Charles Waterstreet

Charles Christian Waterstreet (born 1950) is an Australian author, barrister, and filmmaker. He has written two memoirs, produced two films,^[1] and is now a columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald.^[2] He is one of the co-creators of the ABC Television series Rake, which is loosely based on his life.^[3]

Early life and education

Born in Albury, New South Wales, Waterstreet was educated Waverley College and the University of Sydney, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts (majoring in English, History, and Political Science) and a Bachelor of Laws. During his time at the University of Sydney, he resided at both St John's College and St Andrew's College.

Career

Legal career

Waterstreet began his career teaching Public Law and the Law of Protest at the University of New South Wales (1975–78). He was admitted to the Bar in 1974, starting his legal career as a barrister at Seven Wentworth Barristers' Chambers in 1978, and was a founding member of Forbes Chambers, which was established in 1989. Waterstreet has appeared in many criminal and civil cases in all courts in New South Wales and in the High Court of Australia. He regularly practices in Victoria, Tasmania, Queensland and Vanuatu. In his early years, he appeared on R v Barton, R v Miller, The Greek Social Security Case, and a number of murder and serious crime matters.

Waterstreet has appeared in many difficult trials involving complex social and factual issues. In R v English, he won a rare acquittal in respect of a solicitor in the "bottom of the harbour" prosecutions. He appeared regularly in a number of alleged sexual abuse cases including false memory syndrome. He spends most of his courtroom career at the criminal bar, in jury trials on behalf of the defence. He has argued successfully in the High Court on equity and criminal law.

Arts career

Waterstreet is a theatre and film producer. In 1986, he produced Howling III and in 1990 he produced Blood Oath. Along with Richard Roxburgh and Peter Duncan, he is a co-creator of the ABC TV series Rake.^[4]

He began a theatrical career in producing the hit Boys Own Macbeth with Graeme Bond from 1979 which ran for nearly three years.^[3] It toured America with an all-Australian cast. In film he co-produced The Marsupials – The Howling III with director Philippe Mora, which became a cult classic, and extracts playing currently in theatres in the USA in not quite "Not Quite Hollywood". In 1990 he produced the highly respected Blood Oath which starred Bryan Brown, Russell Crowe and Deborah Kara Unger. The film was successfully released in Japanese theatres in April 1991 and in the United States in June of that year. It was shown at the celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of the Geneva Convention on 12 August 1999 in Moscow to highlight aspects of international humanitarian law.

Waterstreet has been a member of the Aspen FilmFest Advisory Committee since 1993. In 1996, he produced Next to Nothing with TCN9 and Mushroom Pictures.

He is the author of Precious Bodily Fluids: A Larrikin's Memoir (Hodder Headline Australia and UK, 1998), which was re-issued by Hachette in 2008 as an Australian classic, and its sequel, Repeating the Leaving (Hodder Headline Australia, 2001).

Waterstreet's law publications include:

• Tricks of Memory – for the Medico-Legal Society of New South Wales, 12 June 1996
• Inner child is at the mercy of the memory "therapists" – review of Richard Guilliatt's book, Talk of the Devil – The Sydney Morning Herald, 2 November 1996
• Down False Memory Lane – Aspects of Current Law in New South Wales – Crown Prosecutor's Annual Conference, 15 April 1998
• "Recovered Memory Syndrome – Remembrance of Things Past" – LAAMS Seminar: States of Mind: Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology for Family & Criminal Lawyers, 1 July 1998
• Law for the Public (contributor) – published by Penguin

He is also a regular columnist for the Sun Herald, where he has a weekly feature article in the "Extra" section named "Waterstreetlife".

Personal life

Waterstreet had been romantically linked to actress Kate Fitzpatrick.^[3] He also dated journalist Gretel Killeen for a short time, and the two remain close friends.^[5]

Waterstreet is a former Catholic, as documented in Precious Bodily Fluids.

Prominent cases

Waterstreet being a prominent barrister, appears in many high profile criminal and civil cases in all courts in New South Wales, as well as the High Court of Australia. He has also appeared in cases in Victoria, Tasmania, Queensland and Vanuatu at various times in his career. Some of his more prominent cases include:

• R v Barton (1978)
• The Greek Social Security Case (1978)
• R v Miller (1983)
• R v English (1987)
• R v Adam (1999)
• O'Halloran v The Queen (2001, HCA)
• Chung v The Queen (2001, HCA)
• Glossop v The Queen (2002, HCA)
• R v El-Azzi (2004)
• Regina (C'Wealth) v Baladjam & Ors (2008–09)
• Lange v Back & Schwartz (2009)
• Jedah Jodeh v R (2011)
• R v Michael Anthony Ryan (2012)
• The Queen v Khazaal (2012, HCA)

References