Ted Mullighan

Edward Picton "Ted" Mullighan, QC (25 March 1939 – 15 September 2011) was an Australian judge who was known as an Indigenous rights advocate and protecting vulnerable people. He was known for his role as Commissioner of the Government of South Australia' Children in State Care Commission of Inquiry (the Mullighan Inquiry) from 2004 to 2008.

Early life and education Mullighan was born on 25 March 1939 in a hospital in the seaside suburb of Semaphore in Adelaide, South Australia. Until he got married, he lived on the Lefevre Peninsula, at Semaphore and Largs Bay. His father was an electrician who worked for the Electricity Trust, while his mother became a classical violinist as a teenager, initially playing for the South Australian Symphony Orchestra and then the orchestra run by the Theatre Royal in Hindley Street after having a family and being unable to travel with the larger orchestra.

Mullighan attended Largs Bay Primary School and then, from Grade 7, Pulteney Grammar School on South Terrace, Adelaide, winning a scholarship after around a year. He said that the school did not have a good academic reputation in those days, and he was a poor scholar. He did not complete matriculation, but instead got a job as an office boy in the Crown Solicitor's Office, beginning to study law at the University of Adelaide part-time about a year and a half later. and in 1989 was appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court.

He was Counsel Assisting in six Royal Commissions, and also acted for the victims of the 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfires in their compensation claims.

Other roles Mullighan served as president of the Law Society of South Australia for two years He promoted cultural awareness in the judicial system, especially with regard to sentencing Aboriginal defendants. He nominated Aboriginal Justices of the Peace, researched traditional Aboriginal ways of dealing with offenders, advocated for court interpreters of Aboriginal languages, and promoted the idea of restorative justice. to include children not in state care, in Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY lands). As a result of the report, 400 suspected abusers were reported to South Australia Police.

Former Premier of South Australia, Mike Rann, said after Mullighan's death that Mullighan had "managed to gain the confidence of a section of the community who had never before been able to speak about their experiences".

Then Attorney-General of South Australia John Rau said that he had left an "enormous" legacy, including inspiring "countless young lawyers"'and "The community owes him a great debt for his painstaking and thorough work".