Virginia Judge

Dianne Virginia Judge was born in Cooma, New South Wales, on 19 August 1956, the daughter of Cecily and Henry Judge. Her father was posted to New Delhi as a diplomat associated with the Colombo Plan, and her early schooling took place in both Canberra and India, at St Joseph's in Lyneham and at the British School in Delhi. She returned to Canberra for her secondary education at Catholic Girls High School, Braddon.

From an early age she was an aspiring coloratura soprano. She won many awards at the Australian National Eisteddfod in Canberra and gained distinctions at sixth grade with the NSW Music Examinations Advisory Board in speech and drama, pianoforte and music theory. Her hoped-for career as an opera singer was cut short by vocal cord polyps.

She received a Bachelor of Education from the Canberra College of Advanced Education, later the University of Canberra, and the Canberra School of Music. She later also studied law part-time at Macquarie University.

Judge taught in primary and secondary schools in Sydney and Canberra. As a volunteer with Australian Volunteers Abroad through the Overseas Service Bureau she taught at Queen Salote College, a large high school in Nuku'alofa, Tonga. She also worked as a project officer for the Australian Foundation for the Peoples of the South Pacific, now known as Action on Poverty, helping deliver items such as humidicribs, toilets and ovens to Nauru, the Solomon Islands and Fiji. Back in Sydney she resumed teaching, including at a special school for students with intellectual disabilities, and also worked in real estate.

She was elected to Strathfield Municipal Council in 1995 as an independent councillor and became known for her grassroots engagement with residents. In 2000 she led a successful Labor team and in July that year became Mayor of Strathfield, the first woman from the Australian Labor Party in the role, serving until March 2003. Her regular Meet the Mayor sessions earned her the nickname "the Milk Crate Mayor". As mayor she pursued administrative reform, introduced mandatory rainwater tanks in new developments and expanded recycling and green waste services, supported heritage conservation, and oversaw Strathfield's Centenary of Federation celebrations in 2001.

At the 2003 state election she was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly as the first woman to represent Strathfield, succeeding Paul Whelan, and she was re-elected in 2007. In May 2007, in the Iemma government, she became Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Minister for Education and Training, Industrial Relations, and the Minister Assisting the Minister for Finance. When Nathan Rees became Premier in September 2008 she was appointed Minister for Fair Trading, Minister for Citizenship and Minister Assisting the Premier on the Arts. After Kristina Keneally replaced Rees in December 2009, Judge kept Fair Trading and became Minister for the Arts, the first woman to hold the portfolio in New South Wales. She served until Labor lost office at the March 2011 election, when Charles Casuscelli won Strathfield.

In July 2011 she became head of strategic partnerships at the Children's Medical Research Institute in Sydney, and she later worked in business development at the Heart Research Institute in Newtown.

Judge's personal interests included writing poetry, reading, playing the piano and guitar, and supporting music, dance, theatre, film, art and design. After leaving parliament she joined the boards of Riverside Theatres Parramatta and Gallery 49 in Marrickville, and was a long-time Vanguard member of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Sydney Dance Company. In October 2016 she was appointed a trustee and director of the Australian Museum Foundation, and in July 2017 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales, later serving on its council.

She lived in Strathfield and was the mother of three daughters, Cecily, Theresa and Rebecca.

Virginia Judge died on 24 February 2026, aged 69. Her family's death notice in The Sydney Morning Herald said she passed away quietly, resting and with a smile. The cause of her death was not made public.

Strathfield Council paid tribute to its former councillor and mayor on 26 February 2026, thanking her for her service and dedication to the community. Her funeral service was held at St Martha's Catholic Church in Strathfield on 6 March 2026.

Judge is remembered as a trailblazer for women in Strathfield, as the first Labor woman to serve as its mayor and the first woman to represent it in state parliament, and as the first woman to serve as Minister for the Arts in New South Wales. Local historians credited her with significant contributions to Strathfield in the arts, the environment, community development, heritage and health, guided throughout by a commitment to inclusive and socially cohesive communities.