities and roles On his retirement from the bench in 2008, he joined the board of the Lasallian Foundation, a human rights organisation that assists the development of impoverished communities in the Asia Pacific region. and in 2010, he founded the biennial Paul Guest Prize for drawing, worth .

Personal life and death In 2008, he was a guest at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai during the 2008 Mumbai attacks. He was barricaded in his room during the incident and was led to safety afterwards by hotel staff.

Guest died in Melbourne on 15 March 2026, at the age of 87.

His brother Peter Guest was also an Australian Olympic rower who also rowed at the 1960 Summer Olympics.