Abstract
As quite a few of you will have already heard, Emeritus Professor David Brown passed away very suddenly in early February 2026. His final morning – of breakfast at home with his beloved wife Janice, followed by walking his dog Bentley on the beach – was one of contentment.
This is a very sad loss for the UNSW community – comprising so many of Dave’s collaborators, friends, and generations of students who remember him with deep affection and gratitude. Our thoughts and deepest sympathy are with Janice Gray, also an Honorary Associate Professor, former colleague and friend of so many in the Faculty.
Dave is an immense figure in the history of this place. He arrived in 1974 after completing a Diploma of Criminology and working as a research assistant at the Institute of Criminology, Cambridge University the year before. Before venturing to Cambridge, he had a brief spell in legal practice upon his graduation from a Bachelor of Laws at the University of Auckland.
In 2010, his New Zealand alma mater awarded Dave an honorary doctorate in recognition of his significant academic contributions. (A full list of Dave’s appointments, including as a part-time NSW Law Reform Commissioner and Chair of the Lionel Murphy Foundation Board of Trustees is set out on his UNSW staff page https://www.unsw.edu.au/staff/david-brown.)
It is impossible to look at the early years of the law school at UNSW and not be dazzled by the formidable talent and energy of the staff, many of whom remain iconic figures in their fields to this day. Even in this exceptional company, Dave Brown stood out uniquely and made his own defining contributions to the character and reputation of UNSW.
He taught courses in criminal law, criminal justice, criminology and penology and was a prolific researcher of international standing. His first book, The Prison Struggle in 1982, was followed by a steady stream of others, including a celebration of the judgments of Justice Lionel Murphy published in the year of Murphy’s death and co-edited with others who had contributed to the formative years of law at UNSW, including the recently deceased Tony Blackshield. It was at the memorial event for Tony in December that I last saw Dave and Janice, there to farewell an old friend.
But undoubtedly Dave’s most significant publication was Criminal Laws, first published in 1990 by the fledgling Federation Press and, on account of the shared first name of all four of its original authors, known simply as ‘the Four Davids’. The book was an instant classic and has been used to teach criminal law students in NSW for the last 35 years, over eight editions.
The other Davids have long departed and been replaced by many other contributing authors. Yet the book remains unmistakeably ‘the Four Davids’ in part because of its defining acuity and commitment to understanding criminal law in its social context, but also because each and every edition, including the 8th published just last year, has continued to have ‘David Brown’ listed as the first author. Six of our other colleagues are also listed as authors on the current edition, and I know each have fond memories of working with Dave and his influence on them as criminal law academics.
Alongside his seminal academic contributions, Dave was a consistent and generous contributor to community and grassroots justice initiatives, challenging structural inequities and supporting organisations working directly with people experiencing criminalisation and imprisonment.
Dave’s was a passionate and provocative intellect, but he always came from a place of kindness and with a commitment to collegiality in disagreement. As such, he held true to the founding ideals of the Faculty and did not hesitate to call out when he thought they might be in danger of being lost sight of. At the Faculty’s 30th anniversary celebration he famously warned against complacency and self-satisfaction as risks when an institution matures past its initial phase of creation.
Upon retiring in 2008, Dave became an Emeritus Professor, continuing to write and energetically contribute. In an example of his breadth, creativity and accessible brilliance, his 2024 piece for the 50th anniversary of the Alternative Law Journal, ‘Don’t dream it’s over … There’s a battle ahead’, combines insights on the criminal justice landscape with musical interludes and generous shout-outs to various thinkers and writers in the field. His remarks about the AltLJ reflect well the role Dave himself fulfilled as a public intellectual by ‘providing information, understanding, argument, analysis, critique, passion, conviction and hope, across a wide range of legal, social, political and cultural issues’.
Dave’s service to UNSW was rich and long. He continued to work on campus until 2024, marking 50 years of physical connection to the Faculty’s community. He was a warm, generous, and curious colleague and a friend and inspiration to many. And he will be so greatly missed.