Bond University Professor Mary Hiscock has been named as a Member (AM) of the Order of Australia in the 2022 Queen’s Birthday Honours list.
An Emeritus Professor of the Law Faculty and Gold Coast resident, Ms Hiscock, was recognised for her service to tertiary education and to the law following a decorated legal career.
Professor Hiscock graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) in 1961. Soon after, she completed a Doctor of Laws at the University of Chicago.
In 1963, she became the first woman to be appointed as a full-time academic to the University of Melbourne's Faculty of Law.
Professor Hiscock was elected Chair of the Women Lawyers’ Association in Victoria in 1969 and made history again at the age of 33 when she became the first woman reader at the University of Melbourne’s law school.
In the mid-1960s, Professor Hiscock conducted research into Asian contract and securities law and later introduced Asian and European legal system studies to students at Melbourne University.
Professor Hiscock left academia in the late 1980s to practise commercial law and returned in 1993 when she was appointed Chair of Law at Bond University.
Here she taught contract and international trade law, served on various committees, and was Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies from 1994 to 1997.
Professor Hiscock has represented Australia at the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, was an expert advisor to the European Bank and was a consultant to the Asian Development Bank.
She is a member of the Editorial Boards of the Australian Journal of Asian Law and of the Melbourne Journal of International Law. She is also the immediate past Chair of the International Law Section of the Law Council of Australia and a past President of the Academy of Commercial and Consumer Law.
Bond University also has links to two other newly named Members of the Order of Australia.
ADCO Chairman and member of Bond University’s Board of Trustees, Judy Brinsmead, was recognised for her service to charitable organisations and to business. ADCO Constructions are the proud sponsor of the Bond University ADCO Sports Excellence Scholarship.
Former Executive Director of the Australian Rugby Union and Bond University rugby club President, Robert Fordham, was recognised for significant service to rugby union through a range of roles. Mr Fordham was an influential figure in the establishment of the university’s rugby club.