Edmund Barton
Sir Edmund "Toby" Barton was an Australian politician, barrister and jurist who served as the first prime minister of Australia 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, 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.
Early life
Barton was born on 18 January 1849 in Glebe, Sydney, New South Wales. He was the eleventh of twelve children born to Mary Louisa and William Barton. He had seven sisters and four brothers, including the writer George Burnett Barton. Three of his siblings died during his childhood. His given name had not previously been used in the family, and may have been in honour of the recently deceased explorer Edmund Kennedy. Barton's parents were both born in London, England, although his father's family was originally from Devon. They arrived in the Colony of New South Wales in 1827, and all but two of their children were born in Australia. William Barton worked variously as an accountant, bazaar proprietor, stockbroker, and real estate agent. His business ventures were not always successful, and he went bankrupt on one occasion.Childhood and education
Barton spent his early years in Glebe, but in 1851 the family moved into the inner city, living on Cumberland Street in The Rocks. He had a relatively comfortable upbringing, although his father faced financial difficulties on a number of occasions. To support the family during those periods, his mother ran a boarding school for girls. His parents were both highly literate, and his mother in particular "provided much of the direction and encouragement for Edmund's impressive academic achievement". Barton began his formal education at what is now the Fort Street Public School. He later attended Sydney Grammar School, possibly as one of the first students after the school's opening in 1857. One of his close friends in his youth was Richard O'Connor, who would eventually join him on the High Court. Barton was the dux and school captain at Sydney Grammar in 1863 and 1864. He matriculated at the University of Sydney in 1865, aged 16, and was awarded a special prize by the university senate. Barton failed to win one of the three entrance scholarships to the University, owing to "an insufficiency of mathematics".At university, Barton specialised in classics but also studied English literature, mathematics, physics, and French. He became fluent in Ancient Greek and Latin, and retained a command of both later in life. A new professor, Charles Badham, arrived in 1867 and was a "profound influence". Barton won scholarships in his second and third years. He graduated Bachelor of Arts in 1868 with first-class honours, and was awarded the equivalent of the University Medal as well as a prize of £20. He proceeded to Master of Arts by examination in 1870.
Sporting activities
Barton was a member of the Sydney University Cricket Club and a founding member of the Sydney Rowing Club. On a cricketing trip to Newcastle in 1870 he met Jane Mason Ross, whom he married in 1877.In 1879, Barton umpired a cricket match at Sydney Cricket Ground between New South Wales and an English touring side captained by Lord Harris. After a controversial decision by Barton's colleague George Coulthard against the home side, the crowd spilled onto the pitch and assaulted some of the English players, leading to international cricket's first riot. In the subsequent public controversy, George Reid censured Coulthard and absolved the crowd, while Barton defended Coulthard and did not spare the crowd. The publicity that attended the young Barton's presence of mind in defusing that situation reputedly helped him take his first step towards becoming Australia's first prime minister, winning a state lower house seat later that year.
New South Wales politics
In 1876 Barton stood for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in the poll of the graduates of the University of Sydney, but was beaten by William Charles Windeyer 49 votes to 43. When Windeyer resigned, Barton won the 1879 by-election. When it was abolished in 1880, he became the member for Wellington, from November 1880 to 1882, and East Sydney, from November 1882 to January 1887. At this stage he considered it "almost unnecessary" to point out his support for free trade.In 1882, he became Speaker of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly. He was aged only 33, and was the youngest person to have been chosen presiding officer of any Australian legislative chamber. In 1884 he was elected President of the University of Sydney Union. In 1887, he was appointed to the New South Wales Legislative Council at the instigation of Sir Henry Parkes. In January 1889, he agreed to being appointed Attorney General of New South Wales in George Dibbs's Protectionist government, despite his previous support for free trade. This government lasted only until March, when Parkes formed a government again.
Campaign for federation
1891 National Australasian Convention
Barton was an early supporter of federation, which became a serious political agenda after Henry Parkes' Tenterfield Oration, and was a delegate to the March 1891 National Australasian Convention. At the convention he made clear his support for the principle that "trade and intercourse ... shall be absolutely free" in a federal Australia. He also advocated that not just the lower house but also the upper house should be representative and that appeals to the Privy Council should be abolished. He also took part in producing a draft constitution, which was substantially similar to the Constitution of Australia enacted in 1900.Nevertheless, the protectionists were lukewarm supporters of federation and in June 1891, Barton resigned from the Council and stood for election to East Sydney and announced that "so long as Protection meant a Ministry of enemies to Federation, they would get no vote from him". He topped the poll and subsequently voted with Parkes, but refused to take a position in his minority government. After the Labor Party withdrew support and the government fell in October 1891, Parkes persuaded him to take over the leadership of the Federal movement in New South Wales.
Second Attorney-Generalship
Dibbs formed a Protectionist government in New South Wales, and Barton agreed to return to the office of Attorney General, with the right of carrying out private practice as a lawyer. His agreement was based on Dibbs agreeing to support federal resolutions in the coming parliamentary session. His attempt to draft the federal resolutions was delayed by a period as acting Premier of New South Wales, during which he had to deal with the 1892 Broken Hill miners' strike and the carriage of a complex electoral reform bill. He introduced the federal resolutions into the House on 22 November 1892, but was unable to get them considered in committee.Meanwhile, he began a campaign to spread support for federation to the people with meetings in Corowa and Albury in December 1892. Although he finally managed to get the federal resolutions considered in committee in October 1893, he then could not get them listed for debate by the House. In December, he and Richard O'Connor, the Minister for Justice, were questioned about their agreement to act as private lawyers against the government in Proudfoot v. the Railway Commissioners. While Barton resigned the brief, he lost a motion on the right of ministers to act in their professional capacity as lawyers in actions against the government, and immediately resigned as Attorney-General.
In July 1894, Barton stood for re-election for Randwick, since the electorate of East Sydney had been abolished, and lost. He did not stand for election in the 1895 election, very possibly because of financial difficulties. However, he continued to campaign for federation and during the period between January 1893 to February 1897, Barton addressed nearly 300 meetings in New South Wales, including in the Sydney suburb of Ashfield where he declared that "For the first time in history, we have a nation for a continent and a continent for a nation". By March 1897, he was considered "the acknowledged leader of the federal movement in all Australia".