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Lawyers Weekly
The great-niece of Thomas Charles Beirne, the namesake of the University of Queensland's TC Beirne School of Law, will graduate with her UQ law degree next week.s TC Beirne School of Law, will…
The great-niece of Thomas Charles Beirne, the namesake of the University of Queensland's TC Beirne School of Law, will graduate with her UQ law degree next week.s TC Beirne School of Law, will graduate with her UQ law degree next week.
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Genevieve Beirne will join 155 others next Tuesday to receive her LLB at UQ's St Lucia campus.
Born in 1860, Thomas Beirne was the poorly educated son of a farmer in Ireland who rose to become one of the first millionaires in Australia after emigrating here in 1883. In 1935, and by that time the proprietor of a large Brisbane drapery store in Fortitude Valley and Warden of the Council of the University, he pledged £20,000 (equivalent to about $3 million today) to establish the law school at UQ. In gratitude, the UQ named the school in his honour.
Genevieve, whose great grandfather Michael was Thomas Beirne's brother, said she was proud to be the first Beirne from her branch of the family to graduate with a law degree from UQ. She will be taking up a position as a graduate officer with the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra in the New Year.
