Sir Edmund Barton

Sir Edmund Barton 1849-1920, Australian jurist and statesman. He was a leader in the movement for Australian federation, and became the first prime minister of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901. He was knighted in 1902 and the next year was appointed justice of the High Court.

Barton, Sir Edmund (1849–1920) Australian statesman and jurist, first Prime Minister of Australia (1901–03). He helped to draft the proposed Commonwealth constitution and went to England in 1900 (accompanied by Alfred Deakin) to see the bill through Parliament. He resigned as Prime Minister in 1903 to become a senior judge in the High Court of Australia, serving until 1920.

Barton, Sir Edmund (b. 18 Jan. 1849, d. 7 Jan. 1920). Prime Minister of Australia 1901–3 Born at Glebe, Sydney, he studied classics at the University of Sydney and was admitted to the Bar on 21 December 1871. A free trader, he was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in 1879, whose Speaker he became in 1883. He resigned in 1887, and subsequently concentrated his efforts on promoting the cause of an Australian Federation, taking over the leadership of the federal movement in New South Wales in 1891. Because of his tireless and patient advocacy of federation, he became the accepted leader of the federal movement in all Australia, and was the first of forty-nine candidates to be elected to the Australasian Federal Convention. Following an arduous campaign to convince his home state to join, he led a delegation to explain the proposed Constitution to Joseph Chamberlain and the imperial government in London in 1900. The Commonwealth of Australia was thus proclaimed on 1 January 1901, with Barton becoming its first Prime Minister.