Feez Ruthning Opinions Collection

Barbara Flowers attended the launch of the Feez Ruthning Opinions Collection:

It was good to be at the Supreme Court Library on Wednesday night and be witness to an occasion that gladdened this old librarian heart. Peter Allen, partner of Allens Arthur Robinson, or Feez Ruthning in its earlier manifestation, presided over a wonderful iniative of his own - the firm's handover of its Opinions collection to the Supreme Court Library for digitisation and deposit.

This major accumulation of important legal material, drawn from the firm's colonial beginnings, to 1994, is of great value not only to the legal profession but also to present and future historians of Queesland and to us and our 'descendant' librarians. The Feez Ruthning collection includes Opinions written by many of the firm's illustrious alumni, including three Chief Justices of the High Court, several Chief Justices of the Queensland Supreme Court, and many eminent Queensland lawyers including Tony Fitzgerald. By association the collection provides a documentary history of much of Queensland's economic and legal history, and the sentiments of all guest speakers, the Attorney-General, the Chief Justice, Senator George Brandis and Peter Allen himself were drawn from the same expressed hope, that this important bequest will be the beginning of many similar bestowals from other of Queensland's law firms which have their origins in Queensland's colonial beginnings.

As law librarians we are all too familiar with the difficulties in obtaining decisions and opinions which pre-date the Court's use of electronic record keeping. Having been in unrequited pursuit of an Opinion of Sir Arnold Bennett for more than two months, I can point at first hand to the frustrating nature of our work when we encounter an absence of proper house-keeping in the documentary resources which make up our history. The Opinion in question is a much-cited resource on the duties of bailiffs, but appears to be no longer discoverable. So the publications resulting from the Supreme Court's history program, and the future fruit of this latest initiative from Allens are welcome changes for us as custodians of the state's legal resources. The Supreme Court Library fulfills an important role for all Queenslanders, and for the democratic process itself, by retaining and making its legal resources readily accessible. It is inspiring to see the Library Committee at the forefront of such a ground-breaking recruitment to the Court's collection. And as an erstwhile FLIER Librarian during the last years of my time at Feez Ruthning it was also interesting to see so many familiar faces at the Banco Court.

Senator Brandis alluded rather endearingly to the care with which lawyers like to preserve their words, often on carefully selected papers and more often than not bound in half calf, to produce a quality of printed work not much seen elsewhere these days. I thought this an interesting reversal of the barrister's or actor's love for words, where attention is focussed on the expression of them, with not so much regard for their preserved appearance. Of course as librarians we are also preoccupied with the preservation of words, but our preoccupation is to satisfy their need for retrievability and for the continued availability of their content. Peter Allen's initiative is a wonderful testimony to the importance of libraries and it was an inspiring evening altogether. I was very happy that enough space had been found in the Banco Court to accommodate us all.