Everything about Alfred Deakin totally explained
Alfred Deakin (
3 August 1856 –
7 October 1919),
Australian politician, was a leader of the movement for
Australian federation and later second
Prime Minister of Australia. In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, Deakin was a major contributor to the establishment of liberal reforms in the colony of
Victoria, including the protection of rights at work. He also played a major part in establishing
irrigation in Australia. It is likely that he could have been
Premier, but he chose to devote his energy to federation.
Throughout the 1890s Deakin was a participant in conferences of representatives of the Australian colonies that were established to draft a
constitution for the proposed federation. He played an important role in ensuring that the draft was liberal and democratic and in achieving compromises to enable its eventual success. Between conferences, he worked to popularise the concept of federation and campaigned for its acceptance in colonial referenda. He then fought hard to ensure acceptance of the proposed constitution by the
Government of the United Kingdom.
As Prime Minister, Deakin completed a vast legislative program that makes him, with
Labor's
Andrew Fisher, the founder of an effective
Commonwealth government. He expanded the
High Court, provided major funding for the purchase of ships—leading to the establishment of the
Royal Australian Navy as a significant force under the
Fisher government—and established Australian control of
Papua. Confronted by the rising
Australian Labor Party in 1909, he merged his
Protectionist Party with
George Reid's
Free Trade Party to create the
Fusion, the main ancestor of the modern
Liberal Party of Australia.
Early life
Alfred Deakin was the only son of English immigrants, William Deakin and his wife Sarah Bill, daughter of a
Shropshire farmer, who had migrated to Australia in 1850 and settling in the
Melbourne suburb of
Collingwood in 1853. William Deakin worked as a storekeeper, water-carter and general carrier and then became a partner in a coaching business and later manager of
Cobb and Co in Victoria.
Deakin was born at 90 George Street,
Fitzroy,
Melbourne and began his education at the age of four in a boarding school that was initially located at
Kyneton, but later moved to the Melbourne suburb of
South Yarra. In 1864 he became a day pupil at
Melbourne Grammar School, but didn't study seriously until his later school years, when he came under the influence of J. H. Thompson and the school's headmaster,
John Edward Bromby, whose oratorical style Deakin admired and later partly adopted. In 1871 he matriculated with good passes in history,
algebra and
Euclid and basic passes in English and
Latin. He began evening classes in law at the
University of Melbourne, while working as a schoolteacher and private tutor. He also spoke frequently at the University Debating Club founded by
Charles Henry Pearson in 1874, read widely, dabbled in writing and became a lifelong
spiritualist,
Deakin graduated in 1877 and began practising as a
barrister, but had difficulty in obtaining briefs. In May 1878, he met
David Syme, the owner of the Melbourne daily
The Age, who paid him to contribute reviews, leaders and articles on politics and literature. In 1880, he became editor of
the Leader,
the Age's weekly. During this period Syme converted him from supporting free trade to protectionism.
Victorian politics
Deakin stood for the largely rural seat of West Bourke in the
Victorian Legislative Assembly in February 1879, as a supporter of
Legislative Council reform, protection to encourage manufacturing and the introduction of a land tax to break up the big agricultural estates, and won by 79 votes. Due to a number of voters being disenfranchised by a shortage of voting papers, he resigned and lost the subsequent by-election by 15 votes, narrowly lost the seat in the February 1880 general election, but won it in yet another early general election in July 1880. The radical Premier,
Graham Berry, offered him the position of Attorney General in August, but Deakin turned him down.
In 1883 Deakin became Commissioner for Public Works and Water Supply, and in 1884 he became Solicitor-General and Minister of Public Works. In 1885 Deakin secured the passage of the colony’s pioneering Factories and Shops Act, enforcing regulation of employment conditions and hours of work.
In 1906 Deakin's government amended the Judiciary Act to increase the size of the
High Court to five judges, as envisaged in the constitution, and appointed
Isaac Isaacs and
H. B. Higgins to fill the two additional seats. The first protective Federal tariff, the Australian Industries Protection Act was passed. This "New Protection" measure attempted to force companies to pay fair wages by setting conditions for tariff protection, although the Commonwealth had no powers over wages and prices.
[ He is buried in the St. Kilda Cemetery alongside his wife.
]Journalism
Deakin continued to write prolifically throughout his career. He wrote anonymous political commentaries for the London Morning Post even while he was prime minister. His account of the federation movement appeared as The Federal Story in 1944 and is a vital primary source for this history. His account of his career in Victorian politics in the 1880s was published as The Crisis in Victorian Politics in 1957. His collected journalism was published as Federated Australia in 1968.[
]Legacy
Alfred Deakin was almost universally liked, admired and respected by his contemporaries, who called him "Affable Alfred." He made his only real enemies at the time of the Fusion, when not only Labor but some liberals such as William Lyne reviled him as a traitor.[
He had a long and happy marriage and was survived by his wife and their three daughters:]
- Ivy (1883 - 1970) married Herbert Brookes
- Stella (1886 - 1976) married Sir David Rivett
- Vera (1891 - 1978) married (later Sir) Thomas White
His descendants are still active in Melbourne political and business circles (notably his great-grandson Tom Harley), and he's regarded as a founding father by the modern Liberal Party. The Division of Deakin, Deakin University and the Canberra suburb of Deakin are named after him.
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