David Mitchell (lawyer)

David Charles Mitchell (13 March 1934 – 6 May 2018) was a minister of the Presbyterian Church of Australia, a specialist in constitutional law and Solicitor-General for Lesotho.

David Charles Mitchell
Born(1934-03-13)March 13, 1934
South Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
DiedMay 6, 2018(2018-05-06) (aged 84)
Dynnyrne, Tasmania, Australia
Alma materUniversity of Tasmania
Occupation(s)Lawyer, Christian Minister & Solicitor General

Mitchell was born on 13 March 1934 at the St. Stephen's Private Hospital in South Hobart, Tasmania and grew up in the nearby suburb of Sandy Bay, Tasmania.[1][2] He was educated at the University of Tasmania[3] and admitted to the bar on 4 February 1958. In due course he was also admitted to the bar in Victoria, New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, South Australia, Western Australia, England and Lesotho.[4]

Mitchell worked for the British Colonial Service in the Bechuanaland Protectorate, now known as Botswana,[3] as an Assistant District Officer on probation in the Serowe District in the year following his appointment on 24 March 1960.[5][6] He subsequently joined the Commonwealth Public Service, where he was responsible for legal matters in Papua New Guinea for the then Department of External Territories. He transferred to the Attorney-General's Department, where he helped establish the Australian Legal Aid Office in 1974.[3] The Department sponsored him to, and he was a graduate of the International Institute of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France,[7] before being seconded to Lesotho.[3]

Mitchell was Solicitor-General for Lesotho in October 1976, when Lesotho was in dispute with its neighbour South Africa over the closure of three border crossings into the Transkei, that was designed to pressure Lesotho into recognizing this "homeland" established by South Africa for its Bantu peoples. He successfully presented the case for the government of Lesotho to the Security Council of the United Nations which resulted in an aid package of $US113 million.[3]

Mitchell became a home missionary, pastoring the Presbyterian parish of Queanbeyan in New South Wales in 1979 and 1980 from the Lutheran Church of that town,[8][9][10] and the new Presbyterian parish of Tuggeranong in the Australian Capital Territory from 1981.[11][12] The congregation of the latter parish initially met at the Erindale Centre from 13 September,[13] and moved to the Monash Primary School from 24 January, where he provided a Sunday School and Boys' Brigade.[14] He was subsequently ordained, and, after a time, became Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Tasmania in 1994. In that role, he presented the cases about, and voted against, the ordination of women within the Presbyterian Church of Australia. He believed that it was "a very complicated and divisive issue", and thought that his "motivation for so voting was very different from the motivation of most others". He believed that "it is a situation where men are forced to take a proper and full responsibility", having "a special accountability at the seat of judgment", and they "will be held more strictly to account". This was not a "retreat from reality", and gave women a "far superior position" where they could exercise a "softer, more compassionate touch".[15] Subsequently he pastored the Presbyterian Community Church at Rokeby, Tasmania from 2000 to 2003.[16][17][18][19][20] He also acted as procurator for the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Victoria, resigning in August 2000 after serving in that post for well over a decade.[21] Subsequently he acted temporarily in the same capacity for the South Australian Assembly of the Church in 2002,[22] and was the convener of the Tasmanian Theological Education Committee in 2003.[23]

Mitchell continued his association with Canberra, returning many times.

  • In 1994, he gave a public lecture on the "constitution and Australia's future" on 27 January at the Albert Hall, where he advocated for the Australian monarchy for "legal, pragmatic and religious reasons", and also spoke at the summer school organized by Youth With A Mission.[15]
  • He was at regular speaker until 2009 at the annual Daniel 2:44 Conference in Canberra.

Mitchell was elected a delegate from Tasmania to the 1998 Australian Constitutional Convention as a member of the Australian Monarchist League,[24] for which he was later patron.[7] He "felt that he had been enormously privileged to have been a delegate at the convention, where overall there had been a good spirit of cooperation ... [but was] concerned that the push for a republic represents a tearing away from the Scriptural basis of our system of government, going back as far as Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights, which were under-girded by Scripture." He self-published a paperback booklet, Republic? The Hidden Agenda,[25] and had it tabled at the convention. A complimentary copy was provided to every delegate at the convention, but inquiries afterwards revealed that many delegates claimed to be unaware of its existence, and most of those who acknowledged its existence admitted they had not read it. One even stated that he threw the booklet in the bin without opening it.[26] He also contributed to the booklet, Democracy Down Under - Understanding Our Constitution, published by the Church and Nation Committee of the Presbyterian Church of Victoria.[27]

Mitchell ran as one of two Australian Senate candidates in Tasmania for the Christian Democratic Party in the 2004 federal election. He received 2,270 primary votes and was eliminated after the 95th recount.[28]

Subsequently Mitchell campaigned against recognizing local government in the Australian Constitution,[29] which he regarded as a "direct attack" against the States which would enable the Federal Government to "undermine or contradict state government policy".[30] He also campaigned against an Australian Republic,[31][32] and gay law reform.[33]

Mitchell died after a long illness, at home in the Hobart suburb of Dynnyrne, Tasmania on 6 May 2018[34] and was buried at Cornelian Bay Cemetery on 10 May 2018, followed by a service of thanksgiving at St John's Presbyterian Church in central Hobart.[35] He was survived by his 2nd wife, son and three grandsons.[34]

