Deakin, Alfred (b. 3 Aug. 1856, d. 7 Oct. 1919). Prime Minister of Australia 1903, 1905–8, 1909–10 Born at Collingwood, Melbourne, he studied law in Melbourne and in 1878 was admitted to the Bar, though he was never a passionate lawyer. He started a career in journalism, and in 1880 was elected to the Victorian Parliament as a Liberal. He held a number of posts in various coalition governments, 1883–90, and was an active member of the opposition, 1890–1900. From 1887, he became increasingly involved in the campaign for an Australian Federation, and, together with
Barton, in 1900 he became part of the delegation presenting the case of a federal Australia to the British government.
As Prime Minister, he took care to strengthen the federation, e.g. through the realization of a uniform tariff, the ordering of a survey of a transcontinental railway line, and the building of a separate Australian navy. Especially during his second term, with the support of
Labor, he also introduced a number of reform measures, such as old-age pensions. His regulation to ensure minimum wage levels established the concept of a basic wage in 1907. Deakin hoped to stop the progressive decline of the Liberals against Labor through a ‘fusion’ of non-Labour groups into an enlarged
Liberal Party, with whose support he led his third government. However, he was heavily defeated in 1910, and retired from politics in 1913. Of his writings the most revealing about contemporary political life are the posthumously published
The Federal Story (1944) and the edited
Federated Australia: Selections from Letters to the Morning Post, 1900–1910 (1968).
Harvester judgment
