Vale Peter Dixon

Peter Dixon, who attended the College from 1953-62, died peacefully at the Royal Hobart Hospital surrounded by his family on 29 June. St Joseph’s Church was packed at his was farewell service on 4 July.  Peter was an outstanding person as is evidenced by the content of the eulogy delivered by his older son, Patrick  - a copy of which follows.

Peter Frederick Dixon was born on 13 April 1946 in the Calvary Hospital on Augusta Road. His father, Frederick, was an Englishman from York. He was a veteran of the First World War and had moved to Tasmania with his family soon after the end of World War I. His mother, Audrey, was from a large family in Launceston. Dad was the third of their three children. Their first daughter, Ann, died when she was a child. Dad’s other sister, Joan, was nearly eight years older than him.  She died a few years ago. 

Dad grew up in Sandy Bay.  He lived in Grosvenor Street, Derwent Water Avenue and Waimea Avenue. He went to Mt Carmel College until the end of Grade 2 before transferring to St Virgil’s College in Barrack Street. He spent the majority of his holiday time between his aunt’s home in Launceston and a beach house at Hawley Beach. 

Dad matriculated in 1962. The following year he started studying law at the University of Tasmania. He was articled at Murdoch Clarke Cosgrove and Drake to Peter Underwood, who would go on to become Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and Governor of Tasmania.  Dad was admitted as a barrister and solicitor on 5 February 1968.

Following his admission Dad’s first job as a fully-fledged lawyer was in Ulverstone at firm called Archer, Jackson and Jones.  After a couple of years there, he headed to London and spent the next three years in Europe taking busloads of travellers from London through Eastern Europe and all the way to Moscow working for Kon Tiki.

Upon his return to Tasmania, he went back to the North West Coast and took a job with a law firm in Burnie, Crisp Hudson and Mann. Soon after he met his future wife, Patricia. They got married in 1976.  Their first son, Patrick, was born in July 1977. Their second son Mark in 1979. And in 1982 they welcomed a daughter, Philippa, into the world. 

In 1986 Dad was appointed as a Magistrate. For six years he sat in Burnie and all the Magistrates Courts from Devonport through to Smithton down to Queenstown and across to King Island. In 1992 he transferred to Hobart and sat as a Magistrate until his retirement in 2012. This was punctuated by a 6-month stint in the northern Territory. But December 2012 was not the end of it – he was sworn back in as a temporary Magistrate on three occasions. Most recently, and perhaps fittingly, he returned to where it all began in Burnie, for a three-month stint in early 2022.

Additional to his day-to-day work in the law, Dad was:

• past president and life member of the Tasmanian Bar Association, 
• past president of the Australian Association of Magistrates, 
• he sat on the on the Council of the Australian Institute of Judicial Administration, 
• was a member of the Standing Committee on the Reform of Criminal Law and Procedure 
• sat on the Sentencing Advisory Council, 
• was the long-time co-ordinator of the Magistrates Court component of the Legal Practice Course, 
• He was a Life member of the Justices of the Peace Association, 
• former board member of St Virgil’s College, and active member of the Old Virgilian’s Association; and
• committee member of every sporting organisation he was ever involved in – and that probably just scratches the surface. 

1994 St Virgil’s College Board

Back: Br R Peters, Mr K Kirkham, Mr C Deayton, Br D Phillips, Br D Barclay, Mr C Jones.

Front: Mr P Carey, Mrs H Lachowicz, Mr N Leary (Chair), Mrs R Allardice,  Mr P Dixon.

Outside the Law

Dad’s other passion outside of his family and the law was sport. He was a member of the school swimming team during his time at St Virgil's and was a member of the 1962 first XI hockey team that won the state premiership.  And when he finished school, he played footy in Hobart and Ulverstone. 

But by far his greatest sporting love was cricket. He played until he was in his 40s. He captained teams at every club he played at. He was a wily right arm of off spin bowler – although some would question how much he actually turned the ball. He took an absolute truck load of wickets and regularly won club and association wicket taking trophies and awards On occasion he took 8 for 17.

After a cricket career spanning 25 years and hundreds of wickets, he hung up his cricket boots and swapped them for the footy umpire’s whistle. He spent a number of years officiating country footy on the North West Coast. 

He loved sport, any sport, especially the social side. In fact, he just loved people. All people.

He also loved the Aussie Rules.  He was a Carlton supporter.  I wouldn’t say was one-eyed, because he was a damn good sport and could acknowledge a good player or a good match whoever they were, whatever the team. But he was a paid-up member of the Blues and made a point of heading over to Melbourne every season to catch a few games.  He would have been happy to have seen the ‘Baggers pull their finger out' in recent weeks. Sunday’s 10 goal trouncing of Hawthorn would have been particularly pleasing.

Dad was also a keen supporter of any sport we played. He coached various teams that we played in, and as a spectator rarely missed a game. He and Mum would come to watch me play rugby and cricket. He’d get up early on cold winter days to take my brother and his mates surfing and rug up on freezing nights to watch Philippa play hockey. 

He managed to combine his love of cricket with his other favourite past time, travel. He and Mum and had travelled to India and the UK to watch test cricket. In 2019 he achieved one of his lifelong ambitions and went to all 5 tests of the Aussies Ashes tour to England.  As recently as a few months ago he still harboured thoughts of getting back to Lords, but unfortunately that didn’t happen.  But it didn’t just have to be cricket playing nations he’d like to visit. He saw plenty of the world including the USA, western, southern and eastern Europe, and central, southern and south east Asia.  And when not playing golf, watching cricket, or working on the various Boards and organisations he was connected to, he would be researching his and Mum’s next big trip. He loved other people, other cultures and loved seeing the big wide world.   

As he approached retirement, he took up golf. He traded in his rusty old Kel Nagle signature irons and persimmon wood for a modern set of sticks and signed up at the Royal Hobart Gold Club. Here he re-commenced his sporting career and made a heap of new friends. Some days he’d play well, some days he’d play poorly but he never lost sight of the reason he had always played sport, to meet people and enjoy friendly competition. 

And that was Dad, a people person to the end. Lovely and kind, a top bloke, a legend, a great man and a gentleman.  Positive, honest and loyal.

Peter is survived by his wife Patricia; Patrick and Victoria; Mark and Courtney; and Philippa, and his two grandchildren Florence and Arthur. 

Both Patrick and Mark attended St Virgil’s College after Peter’s return to Hobart in 1992.  Both followed their father into Law and graduated from UTAS with Arts/Law degrees. 

Patrick graduated from UTAS 2001 and was admitted to the Bar in 2002. He practiced in Hobart till 2010 before moving to Canberra where he currently holds the position of Crown Advocate at the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ACT).

Mark finished his combined Arts/Law degree in 2001 before travelling extensively overseas. On his return to Hobart in 2004, he completed the Graduate Certificate of Legal Practice and was admitted to the Bar. He practiced in Hobart for a short period before spending time working in London. In 2013 moved to Lismore in NSW to work at Southern Cross University and currently holds the position Senior Legal Counsel and Manager of the Southern Cross University legal office.  (Mark is married to Courtney, who is the daughter of Cathy and Graham Hunnibell -  Cathy worked ‘in the office’ at Austins Ferry  (1998-99) and Graham coached an SVC  football team when Courtney’s brother, Matthew was at the College (1992-95).