Thomas Wells (judge)

Thomas Alexander Wells (c.1888–13 September 1954) was a judge of the Northern Territory Supreme Court in Darwin, Australia. He was known for having misdirected the jury in a high-profile case in 1934, which was later overturned in an appeal in the High Court of Australia known as Tuckiar v The King.

Career

Wells was a court reporter for a Sydney newspaper.[1]

He served overseas in WWI and on returning to Australia studied law in Sydney, where he practised at the bar for nine years after graduating.[1]

In 1933 he was appointed Judge of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory, following the retirement of Justice Mallam (1878–1954).[1][2]

He presided over some of the Territory's most high-profile trials, including the murder trial of Dhakiyarr Wirrpanda, a Yolngu man from Caledon Bay in Arnhem Land, who was convicted of murdering Constable Albert Stewart McColl at Woodah Island on 1 August 1933. This was part of a series of events known as the Caledon Bay crisis Dhakiyarr was convicted of murder and sentenced to death, but seven months later this verdict was overturned in the Tuckiar v The King case. Several reasons were given for the success of the appeal, including that Judge Wells had misdirected the jury.[3][4]

He was regarded more benignly for ordering the doors of Fannie Bay Gaol open following the Japanese air raids in 1942, rather than have them suffer should the jail receive a direct hit.[5]

He was himself evacuated to Alice Springs following the air raids, returning in 1945.[6]

Later life and legacy

He suffered a stroke in 1951, and retired the following year. He died in Darwin Hospital in September 1954.

Wells Street, in the Darwin suburbs of Ludmilla and Parap, is named after him.[7]

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References
  1. "N.T. Judge". Northern Standard (54). Northern Territory, Australia. 25 August 1933. p. 11. Retrieved 19 January 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. "An extraordinary man of wit and wisdom". NT News. 1 July 2017.
  3. "High Court of Australia: Tuckiar v. The King (n Appeal)". Northern Standard (92). Northern Territory, Australia. 23 November 1934. p. 3. Retrieved 10 July 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. "High Court of Australia: Tückiar v. The King: Judgment of Mr. Justice Starke". Northern Standard (93). Northern Territory, Australia. 27 November 1934. p. 3. Retrieved 10 July 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. "Mr. Justice Wells Dies in Darwin". The Advertiser (Adelaide). 97 (29, 927). South Australia. 14 September 1954. p. 3. Retrieved 19 January 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. "NT Place Names Register". NT Government. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  7. NOTE: Wells Street in the Litchfield area, Wells Creek and Mount Wells were named for the presumably unrelated Charles Frederick Wells (died 1896), a cadet surveyor with the Goyder Survey Expedition of 1869.("NT Place Names Register". NT Government. Retrieved 19 January 2018.)
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