High Court of Australia
4iN
tHe HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA,
SOUTHERN ~
REASONS FOR JUDGMENT
Oral
Judgment delivered at... 2 G0eY
p suesday y 23rd. November "1971
on
SOUTHERN ve
THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
ORDER
Appeal allowed with costs. Order of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory set aside and in lieu thereof order that a verdict be entered in the action for the plaintiff
in the sum of $8,500 with costs.
SOUTHERN
ve
THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
JUDGMENT BARWICK C.d. (ORAL)
eR
SOUTHERN
Ve
THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
The appellant was employed by the respondent Commonwealth. He was injured at work while performing his duties. The respondent was placing a catwalk from the bank of a stream in the Northern Territory to a vertical bore casing standing midstream.
The method employed was to draw the metal catwalk from the bank towards the bore casing by a wire sling placed around the catwalk and attached to a wire rope passing over a pulley on the bore casing and drawn by a motor vehicle operating on the other bank of the stream.
When the catwalk had been drawn to a point so proximate to the casing that it was appropriate to have an employee in position to affix the end of the catwalk to the casing, the appellant was required to be on the catwalk, at that time suspended over the stream, and supported by the wire sling and rope attached to the motor vehicle.
Of a sudden, the appellant was precipitated to the ground, suffering injury. The rope support of the suspension of
the catwalk had parted. No more is known of the occurrence;
neither the appellant nor the respondent called evidence explanatory of the breaking of the wire rope.
The learned trial judge found for the respondent. He said - and I would read what he said at pages 86 and 87 of his reasons for Judgment:
"There is, of course, no absolute duty to
provide equipment which is without a defect.
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