Edmund Barton

Rt Hon Sir Edmund Barton
1st Prime Minister of Australia
In office 1 January 1901 – 24 September 1903
Preceded by	None
Succeeded by	Alfred Deakin
Constituency	Hunter (New South Wales)
Personal details
Born	(1849-01-18)18 January 1849 Glebe, Sydney, New South Wales
Died	7 January 1920(1920-01-07) (aged 70) Medlow Bath, New South Wales
Political party	Protectionist

Sir Edmund Barton (18 January 1849 – 7 January 1920) was the first Prime Minister of Australia. He was born in the suburb of Glebe in 1849 and died from heart failure in the Blue Mountains in 1920.

He was elected to the first Australian parliament in 1901 as the member for Hunter. He had a big part in making Australia a nation. His government passed laws stopping non-white people from coming to Australia and allowing women to vote in elections. After he was Prime Minister he became a judge of the High Court.

Political career

Barton was chosen as the Speaker of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in 1883. He served as the speaker until 1887. In 1891, he was a member of the committee writing the Constitution of Australia. In 1900, he led a group of Australians to London to present the country's first Constitution to the British Parliament. Barton was elected as Australia's first Prime Minister on 1 January 1901, when the new constitution went into effect. He also served as the Minister External Affairs (foreign policy and international relations). He resigned on 24 September 1903, and became a senior judge in the new High Court of Australia, and held that position until his death in 1920.