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Edmund Barton
Edmund Barton · Unknown author Unknown author, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
Person

Edmund Barton

1849 – 1920 · aged 71

Australian politician, first Prime Minister of Australia and founding justice of the High Court of Australia (1849-1920)

Born
18 Jan 1849 · Glebe
Died
7 Jan 1920 · Medlow Bath
Part ofAustralia1808 – todayAnglicanism1473 – today

Life timeline

Their life from birth to death. On the timeline, world events of the time are shown faintly.

Showing 82 years
  1. 18 Jan 1849BornBorn in Glebe
  2. 1879 – 1880RoleMember of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
  3. 1880 – 1882RoleMember of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
  4. 1882 – 1894RoleMember of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
  5. 1883 – 1887RoleSpeaker of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
  6. 1887 – 1891RoleMember of the New South Wales Legislative Council
  7. 1889RoleAttorney General of New South Wales
  8. 1889RoleLeader of the Government in the Legislative Council
  9. 1891 – 1893RoleAttorney General of New South Wales
  10. 1897 – 1898RoleMember of the New South Wales Legislative Council
  11. 1898 – 1900RoleMember of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
  12. 1901 – 1903RoleMinister for Foreign Affairs (Australia)
  13. 1901 – 1903RolePrime Minister of Australia
  14. 1901 – 1903RoleMember of the Australian House of Representatives
  15. 1901RoleMember of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
  16. 1902AwardKnight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George
  17. 1903 – 1920RoleJustice of the High Court of Australia
  18. 7 Jan 1920DiedDied in Medlow Bath

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Meanwhile in the world

Major world events during their lifetime (1849 – 1920).

  1. 1853 – 1856Crimean War
  2. 1857 – 1858Indian Rebellion of 1857
  3. 1870 – 1871Franco-Prussian War
  4. 18961896 Summer Olympics
  5. 1898Spanish–American War
  6. 1904 – 1905Russo-Japanese War
  7. 1914 – 1918World War I
  8. 1915 – 1923Armenian genocide
  9. 1917Balfour Declaration
  10. 1917February Revolution
  11. 1917October Revolution
  12. 1917 – 1922Russian Civil War
  13. 1919 – 1920Paris Peace Conference
  14. 1920Treaty of Versailles

Biography

Sir Edmund "Toby" Barton (18 January 1849 – 7 January 1920) was the first prime minister of Australia, serving from 1901 to 1903. He held office as the leader of the Protectionist Party, before resigning in 1903 to become a founding justice of the High Court of Australia, on which he served until his death in 1920. Barton is regarded as a founding father of Australia, a principal leader in the federation of the Australian colonies and a drafter of the Commonwealth Constitution.

Barton was an early supporter of the federation of the Australian colonies, the goal of which he summarised as "a nation for a continent, and a continent for a nation". After the retirement of Henry Parkes he came to be seen as the leader of the federation movement in New South Wales. He was a delegate to the constitutional conventions, playing a key role in the drafting of a national constitution, and was one of the lead campaigners for federation in the subsequent referendums. In late 1900, despite the initial "Hopetoun Blunder", Barton was commissioned to form a caretaker government as Australia's first prime minister. His term began on 1 January 1901, the date on which federation occurred.

At the first federal election in March 1901, Barton and the Protectionists won the most seats, but were well short of a majority. He was able to remain as prime minister by forming an alliance with the fledgling Australian Labor Party (ALP), which held the balance of power. The Barton government established a number of new national institutions, including the Australian Defence Force and the Commonwealth Public Service. It introduced nation-wide women's suffrage, and laid the foundations of the White Australia policy with the Immigration Restriction Act 1901.

Barton left politics in 1903 to become one of the three founding members of the High Court, which his government had created. He was succeeded as prime minister by Alfred Deakin. On the court, Barton was able to shape the judicial interpretation of the constitution he had helped write.

Text from the Wikipedia article Edmund Barton, CC BY-SA 4.0

About this information

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