On 1 April 1974 the late Frank Dethridge, the senior partner in the Melbourne firm of Mallesons, convened a meeting of colleagues to propose the formation of the Maritime Law Association of Australia. A formal resolution to that effect was adopted by the meeting. This issue of the Journal is therefore published almost exactly 25 years after the formation of the Association at that historic meeting.

A delegation from New Zealand attended the Annual General Meeting in Melbourne in 1977; and the meeting resolved to admit the New Zealanders as a separate branch and to adopt the Association’s present name.

Since 1974 the Association has grown from a handful of members to several hundred, including both lawyers and non-lawyers. It holds an annual conference, publishes this Journal twice a year and a regular newsletter, involves itself in law reform at both national and international levels, holds educational workshops and seminars, and encourages the formal study of maritime law at University level. Branches in each Australian State and New Zealand hold their own activities.

We cannot predict the Association’s course over the next 25 years. Hopefully it will continue to foster the study and reform of maritime law, and to provide a congenial environment for debate within the maritime community of our two countries.

Tom Broadmore
President