Edmund Barton
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Edmund Barton
Edmund Barton (1849–1920)
Edmund Barton was born in Glebe, New South Wales and became Australia's first prime minister. He was a very good student who was captain of his school and won many prizes at university. He worked as a lawyer in Sydney and in 1879 became a member of the New South Wales Parliament.
Barton believed that the Australian colonies should join together (federate) and become one nation and he made many speeches to convince other people to support the idea. In 1901, when the Australian states joined together (federated), Barton was asked to be the stand-in prime minister until elections could be held. He was then elected as prime minister. In 1903 he left the Commonwealth Parliament to become a High Court judge.
In Canberra, all of the older suburbs are named after prime ministers of Australia. One of the first suburbs was named 'Barton'. He has also been commemorated on stamps.
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