Judge Elizabeth Gaynor (County Court of Victoria) Interview 18/10/2005

I always remember Frank Galbally, he was fascinating, that fabulous velvet voice of his. He’d lean across the Bar table. The main thing I remembered was this extraordinary array of characters from the Painters and Dockers Union. I mean there were a couple of blokes - they’d be answering questions and you know they’d get a bit stroppy while they were being cross examined and they’d practically bite the head off the microphone. They were heavy, fierce men - “Yeah”, “No”, “Don’t know” - they were just sensational and just this feeling, it was so heavy and these characters wandering around who were very ….

Who were thugs?

They were more than thugs, they were more than thugs. I’ve got no doubt they came from very tough beginnings. You could see life had really shaped them in particular ways. I mean they’d become thugs ultimately and the union had become more of a crime syndicate then anything else, but you could see why it happened, and they were extraordinarily colourful without being particularly attractive personalities. That’s the main thing I loved about it.

Conducted for the Bar Oral History project by Juliette Brodsky, and filmed by Stewart Carter (People Pictures)