The man who made ‘saintly’ judge lose his cool

It is fitting that the longest chapter in the longish biography of Sir Gerard Brennan, a former chief justice, is devoted to the cases that established a system of native title for Indigenous Australians.

Brennan, who died in 2022, wrote the leading judgment in Mabo (No 2) v Queensland, and it remains his principal legacy from 17 years on the High Court (1981-1998),