Global law firm Squire Patton Boggs has donated a significant collection of historical documents and artefacts to the Parliament of Western Australia, the State Library of Western Australia and the Old Court House Law Museum.
The collection shines a fascinating light on the legal and administrative history of the State of Western Australia (WA) dating back over 150 years.
Alongside numerous legal documents predominantly from the 1890s and 1900s, including several letter books relating to Perth City Council matters and Letters of Administration in the Supreme Court of WA, are items associated with Sir Luke Samuel Leake (1828-1886), a prominent merchant, public figure and first Speaker of the Western Australian Legislative Council, whose pioneering family had migrated to Western Australia in 1829 and played an important role in the development of the original colony. The official coat of arms granted to Sir Luke after he was knighted in 1876 is presented in its original box stamped with the royal initials V.R.
The historical collection was formally gifted to the Parliament of Western Australia, the State Library of Western Australia and the Old Court House Law Museum, at a ceremony in the Squire Patton Boggs Perth office on 2 October.
To mark the occasion Perth managing partner Tony Chong and colleagues from the firm hosted representatives from the recipient institutions and members of some of the families associated with the collection.
The diverse historical collection has passed down through the generations dating back to the local roots of the firm when Irish lawyers John Horgan and Frederick William Moorhead established the firm of Horgan and Moorhead in Perth in 1890 – Moorhead himself was appointed City Solicitor to the Perth City Council in 1898.
In the following decades the firm expanded and its formal name changed as new partners joined, many of whom served in important public roles such as judges on the Supreme Court, Commissioners of WA, and Attorney General.
The connection with the pioneering Leake family came in the 1920s when Francis Walpole Leake joined the firm which became known as Northmore, Hale, Davy & Leake. Frank Leake was the son of George Leake QC, former Premier of WA, and great-nephew of Sir Luke Samuel Leake.
Tony Chong said, “Our firm can trace its roots in Western Australia back to the late 19th century and has had a long, close association with the City of Perth and the WA state government. These special artefacts reveal those close connections and highlight the various ways in which the legal community has shaped our modern society, which our firm is been very proud to be a part of. We are delighted that they will now have a permanent home in the official collections of the Parliament of Western Australia, the State Library of Western Australia and the Old Court House Law Museum to be preserved for future generations.”