Graeme Johnstone as a cadet
at Geelong College. (Barnard)
After graduating from Monash University LLB and B Juris, Graeme embarked on the successful legal career which was to lead to his appointment as Deputy Coroner in 1988 and as Chief State Coroner (Vic) in November 1994. He commenced practice in 1971 with the legal firm Muntz and Muntz. Admitted to the Bar in 1973, he practised until his appointment to the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria in 1986. He also sat on the Small Claims Tribunal and the Residential Tenancies Tribunal for 9 years. Among the many enquiries he led were those into the death of Jaidyn Leskie, the disappearance of Louise and Charmian Faulkner in 1980, and the deaths caused by the Esso Longford Gas Explosion and the Linton Bushfire. After his enquiry into a 2004 car collision on the Midland Highway he called for the introduction of electronic stability control (ESC) on all new cars. ESC became compulsory in Australia on 1 November 2011. Following his investigation of Harold Holt’s death, around which colourful theories such as suicide or kidnapping by a Chinese submarine abounded, he commented that