Editing Anthony Mason (judge) (section)

==Early life==
Mason was born in Sydney on 21 April 1925.<ref name=walker>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://www.hcourt.gov.au/assets/justices/coper_hca8_mason.pdf|chapter=Mason, Anthony Frank|first=Kristen|last=Walker|year=2001|title=Oxford Companion to the High Court of Australia|pages=459-460|editor-first1=Tony|editor-last1=Blackshield|editor-first2=Michael|editor-last2=Coper|editor-first3=George|editor-last3=Williams}}</ref> He was one of four children born to Eileen ({{nee|McArdle}}) and Frank Maxwell Mason. His father, a World War I veteran and [[Military Cross]] recipient, was a registered surveyor who developed a substantial practice on the [[North Shore (Sydney)|North Shore]] of Sydney. He served terms as president of the New South Wales bodies for surveying and town planning.<ref name=surveyor>{{cite journal|journal=Australian Surveyor|volume=38|number=2|pages=143-144|doi=10.1080/00050326.1993.10438852|title=Obituary: Frank Maxwell Mason|year=1993}}</ref>

Mason received his early education at [[Kincoppal School|Kincoppal, Elizabeth Bay]], where he was an acquaintance of future federal attorney-general [[Tom Hughes (Australian politician)|Tom Hughes]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/NSWBarAssocNews/2009/13.pdf|title=Tribute: The Hon T E F Hughes AO QC|first=Anthony|last=Mason|year=2009|journal=NSW Bar Association News|pages=24-25|volume=13}}</ref> He went on to attend [[Sydney Grammar School]] and became interested in law through his uncle [[Harold Mason (politician)|Harold Mason]], a prominent Sydney barrister who served briefly in state parliament.<ref name=walker/> His mother had also intended he become a barrister from a young age.<ref name=morgan>{{cite news|url=https://www.unsw.edu.au/newsroom/news/2016/10/from-mothers-to-mabo--audience-joins-sir-anthony-mason-on-a-stro|title=From mothers to Mabo, audience joins Sir Anthony Mason on a stroll through history|publisher=University of New South Wales|first=Clare|last=Morgan|date=6 October 2016|access-date=4 November 2024}}</ref> Mason's father divorced his mother in 1936, on the grounds she had engaged in "habitual drunkenness and neglect of domestic duties".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/17292449|title=In Divorce|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=19 December 1936}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/230909893|title=Lost Inferiority Complex: Story of Wife's Remark About Drink|newspaper=The Sun|date=18 December 1936|location=Sydney}}</ref> His father later remarried to Elvira Clare "Bobbie" Wood.<ref name=surveyor/>

Mason enlisted in the [[Royal Australian Air Force]] (RAAF) in January 1944 as an [[aircraftman]] (AC2). He was commissioned as a [[flying officer]] in November 1944 and undertook training in Canada as a navigator, logging over 100 hours in [[Avro Anson]]s.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/258994712|title=Navigator named Chief Justice of High Court|newspaper=RAAF News|date=1 March 1987}}</ref> He was discharged in September 1945, at which time he was stationed at the 2nd Aircrew Graduate Training School in [[Calgary]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://nominal-rolls.dva.gov.au/veteran?id=1056749&c=WW2#R|title=World War Two Service: Veteran Details|publisher=Department of Veterans' Affairs|access-date=4 November 2024}}</ref>

After leaving the military, Mason enrolled at the [[University of Sydney]] to study arts and law, graduating with first-class honours.<ref name=walker/> He later recalled [[Julius Stone]] as an influential lecturer and credited [[John Dashwood Holmes|John Holmes]] with inspiring his interest in constitutional law.<ref name=morgan/>  He served his [[articles of clerkship]] with [[Clayton Utz]] in Sydney and was also an [[judge's associate|associate]] to [[Ernest David Roper|David Roper]], a judge of the [[Supreme Court of New South Wales]].<ref name=walker/>