From a life in law

Kirby and Lloyd Waddy worked closely together on building ACM into the formidable force it was to be against the Keating-Turnbull juggernaut. Kirby's great contribution, the ACM charter, remains a rallying call for Australian monarchists.

Brown describes Kirby's public stance against the republican campaign as 'a dangerous double game'. This became clear when a vacancy arose in High Court in 1995. Kirby was an obvious choice, but for his opposition to a republic.

Michael Lavarch and Gareth Evans argued that appointing Kirby would have the advantage of taking the most credible and rational monarchist out of the debate, a point which that passionate republican Paul Keating accepted. While it did not stop the referendum landslide against a republic, the appointment enriched the High Court.

If he then no longer publicly espoused constitutional monarchism, Kirby soon elected to take his initially controversial role as the nation's leading gay eminence.

There is little shock value in 'coming out' these days. Most acquaintances probably know it, although many would prefer not to acknowledge it. And few examples create much interest, with two exceptions. First, the private lives of the glamorous and youthful are always, if not of legitimate public interest, interesting to the public. The second exception are those prominent in any campaign, which by any definition Kirby certainly is.

Now that equality and non-discrimination have been achieved, his current campaign is to capture the intrinsically heterosexual institution of marriage. Just as Kirby would most definitely not be one of those who support same-sex marriage simply to undermine the institution, he would understand that few serious opponents can be simplistically dismissed as merely homophobic.

The book brings out the fact that Kirby is a prolific communicator, which has raised many a judicial eyebrow. The late Roddy Meagher - another remarkable judge - tells the story, probably apocryphal, that Kirby was once telephoned from Africa and invited to a conference to speak on the subject of breastfeeding. His Honour duly went to Africa and delivered an excellent paper to an audience which seemed increasingly surprised, indeed confused. It subsequently transpired that Kirby had been invited to deliver a paper not on breastfeeding but on press freedom; the differences in accent and the vagaries of long-distance telephone communications had resulted in this slight error.

Kirby is a principled man. He was no doubt greatly distressed by the notorious allegations made against him in Parliament by Senator Heffernan. When these proved unfounded, Kirby's reaction in so many ways summed up the man. Instead of hostility, or the pleasure of glacial judicial silence, he offered the Senator the hand of friendship.

Principled, thoughtful, determined, opinionated and a believer in his own destiny - this book captures all sides of a remarkable man; it is a truly excellent study