Alfred Deakin

Alfred Deakin was born in Melbourne in 1856 and worked as a barrister and journalist before entering the Victorian parliament at 23. He became a leader of the federation movement and helped draft the Constitution. He served as the first Attorney-General under Edmund Barton and succeeded him as prime minister in 1903. He held office three times, relying on Labor support in his middle term. In 1909 he merged his followers with the free traders, a step known as the Fusion. He retired in 1913 and died in 1919.

Deakin is widely regarded as one of Australia's most influential prime ministers, and admirers credit him with building the national institutions and economic framework of the young Commonwealth, including the High Court, arbitration, protection and old-age pensions. Liberals later claimed him as a founder of their tradition. Critics note that the same framework rested on the White Australia policy, and his parliamentary speech on the Immigration Restriction Bill is now cited for its open racism, including the argument that the Japanese had to be excluded because of their good qualities. His 1909 Fusion with former opponents angered Labor and some liberals, who saw it as abandoning his reform program, and Labor won the following election.