Boss cocky

Edmund Barton

When you're Australian, you know things are awry when broadly speaking, you know more about Presidents of the United States than your own country's Prime Ministers. To correct this imbalance, I'm taking on a personal project of reading a biography of every Australian Prime Minister since 1901, starting with Edmund Barton (1849-1920). One of several Prime Ministerial biographies published to commemorate the centenary of Australian federation in 2001, I just finished reading Geoffrey Bolton's Edmund Barton: The One Man for the Job.

Barton was educated at the Fort Street Model School, Sydney Grammar School and the University of Sydney. Whilst a student at the University of Sydney, Barton was secretary of the University cricket club. Before entering the New South Wales Parliament, he worked in the legal profession, and continued to work sporadically as a barrister and solicitor during his political career. He was also a leading campaigner for Australian federation during the 1890s, rising to become Australia's first Prime Minister in January 1901.

He resigned from office in September 1903, to take up a position as a judge in the first High Court of Australia, remaining in this position until his death in 1920.

Just think, if you are secretary of your cricket club, you too could one day become Prime Minister of Australia. Then again, you might have more job security at the cricket club than as Prime Minister.