Prime Minister - 24 September 1903 – 27 April 1904
Written by Alfred Deakin in his prayer journal
the day he became Prime Minister- 24th Sept 1903
“On this day of all others it behoves me to crave guidance and support; to put far away from me all that glitters or detracts from the true ends to be achieved by patient conscientious humble effort.
Among the much to be done that is meaningless or fruitless O God permit me to discern those things which are necessary for the welfare of the people at large and in which something practical may be accomplished. Without pretence and without fear unaffected by clamour or censure enable me to do my duty day by day with sincerity, thoroughness and purity of aim.
Let me not linger in authority an instant after my usefulness has ceased. Grant me no gains that are not real and wholesome for the nation and towards its fuller life in God.”
"The Liberal Protectionist ideal is to secure and foster, by all possible political means, the moral and material well-being of the people of Australia."
Alfred Deakin
"The Liberal Protectionist ideal is to secure and foster, by all possible political means, the moral and material well-being of the people of Australia."
Alfred Deakin
Deakin was 47 when he became Prime Minister. He also assumed the ministry of external affairs today known as Foreign Affairs.
It was to be a short lived government due to significant disagreements between the different factions in government. Deakin presented the Conciliation & Arbitration Bill in March 1903, but Labor amendments caused Deakin to resign, sighting constitutional and no -confidence grounds.
"With his resignation Deakin reached the highest point at which he was to stand in the general goodwill of Parliament and the public" La Nauze Deakin Biography p365
“I have no special ambitions for the future and am content to take whatever place is allotted to me, however different”.
Alfred Deakin 24th April 1904