Dr Michael White OAM QC is a barrister and legal academic with a particular specialism in maritime law. After a career in the Royal Australian Navy, retiring as a Lieutenant-Commander in 1969, he studied law at the University of Queensland and became a barrister, eventually being made Queen's Counsel in 1988. Since 1999 he has been an academic at the University of Queensland. He has a particular interest in family history, and has collected extensive research material on different branches of the Duckett White family in Australia, culminating in the publication of two books: An early settler : the Duckett White family in Australia (1990) and 19th Century Pioneer: Frank Villeneuve Nicholson Family in Australia (2016).