Edmund Barton

Sir Edmund Barton , (born January 18, 1849 in Sydney , New South Wales , † January 7, 1920 in Medlow Bath , New South Wales) was an Australian politician and the country's first Prime Minister . His term of office lasted from January 1, 1901 to September 24, 1903.

Edmund Barton, 1869

Edmund Barton

Life

Start of political career

Edmund Barton was born the youngest of nine children to William and Mary Louise Barton . His father was Sydney's first stockbroker. At the age of seven, he began his education at Fort Street High School . At the age of ten he moved to the Sydney Grammar School . After graduating from school in 1865, he began studying at the University of Sydney . In 1868 he received his Bachelor , Accounts and two years later at the age of 21, his Master Accounts.

From 1868 Edmund Barton also worked in a law firm. At the end of 1871 he was admitted to the bar ( barrister ) in high courts. He worked as a lawyer through the 1870s. At the suggestion of his friend George Reid , who later became the 4th Prime Minister of Australia, he joined the debating club of a university at that time , in which many social and economic issues were discussed. There he also trained his rhetoric.

Edmund Barton married on December 28, 1877 in Newcastle Jane Mason Ross with whom he had four sons, Edmund Alfred (1879), Wilfrid (1880), Arnold Hubert (1884) and Oswald (1888) and two daughters, Jean Alice (1882) and Leila Stephanie (1892) had.

From the mid-1870s he began to embark on a political career. After two failed attempts in 1876 and 1877, he was able to win a seat in the colonial parliament of New South Wales in 1879 . With various interruptions, he was a member of parliament for various constituencies until 1900. At the age of only 33 he became speaker of parliament in 1882, an office which he held until 1887.

At the beginning of the 1890s Edmund Barton's political attitude changed, away from the Free Trade Party (FT) under George Reid to the Protectionist Party (PROT), for which he ran as a candidate in the elections from 1891.

Edmund Barton was one of the leading proponents of the creation of an Australian Confederation . As a delegate of the colony of New South Wales, he took part in the constituent assemblies of 1890 and 1891 and in 1897 and 1898. In March 1900 he led a delegation to London to see the adoption of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Bill , which contained the constitutional text, by the British Parliament.

Prime Minister and Chief Justice

Edmund Barton's appointment as Australia's first Prime Minister in December 1900 was preceded by controversy. The first Governor General of Australia, Lord John Hope , had initially designated the then Prime Minister of New South Wales Sir William Lyne for the office. However, since he had acted as an opponent of the Australian Confederation in previous years, this nomination led to massive protests. Finally, on December 24th, Lord John Hope hired Edmund Barton as the leader of the Australian Confederation to form a government. Just one day later he was able to present his first cabinet.

This first cabinet was supposed to build the basis for a functioning administration and to prepare the first parliamentary elections scheduled for March 29, 1901. After this election Edmund Bartons Protectionist Party was able to form a government together with the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and so he was sworn in on May 9, 1901 as the first elected Prime Minister. His second cabinet, which was only reorganized in one position, continued to deal primarily with the financial and legal structure of the federal administration.

Of the 95 laws that were passed during Edmund Barton's reign, the following should be highlighted:

• Federal Immigration Restriction Act and Pacific Island Laborers Act (1901): These two laws regulated immigration and the right to stay in Australia.
• Federal Public Service Act (1902): This law regulates the responsibilities of the federal government and its sources of income.
• Commonwealth Franchise Act (1902): This law introduced women's suffrage at the federal level.
• Judiciary Act (1903): The basic legal framework and the establishment of the High Court of Australia were established with this law.

Edmund Barton spent most of 1902 in England , where he had traveled for Edward VII's coronation . During the visit, he negotiated an agreement that established the continued presence of the British Navy in Sydney. He was also knighted as the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG) . In Australia he was represented in his office by Alfred Deakin during this time .

Less than a month after the Judiciary Act came into force , Edmund Barton resigned as Prime Minister on September 24, 1903, in order to be able to follow his appointment as judge of the High Court of Australia .

Edmund Barton served as judge at the Australian Supreme Court until the day of his death. He suffered a heart attack on January 7, 1920 while on vacation in Medlow Bath, New South Wales.

Freemasonry

Almost a third of the members of the first Australian parliament were Freemasons . Barton was a member of Australia Lodge of Harmony No. 556 and was initiated on March 3, 1878. On June 9, 1880, he was appointed Senior Deacon of the Masonic Lodge. This lodge became No. 5 with the establishment of the United Grand Lodge of New South Wales in 1888 .

Web links

Commons : Edmund Barton  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography

Individual evidence

1. ^ William R. Denslow, Harry S. Truman : 10,000 Famous Freemasons from A to J, Part One . Kessinger Publishing, ISBN 1-4179-7578-4 .