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Photographic portrait of Alfred Deakin. Photo by Arthur J. Melhuish-

Top 10 Facts about Alfred Deakin

Alfred Deakin was an Australian politician who served as the Prime Minister of Australia. He was a leader of the Federation movement, which happened in 1901.

He is regarded as one of Australia鈥檚 most influential prime ministers, and during his three terms, he played a key role in establishing the national institution.

Learn more about Alfred Deakin in these top 10 facts.

1. Deakin was Born to Middle-Class Parents

He was born on August 3, 1856, in his parents’ cottage at 90 George Street, Fitzroy Melbourne, Victoria. He was of Welsh and English descent and the younger of two children born to Sarah and William Deakin.

He spent his early years in Fitzroy and Emerald before his family settled in South Yarra in about 1863. His father transported their wooden cottage from Fitzroy to South Yarra and had it brick-nogged; this was their home.

2. Deakin Education Background

Deakin was sent to join her sister attending a girls’ school boarding school run by Thompson’s sister when he was four years and was the only male in the school.

Later the school was moved to Melbourne, and he continued to attend until he turned seven. In 1864 Deakin was enrolled at Melbourne Grammar School as a day boy, where he was a good student.

Deakin passed the matriculated exam for the University of Melbourne in 1871 at the age of 15. He also had a passion for becoming a barrister and began attending evening classes in 1872. He was admitted to the Victorian Bar in September 1877.

3. He served as Prime Minister of Australia

Photo by National Archives of Australia-

Deakin served as the second Prime Minister of Australia, and he served for three terms. In 1903, Barton retired, and Deakin was his presumed successor and faced no significant opposition from the government and its supporters; he ruled from 1903 to 1904.

He again resumed the office of Prime Minister in mid-1905 and retained it for three years. This was his most successful term as Prime Minister, and his government was responsible for much policy and legislation shaping the Commonwealth.

On June 2, 1909, Deakin was sworn in as prime minister for the third term. His Third Deakin Ministry contained five first-time appointees, reflecting the need to balance the competing interests within the new party.

During the 1910 Australian federal election he led, he was defeated by the opposition Labour Party led by Andrew Fisher.

4. Deakin Served as Attorney-General

Deakin was appointed to the first federal parliament as a member of parliament for the Division of Ballaarat in 1901. He then became Attorney-General of Australia in the ministry headed by Edmund Barton.

He was mostly active in drafting bills for the public service, arbitration and the High Court. Deakin’s second reading speech on the Immigration Restriction Bill to Implement the White Australia Policy was notable for its blatant racism.

Deakin’s speech in March 1902 in favor of the bill establishing the High Court of Australia helped overcome significant opposition to its establishment. He stayed in the office of Attorney-General until 1903.

5. He Established Compulsory Military Service

Official portrait of Prime Minister of Australia Alfred Deakin. Photo by Frederick McCubbin-

When he was prime minister, in December 1907, he introduced the first bill to establish compulsory military service. This bill was also supported by Labor鈥檚 Watson and Billy Hughes.

Deakin had long disagreed with the naval agreement to fund the Royal Navy protection of Australia, although Barton had agreed in 1902 that the commonwealth would take over such funding from the colonies.

In 1906, Deakin announced that Australia would purchase destroyers, and in 1907, he traveled to an Imperial Conference in London to discuss the issue without success.

The surplus Revenue Act of 1908 provided 250,000 euros for naval expenditure. However, these funds were first applied by the Andrew Fisher Labor government, creating the first independent navy in the British empire.

6. Deakin Formed a Coalition The Fusion

Deakin was forced from office by Labor in 1908. They then formed a coalition, the Fusion, with his old conservative opponent George Reid and returned to power in May 1909 at the head of Australia鈥檚 first majority government.

The Fusion was seen by many as a betrayal of Deakin鈥檚 liberal principles, and he was called a 鈥淛udas鈥� by Sir William Lyne.

7. Deakin Worked as a Journalist

During his youth, Deakin published Quentin Massys, a drama in five acts. He continued to write prolifically throughout his career and was a member of the Eclectic Association.

Deakin 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 accounts of his career in Victorian politics in the 1880s were published as The Crisis in Victorian Politics in 1957. Deakin collected journalism was published as Federated Australia in 1968.

8. Deakin was Spiritual

Photo by National Archives of Australia-

He was an active member of the Theosophical Society until 1896 when he resigned on joining the Australian Church led by Charles Strong.

However, he always took pains to obscure the spiritual dimensions of his character from the public gaze and felt a strong sense of providence and destiny working in his career.

Deakins’s sincere longing for spiritual fulfillment led him to express a sense of unworthiness in his private diaries, which mingled with this literary aspiration as a poet.

9. Deakin Had a Long and Happy Marriage

Deakin married Elizabeth Martha Browne in 1882. She was a daughter of a well-known spiritualist.

They lived with Deakin鈥檚 parents until 1887 when they moved to 鈥淟lanarth in Walsh Street, South Yarra. They had three daughters together: Ivy, Stella, and Vera.

10. Deakin died in 1919

Deakin’s final years of his political career coincided with the early stages of a degenerative neurological condition with memory loss as the primary feature. Other medical records suggest he also suffered from chronic hypertension.

Sadly, Deakin died at his home on October 7, 1919, aged 63. His official cause of death was given as meningoencephalitis.

Deakin was granted a state funeral at Queens Hall in Parliament House, Melbourne, after a period of lying-in state.

Deakin was laid to rest next to his parents in the non-denominational section of St. Kilda Cemetery, joined by his widow pattie following her death in 1934.