Actor Eric Bana is not used to being upstaged, but at a ceremonial sitting in the High Court yesterday all eyes were on his father-in-law, retiring Chief Justice Murray Gleeson.
Outside courtroom 1, once the formalities finished, Justice Gleeson the judge gave way to Justice Gleeson the family man, as his five grandchildren showed their admiration in a less restrained fashion than the others gathered.
Judges from all over the country, former prime minister John Howard, Federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland and the nation's top silks paid tribute to Justice Gleeson.
Mr Howard, who appointed Justice Gleeson to the High Court in May 1998, told The Canberra Times, ''I think he's one of Australia's great jurists. I put him in the same bracket as [former chief justices] Owen Dixon and Garfield Barwick; that's how good I regard him, and he's been an ornament to the court and I wish him well in the future.''
In the foyer, where drinks and nibbles were held afterwards, it was Justice Gleeson's five grandchildren who held court. Justice Gleeson's wife, Robyn, their four children, Gabrielle, Nicholas and Jacqueline Gleeson and Rebecca Bana, attended yesterday's historic moment. Eric Bana kept a low profile, minding the children and happily posing for photos.
Mrs Gleeson said she was proud of everything her husband had achieved in a career spanning almost half a century. ''I think he's a person with enormous discipline and drive, and I think he's achieved as much as he was able to,'' she told The Canberra Times.
''I'm proud because he has not only managed to have good relationship with staff and associates, he's managed to keep his health good he's slim and healthy and he thinks out what he is going to do and then he does it. But he spends a lot of time thinking, it doesn't come about off the cuff.''
While Justice Gleeson gave little away at a speech last week about what the future had in store for him, his wife indicated an overseas trip was likely.
''I think we will go on a trip, hopefully to Europe and the Middle East, maybe next year some time, but we'd like to take some time to plan that. In the meantime, as he has taken very few holidays during his term, it's a good time to just chill out, read a book and relax for a few weeks,'' she said.
But Mrs Gleeson hoped her husband did not leave the legal sphere completely.
''I think he has got a lot of things to offer, and I wouldn't like to see him retire completely. I just think that a slow-down would be good.''
Mr Gleeson, who turns 70 today, will mark the dual milestone of his birthday and retirement in Canberra his home away from home for the past decade with dinner at the Ottoman restaurant in Barton tonight, surrounded by family, friends and colleagues.
In a typically measured speech succinctness has always been one of Justice Gleeson's strengths he urged tertiary institutions to help bridge the gap between the judiciary and the legal profession.
''Institutionally, the distance between the profession and the judiciary may be increasing,'' he said. ''Courts no longer retain the direct control over legal education and admission to the profession that they had in former times.''