News
19 February, 2026
Vale Bohdan Bilinsky – well respected local lawyer passes away aged 85
Well respected Southern Highlands lawyer Bohdan Bilinsky OAM passed away on February 15, aged 85.
Well respected Southern Highlands lawyer Bohdan Bilinsky OAM passed away on February 15, aged 85.
His funeral will be held at St Judes Church in Bowral tomorrow morning (Saturday 21 February) at 10:30am.
He is survived by a son and a daughter, Alison and Nicholas, with wife Janet and other son Cameron recently deceased.
Bilinsky worked with Wingecarribee Council as a solicitor for almost 20 years, and was also involved in numerous community concerns including infrastructure, developments, and the availability of facilities.
He also served as partner at his firm, B. Bilinsky and Co in Walker St, Bowral for close to 35 years.
He was born in Ukraine on the 8th August 1940, emigrating to Australia in 1949.
An old article from a Sydney newspaper from 1954, the Mirror, said that Mr Bilinsky could interpret in six languages in court cases at Campsie, Windsor, Penrith and Parramatta as young as 14 - his father was also an interpreter.
He spoke English, German and Ukrainian, and could also understand Polish and Russian.
He also attended Homebush High School before attaining a Commonwealth Scholarship to Sydney University in 1958.
He graduated in Arts and Law and then subsequently went on to receive a Masters degree in each faculty.
He was admitted as a solicitor in NSW in 1964 and also in England, and became a notary public in 1994 (similar to a Justice of the Peace).
He was awarded with the Order of Australia in 2015 for his significant contributions to tertiary legal education.
Bilinsky held the role of full time senior lecturer and sub-dean of the faculty of law at the University of Sydney from 1971 -1994 and was also made an Honorary Fellow of the University of Sydney in 2009.
He also met former High Court of Australia judge Justice Michael Kirby while they were studying together at Sydney University, and remained long-time friends, with Justice Kirby giving a eulogy at the Memorial service for Bohdan's brother Claudius (Claude), also a lawyer, in 2017.
He also served on the university’s senate, academic board, advisory committee, the Board of Adult Education, the Centre for Continuing Education, and was also a member of the University’s Alumni Council for more than 20 years among many other roles and titles.
He also held visiting fellowships at the University of Cambridge in the UK as well as in the USA at the University of Texas in Austin.
Mr Bilinsky was also associated with the establishment of the Wentworth Building, a joint enterprise between the Sydney University Union and the Sydney University Women’s Union which resulted in the amalgamation of the two bodies into the University of Sydney Union (USU).
Those services were commemorated in a room named after him in the Holme Building at the University in 1991.
Mr Bilinsky had also been involved in the Highlands sporting scene for many years, appointed to the Highlands District Cricket Association (HDCA) judiciary panel, and serving as a NSW umpire for more than 20 years.
Read More: Bowral, Southern Highlands