The first was the day seventy years ago when he, no more than 10 years old, held a copy of the new Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

This list of basic human rights had just been agreed at the United Nations in 1948 and copies came to Australia. Michael Kirby was moved by it. It changed his life.

And the second moment was on the day - February 11, 1969 - when he met his partner, Johan. Exactly fifty years later, they will get married courtesy of the changed law on same-sex marriage for which they both campaigned.

In Canberra on Monday, he marked the 70th anniversary of the UN's human rights declaration by calling for an Australian version. "My hope is that before I go to my eternal reward, we'll see it in the national sphere," he said.

The belief in a charter of human rights was sparked nearly seventy years ago when he saw the UN document in his public school in the Sydney suburb of Summer Hill.

It was introduced to the class by a teacher - Mr Gorringe, as the young Michael Kirby knew him - who had fought in the war which was still fresh in minds. Mr Gorringe was passionate about human rights because he had witnessed war.

Mr Kirby said, "Mr Gorringe, having gone through the war as a soldier, was very assiduous to teach the children in his class that unless we could now understand and implement this document, we would just go on killing and it was very much more dangerous now because of the nuclear weapons which had ended the war with Japan."

Mr Kirby wants Australia to adopt that kind of formal setting out of rights. With such a declaration, citizens who felt their rights were threatened could go to court and the court make a declaration that basic rights had been flouted. It wouldn't be a ruling that government would be forced to accept but it would have great weight - governments ought to be loathe to flout such a judgement. "Government would be rendered accountable", he said. "It would stimulate the democratic process".

Mr Kirby is concerned about what he sees as the threat to human rights in schools, particularly with a review of the law on religious schools being able to turn away gay students and teachers.

Mr Kirby cited his old teacher, "Mr Gorringe would say that that's what the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was designed to stop - irrational discrimination."

He added, "If they take federal gold, they've got to comply with a non-discrimination condition".

"I'm in a constant state of disappointment at the way we've handled these issues. The idea that students could be expelled from school is medieval stuff and it's time we got over it."

But don't religious schools have rights, too? If their beliefs deem homosexuality as sinful, don't they have a right to a freedom of belief?

In response Mr Kirby said that rights are limited by the consequences for others. One person's right isn't unlimited: "The right to swing my arm finishes when I hit another person's chin", as he put it.

Mr Kirby who is in his late 70s has had a lifetime fighting for human rights, including in his position as a Justice of the High Court of Australia. He has acted for the United Nations in investigations of abuses in numerous countries, including North Korea.

But gay rights is close to home. He said he would get married on February 11 next year, the fiftieth anniversary of meeting his partner.

Attitudes have changed slowly, he felt - hence the half century of waiting. He said he was taking advantage of the law change. "In the old days, gay people kept quiet. That's over.

"My marriage is still on and now we are going to see a lot of people."