Peter Durack

Durack was educated at Aquinas College and the University of Western Australia. He was the state's 1949 Rhodes Scholar and studied law at Lincoln College, Oxford, where he later taught.[3] From 1956 he worked as a barrister in Perth and in 1965 was elected into the Western Australian Legislative Assembly as the Member for Perth, a seat he held until 1968. He moved to federal politics by winning one of the Senate seats in the 1970 Senate election, taking office on 1 July 1971.

He was Minister for Repatriation in the Fraser government from July to October 1976, when the title of the portfolio was changed to Minister for Veterans' Affairs. In 1977 he was appointed Attorney-General, serving in that office until the Fraser government's defeat in 1983. During this time he was responsible for the passage of the Freedom of Information Act 1982; he had introduced a private member's bill on the same subject in 1972.

He was deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate from 1983 to 1987 and 1990 to 1992.[4]

In 1992 he failed to win preselection by his party for a further term, and his political career ended in June 1993.

He died in Perth on 13 July 2008.[2]

Durack wrote several books, dealing with legal issues and the Mabo court case, with which he was involved during his time as Attorney General.

• Evidence. ISBN 0-644-01371-0 / ISBN 0-644-01371-0
• The external affairs power ISBN 0-909536-47-3 / ISBN 0-909536-47-3
• Mabo and after (with Tony Rutherford). ISBN 0-909536-36-8 / ISBN 0-909536-36-8

Durack was a grandson of Kimberley pioneer Jeremiah Durack, who was an uncle of Michael Patrick Durack (1865–1950).[5] He was therefore a cousin of authors Mary and Elizabeth Durack.

Durack was married to Isabel, with whom he had daughter Anne and son Philip.