Death and legacy. Sanjay Gandhi died instantly from head wounds in an air crash on 23 June 1980 near Safdarjung Airport in New Delhi. He was flying a new aircraft of the Delhi Flying club, and, while performing an aerobatic maneuver over his office, lost control and crashed.
However, after Sir Samuel Griffith had accepted the first place, Sir Edmund Barton was prevailed upon to accept the second, and they, with the late Mr Justice O'Connor, were sworn in as the first High Court bench in October 1903.
Many years elapsed before the first Federal Convention was elected. In the meantime, Sir Edmund Barton, aloof from party conflict, had established himself leader of the Federal movement in New South Wales, and at the election for the Convention in New South Wales in March 1897, he was placed at the head of the poll.