Bernard Teague

Bernard Teague, AO, was a Judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria, in Australia, between 13 October 1987 and 15 February 2008.

Education

Justice Teague was educated at De La Salle College, Malvern and then at the University of Melbourne, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1960 and a Bachelor of Laws with honours in 1962.

Career

Justice Teague was the first solicitor to be appointed to the Supreme Court bench. He was formerly chief litigation solicitor for the Melbourne law firm, Corrs, and a former President of the Law Institute of Victoria, and was created an Officer of the Order of Australia in the Australia Day Honours, 2009.

On 13 February 2009 Justice Teague was appointed to head the Royal Commission on the Black Saturday bushfires.

In 2014 he was appointed to head an inquiry into fires in the Hazelwood coal mine in February of that year. The fires resulted in a lengthy suppression effort while creating a major environmental hazard via smoke which hung over the Latrobe Valley, particularly Morwell, for some four weeks. Public hearings into the fire began on 26 May 2014.