Edmund Barton

Australia’s first Prime Minister was Member for the Hunter

It’s not just our current member for the Hunter, Dan Repacholi, who cuts a big figure in Canberra. No less than the first Australian Prime Minister, Edmund Barton, called the Federal electorate of Hunter his own.

Hunter was one of the original 65 electorates created by Federation. The first candidate for this newly created seat was Edmund Barton, a 51-year-old barrister, who was an ardent believer that Australia’s destiny lay as a nation, not as a series of States.

After the Commonwealth of Australia was proclaimed on 1 January 1901 Barton started campaigning to become the first Prime Minister of our new nation. He was already a seasoned politician, having entered NSW Parliament in 1879 and served as Attorney-General for a number of years.

Barton opened his election campaign at West Maitland. His policies were ideologically mixed, he supported a ‘white Australia’, but also believed the Government should be responsible for providing old-age pensions. He reluctantly supported a woman’s right to vote – a curious blind spot for a man who’d witnessed his own exceptionally well-educated mother, Mary Louisa Barton, raise a large family while running a girls’ school.

When all the other candidates for the seat of Hunter withdrew from the campaign Barton sailed in, becoming our first local member on 30 March 1901. He can be forgiven for his earlier reluctance to support women’s suffrage because a notable achievement of his government was passing the Commonwealth Franchise Act (1902) which allowed women to vote in Federal elections.

In September 1903 he resigned after a series of political clashes including with the  Governor-General. A smooth path out of parliament seemed to have been laid out for him, a few days after leaving he became a Justice of the newly established High Court of Australia.

Barton was married to Newcastle-born Jeannie Ross and they appear to have had a loving marriage and a happy family. Edmund Barton’s open affection for his children was rare at a time when upper class fathers seldomly expressed warmth to their offspring in public.

In December 1919 Barton and Jeannie headed off to the Blue Mountains on holidays, staying at the grand Hydro Majestic Hotel for Christmas and the New Year. Tragedy struck suddenly on the morning of 7 January when Barton died of a heart attack at the hotel. He was 71 years old.