References
  1. Your Nation in Their Hands - The Elected Delegates - 1998 Constitutional Convention - The Complete Guide by Claire Harvey, Australian 31 January 1998 p.7ff.
  2. Births - Mitchell, The Mercury (Hobart Tas), 14 March 1934, p.1a.
  3. UN supports Aid Plan for Lesotho, Sydney Morning Herald, 27 May 1977, p3k&l.
  4. "The Tasmanian Bar - Barristers - David Mitchell". Archived from the original on 14 February 2012. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
  5. Parsons, Neil; Gumbo, Glorious (2002). "Bechuanaland Colonial Administration c.1884-c.1965 by Place, Date, Name, and Title". History Department, University of Botswana, Gaborone (Botswana). Retrieved 27 August 2013.
  6. A district officer was a judicial appointee responsible to the resident commissioner or resident magistrate, who was, at that time and in that district, David M. Robinson (d.1964).
  7. A Very Public Affair: The Crown and the Australian Constitution by Philip Benwell, Vivid Publishing, Fremantle (WA)2013.
  8. Church Services – Presbyterian, Canberra Times, 27 January 1979 p.21f.
  9. Church Services – Presbyterian, Canberra Times, 2 June 1979 p.22f.
  10. Return Thanks – Dodds, Canberra Times, 7 January 1980 p.12d.
  11. Eulogy of Rev Peter Clements Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Weekly Lively Hope Newsletter, vol. 23(45), Adelaide, 3 May 2009.
  12. Tuggeranong Presbyterian Church - History Archived 16 February 2016 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 21 September 2015
  13. New Tuggeranong church, Canberra Times 9 September 1981, p.26b-c.
  14. Second Presbyterian parish for Canberra by Graham Downe, Canberra Times, 20 January 1982, p.18c.
  15. Yes to the Queen, no to women – Constitution based on the faith: Presbyterian leader by Graham Downe, Canberra Times, 27 January 1994 p.14d-f.
  16. Church Directory - Tasmania Archived 10 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine, The Australian Presbyterian, No. 522, Page 15c, December 2000. Retrieved 27 August 2013.
  17. Church Directory - Tasmania Archived 10 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine, The Australian Presbyterian, No. 524, Page 15c, March 2001. Retrieved 27 August 2013.
  18. Church Directory - Tasmania Archived 10 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine, The Australian Presbyterian, No. 527, Page 15c, June 2001. Retrieved 27 August 2013.
  19. Church Directory - Tasmania Archived 10 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine, The Australian Presbyterian, No. 546, Page 17c, March 2003. Retrieved 27 August 2013.
  20. Church Directory - Tasmania Archived 10 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine, The Australian Presbyterian, No. 555, Page 17c, December 2003. Retrieved 27 August 2013.
  21. Tasmanian Assembly Archived 10 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine, The Australian Presbyterian, No. 518, Page 15b&c, August 2000. Retrieved 27 August 2013.

    This reference is to the Victorian Assembly even though it appears in the middle of an article on the Tasmanian Assembly.

  22. Prayer Archived 10 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine, The Australian Presbyterian, No. 542, Page 26b, October 2002. Retrieved 27 August 2013.
  23. Prayer Archived 10 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine, The Australian Presbyterian, No. 546, Page 30b, March 2003. Retrieved 27 August 2013.
  24. Australian Constitutional Convention (2-13 February 1998) - Delegate List Archived 28 July 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 24 August 2013.
  25. Presbyterians at the Constitutional Convention Archived 10 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine, The Australian Presbyterian, No. 491, Page 17a, March 1998. Retrieved 27 August 2013.
    The National Library of Australia have two copies of Republic? The Hidden Agenda by David Mitchell, and have it catalogued under NL 342.9403 M681.
  26. Courageous for Truth and Justice - A Tribute to the Life and Work of David Charles Mitchell by Dallas Clarnette, Dallas Books (Frankston Vic) 2019.
  27. Democracy Down Under - Understanding Our Constitution - A Review Archived 10 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine by Bruce Christian, The Australian Presbyterian, No. 497, Page 25b&c, September 1998. Retrieved 27 August 2013.
    The Australian National Library do not have a copy of Democracy Down Under - Understanding Our Constitution.
  28. Final Tasmania Senate Results, Australian Broadcasting Corporation Archived 14 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
  29. Why Local Government Should Not Be Recognised in the Constitution Archived 19 August 2013 at the Wayback Machine by David Mitchell, Quadrant Online, vol.56(4), April 2012. Retrieved 24 August 2013.
  30. The timing of the referendum is rushed and the states are divided by Mohn Ferguson, The Australian 18 May 2003 p.14.
  31. Republic? More Power For Politicians Archived 9 January 2013 at the Wayback Machine by David Mitchell, Australians for a Constitutional Monarchy, Hobart (Tas) 1998. Retrieved 24 August 2013.
  32. Statewide Mornings by Tim Cox, ABC 936 Hobart 21 April 2008.
  33. Nile visits to oppose gay reform by Ellen Whinnett, Hobart Mercury 17 April 2004 p.13. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  34. Obituaries - Mitchell, Rev Dr David Charles, The Mercury (Hobart Tas), 7 May 2018
  35. Funerals - Mitchell, The Mercury (Hobart Tas), 9 May 2018.
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