New South Wales
On 3 November 1837 he arrived in Sydney with his new wife. Initially Willis was on good terms with Sir James Dowling (who a few months later became chief justice), but in 1839 differences arose, and on one occasion Willis in open court made observations which were taken as a reflection on the chief justice. He also brought forward the question whether the chief justice had forfeited his office by acting as judge of the admiralty court. Matters came to such a pass that in March 1840 the governor, Sir George Gipps, arranged that Willis should be appointed resident judge at Melbourne. Arriving in Melbourne with 43 tonnes of luggage, he soon came in conflict with the press, the legal fraternity, and members of the public. In October 1842 Gipps stated in a dispatch that:
| “ | differences have again broken out between Mr J. Walpole Willis . . . a and the judges of the supreme court of Sydney ... for many months the town of Melbourne has been kept in a state of continued excitement by the proceedings of Mr Justice Willis and the extraordinary nature of the harangues, which he is in the habit of delivering from the bench. | ” |
In February 1843 Gipps recommended to Lord Stanley that Willis should be removed from his position. Willis left Melbourne for London later in February and appealed to the English government. In August 1846 the privy council reversed the order for his dismissal on technical grounds, and he was awarded the arrears of his salary to that date. Willis then offered his resignation, but this was not accepted and his commission was revoked. This course was taken because otherwise it might not have been understood that the order was reversed not as being "unjust in itself, but only as having been made in an improper manner" Willis was never given any other position.
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