Official bulldozers were all set to demolish Crossroads, a shanty town in one of Cape Town’s less salubrious spaces. Many dwellings were made from bits of wood, cardboard and tin. Some white South Africans could be heard grumbling about squatters being an eyesore juxtaposed with one of the world’s most spectacular urban areas.

Chris Steytler, then a young lawyer, grumbled, by contrast, about laws that kept black people confined to places such as Crossroads. He gained injunctions that would halt the bulldozers, though he and other campaigners did not expect to win battles against intransigent upholders of apartheid.

Long after turning his back on his homeland, Chris — since 1976 settled in Australia as eminent lawyer and judge — was asked during a 2020 Law Society of WA interview about his Crossroads efforts.

His unequivocal response: “I did not like South Africa; I’d never been happy there. I found the system absolutely appalling and began to represent the Crossroads squatter community.” He also represented them on charges brought against them. “After a while they told me they did not want me to continue to represent them because they felt I was giving the system a respectability.”

This “system” gave Chris no hope of changing, so he made plans to leave the country. New Zealand and Canada declined his applications; Australia accepted. Years of dissatisfaction were over.

Perth judge Tony Siopis, a close friend, is another South African lawyer with anti-apartheid views who voted with his feet.

He recalls Chris’ “innate sense of fairness, justice and ethical conduct. A role model and inspiration.”

Christopher David Steytler was born in the small Cape Province town of Graaff-Reinet on January 13, 1950, youngest of three children of Barbara (nee Harris) and Guillaume Steytler. Chris’ father was an alcoholic, which put extra pressure on Barbie, as the family called her. The Steytlers have been eternally grateful for her moral strength, not least in ensuring that her children got a decent education. Chris graduated at the University of Cape Town and was admitted to practice in 1973.

Newly married, to Edna (nee Oelofse), the couple moved to Perth half a century ago. In order to practise in WA Chris had to complete further studies at the University of Western Australia; he was admitted in 1980 and joined Parker & Parker. Such was his perceived quality that he was instantly promoted to partner.

Chris had a major say in expanding the firm. Among the lawyers he took on was Tony McCarthy, now general counsel for West Australian Newspapers. “He instilled in me the imperatives of hard work,” Tony recalls, “dedication to a client’s cause, primary observance as a lawyer to your obligation to the court, overriding devotion to the rule of law, and showing respect for others, no matter their position or circumstances. He was an enormous influence on me and many others.”

He became an independent barrister in 1990; was appointed QC three years later; and in 1994 he was appointed judge of the Supreme Court.

Between 2005 and 2009 he was inaugural president of the Court of Appeal.

On retirement from the bench his expertise was drawn on as parliamentary inspector for the Corruption and Crime Commission, a position he said gave particular satisfaction.

On retirement from the bench his expertise was drawn on as parliamentary inspector for the Corruption and Crime Commission, a position he said gave particular satisfaction.

In 2010 he was a finalist in the WA Citizen of the Year awards. Two years later he was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for “distinguished service to the judiciary and the law, to the advancement and protection of human rights, to legal education and to professional ethics and standards”.

At UWA he was appointed an honorary professor, teaching ethics between 2009 and 2012. Another achievement was as member and inaugural chair of the Independent Media Council from April 2012 until May 2013.

Chris remained humble despite professional excellence. Whereas contemporaries noted “the Steytler reputation for tenacity, profound understanding of legal principle, powerful humanitarian instincts and a strong sense of justice”, his own take, looking back in 2020, was that “I was an adequate lawyer . . . not a naturally gifted lawyer. I certainly worked hard at it because I had to.”

His first marriage produced two sons: David, born in 1978, and Ian, 1980. The marriage ended in 1996. Four years later he married Georgina Parke.

Chris died on August 5, survived by Georgina, his sons, David and Ian, six grandchildren, one great-grandchild and Chris’ sister, Vivienne.

Chris’ final years were clouded by neurological disease, but mentally his spirit remained as clear as a bell. Reading and writing about ancient philosophers such as Seneca was a consuming interest.

Seneca, a Roman philosopher in the first century of the Christian era, was an adviser and tutor to the emperor Nero. Seneca reportedly tried hard to make the ruler treat people fairly, especially slaves and citizens without wealth. He was eventually exiled for falling foul of powerful Roman factions. No wonder he was admired by lawyers such as Chris Steytler, a man of firm conscience.

Chris Steytler AO

Judge and law professor

Born: Graaff-Reinet, South Africa, 1950

Died: Albany, aged 76