Page 12 - Keeping the Peace

6 Keeping the Peace – A History of Honorary Justices in Victoria
Birth of the Victorian HJs Association
On the 6 October 1909, three gentlemen sent a circular to their brother JPs to meet at the Vienna Café in Melbourne. Thirteen men attended and from this group, nine were appointed as a provisional committee of the newly formed HJs Association of Victoria.8 They held their inaugural meeting in the Melbourne Town Hall on 27 April 1910. The Association commenced its newsletter, ‘The Justice of the Peace’, in September 1910. The newsletter set out to educate members about the role of a JP and provide a vehicle for sharing information. It included names of new JPs, social events, answered queries about the law and published lectures that were relevant to their role. At the time of their first newsletter, the Association reported that it already had 350 members. Over the coming years, the Association was to see itself as a body that would advocate to government on issues of concern for all JPs.
8 This was later to become known as the Royal Victorian Association of HJs or the RVAHJ.
The Council and Officers
of the HJs Association.
‘The Justice of the Peace’, supplement, December 1910.