Her Honour the Honourable Sally Thomas AM, Chancellor
(term expiring 31 December 2012)
Her Honour the Honourable Sally Thomas, AM was sworn in as the 20th and first female Administrator of the Northern Territory on 31 October 2011. Her Honour was born in Cambridge, England and migrated to Sydney, Australia with her parents in 1945 where she attended Hornsby Girls High School. Her Honour studied law and in 1963 was admitted as a legal practitioner to the Supreme Court of New South Wales and subsequently to the High Court of Australia.
Prior to her appointment Her Honour was a Justice of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory from 1992 to 2009, Her Honour was the first female Judge in the Northern Territory. During the immediate period following her retirement from the Supreme Court, Her Honour played an active role in the community as patron, president and chairperson of numerous organisations.
Her Honour first came to the Northern Territory in 1978 to take up an
appointment as Stipendiary Magistrate from Sydney where she had
been a partner and solicitor in a legal firm. Her Honour served as
Magistrate and then Chief Magistrate of the Northern Territory,
a position she held from 1986 to 1992.
Her Honour has a strong interest in the tertiary education of Territorians
and was Deputy Chairman of the Northern Territory College of
Queensland University and then a Member of the then Northern
Territory University Council from 1989 to 2003. In 2003 the Northern
Territory University changed its name and became part of the
expanded Charles Darwin University. Her Honour was appointed to the
Council of Charles Darwin University and elected Deputy Chancellor,
Her Honour was appointed Chancellor of the University on 1 January
2010, a position she still holds today.
Her Honour’s career has not been limited to the judicial system, she
was Chair of the Legal Aid Commission from 1990 to 1996, Chair of the
Northern Territory Winston Churchill Fellowship Committee from 1992 to
2004 and in 2004 she was appointed Deputy National Chair Fellowship,
of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust.
In June 2000 Her Honour was appointed a Member of the Order of
Australia for her service to the community, particularly through the
Northern Territory Winston Churchill Memorial Fellowship Committee, to
tertiary education, and to the law. Her Honour continues to hold an
interest in these fields.
Her Honour has two sons, several stepchildren and four grandchildren.
