levels in Physics and French. After completing his secondary education, in 1941, Murphy matriculated to the University of Sydney, though he had not been successful in gaining a university scholarship awarded to the top 100 in the state. His initial scholastic performance was ordinary and he briefly considered transferring to study a Bachelor of Arts majoring in psychology at the Faculty of Arts. Murphy excelled in his final year, graduating from the School of Chemistry, Faculty of Science with a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Organic Chemistry. In 1943, he commenced working in the chemical industry, thereby coming under the authority of the wartime Manpower Directorate. In 1945, Murphy commenced studying law at the Sydney Law School of the University of Sydney and, in 1949, graduated with a Bachelor of Laws with Honours. While at the University of Sydney, during both his science and law degrees, Murphy was politically and socially active and was involved in the Students' Chemistry Society, the Junior Science Association, and the Science Association. In 1944, in his third year of his science degree, Murphy was elected to the Students' Representative Council but was dismissed two hours after his election victory, on a "constitutional technicality". This event is said to have cemented his interest in politics and law, and he commenced participating in the university's debating society and its monthly debates the following year. Legal career Unusually, two years prior to his graduating with and possessing a law degree, Murphy passed the Barristers' Admission Board examination and was admitted to the New South Wales Bar Association in 1947. After graduating from the University of Sydney Faculty of Law, Murphy took up residence in University Chambers, Phillip Street and then moved to the fourth floor of Wentworth Chambers. He rapidly established himself as a labour/industrial lawyer, representing left-wing unionists. In 1960, he was appointed as a Queen's Counsel. Parliamentary career Murphy was a member of the Australian Labor Party from an early age. In the Senate pre-selection convention in the Sydney Trades Hall in April 1960, he had the backing of Ray Gietzelt but lacked factional endorsement. However, he drew first position in addressing the delegates and won support with an impassioned but well-structured and infectiously optimistic seven-minute speech on the Labor Party's historical commitment to civil liberties and human rights. He was elected to the Australian Senate in 1961, and, in 1967, he was elected