Andrew Fisher, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Andrew Fisher

Australian politician, fifth Prime Minister of Australia

Date of Birth: 29-Aug-1862

Place of Birth: Crosshouse, Scotland, United Kingdom

Date of Death: 22-Oct-1928

Profession: politician, diplomat, trade unionist

Nationality: Australia

Zodiac Sign: Virgo


Show Famous Birthdays Today, Australia

👉 Worldwide Celebrity Birthdays Today

About Andrew Fisher

  • Andrew Fisher (29 August 1862 – 22 October 1928) was an Australian politician who served three separate terms as Prime Minister of Australia – from 1908 to 1909, from 1910 to 1913, and from 1914 to 1915.
  • He was the leader of the Australian Labor Party from 1907 to 1915.Fisher was born in Crosshouse, Ayrshire, Scotland.
  • He left school at a young age to work in the nearby coal mines, becoming secretary of the local branch of the Ayrshire Miners' Union at the age of 17.
  • Fisher emigrated to Australia in 1885, where he continued his involvement with trade unionism.
  • He settled in Gympie, Queensland, and in 1893 was elected to the Queensland Legislative Assembly as a representative of the Labor Party.
  • Fisher lost his seat in 1896, but returned in 1899 and later that year briefly served as a minister in the government of Anderson Dawson. In 1901, Fisher was elected to the new federal parliament representing the Division of Wide Bay.
  • He served as Minister for Trade and Customs for a few months in 1904, in the short-lived government of Chris Watson.
  • Fisher was elected deputy leader of the Labor Party in 1905, and replaced Watson as leader in 1907.
  • At the time, Labor supported the Protectionist Party minority government of Alfred Deakin.
  • Deakin resigned as prime minister in November 1908 after Labor withdrew their support, and Fisher subsequently formed a minority government of his own.
  • It lasted only a few months, as in June 1909 Deakin returned as prime minister at the head of the new Commonwealth Liberal Party (a merger of the Protectionists and the Anti-Socialist Party). Fisher returned as prime minister after the 1910 election, which saw Labor attain majority government for the first time in its history.
  • Fisher's second government passed wide-ranging reforms – it established old-age and disability pensions, enshrined new workers' rights in legislation, established the Commonwealth Bank, oversaw the continued expansion of the Royal Australian Navy, began construction on the Trans-Australian Railway, and formally established what is now the Australian Capital Territory.
  • At the 1913 election, however, Labor narrowly lost its House of Representatives majority to the Liberal Party, with Fisher being replaced as prime minister by Joseph Cook. After just over a year in office, Cook was forced to call a new election, the first double dissolution.
  • Labor won back its majority in the House, and Fisher returned for a third term as prime minister.
  • He struggled with the demands of Australia's participation in World War I, and in October 1915 resigned in favour of Billy Hughes.
  • Fisher subsequently accepted an appointment as High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, holding that position from 1916 to 1920.
  • After a brief return to Australia, he retired to London, dying there at the age of 66.
  • In total, Fisher served as prime minister for just under five years; Bob Hawke is the only member of the Labor Party to have served for longer (8 years).

Read more at Wikipedia

See Also