Andrew Fisher
Andrew Fisher was a prominent Australian politician and labor leader, born on August 29, 1862, in Crosshouse, Ayrshire, Scotland. He grew up in a mining family, beginning work in the coal mines at a young age while also pursuing education at night. Fisher immigrated to Australia in 1885, where he quickly became involved in the trade union movement, eventually assuming leadership roles within various labor organizations. His political career began in the Queensland Legislative Assembly in 1893, and he later became a key figure in the Australian Labor Party.
Fisher served as Prime Minister of Australia during three nonconsecutive terms, with significant legislative achievements that included the establishment of the Royal Australian Navy, the Commonwealth Bank, and various social welfare initiatives. His government also played a crucial role in Australia’s involvement in World War I. Despite facing challenges, including the issue of conscription that caused divisions within the Labor Party, Fisher is remembered for his commitment to social democracy and enhancing the welfare of Australians.
After his resignation in 1915, he served as high commissioner to the UK until 1921. Fisher passed away on October 22, 1928, in London. His legacy is commemorated in various memorials, including the Andrew Fisher Memorial Park in Gympie.
Subject Terms
Andrew Fisher
Politician
- Born: August 29, 1862
- Birthplace: Crosshouse, Scotland
- Died: October 22, 1928
- Place of death: London, England
Significance: Andrew Fisher was a three-time prime minister of Australia whose Labor government enacted significant legislation for social welfare, national development, and public policy reforms during the early twentieth century.
Background
Andrew Fisher was born on August 29, 1862, in Crosshouse, in the county of Ayrshire, Scotland. One of seven children of Robert Fisher and Jane (Garvin) Fisher, he grew up in Kilmaurs. He attended a local school for five years and left sometime between the age of nine and thirteen to work in the Crosshouse coalmines, like his father before him. At night, he took classes in Kilmarnock, which helped him gain managerial duties at the mines.
At seventeen, Fisher became the secretary of the Crosshouse district branch of the Ayrshire Miners’ Union. His involvement with the trade union movement led to him being blacklisted twice: once for participating in a miner’s strike in 1881 and again in 1885 for his union activities.
In 1885 Fisher and a younger brother immigrated to Australia, and soon found work in the Queensland mining industry. Fisher was hired at the Queensland Colliery Company’s coalmine at Torbanlea and within a few months became a manager. He resumed his union activity and became a leader in the Australian trade union movement. In 1888 Fisher moved to Gympie and worked at the North Phoenix No. 1 goldfield. He joined the Amalgamated Miners’ Association and became the secretary (1890) and then president (1891) of its Gympie branch. Fired in 1890 for participating in a labor strike, he earned an engine driver’s certificate and found work as an engine driver at the South Great Eastern Extended goldmine.
He was also president of the Gympie branch of the Workers’ Political Organisation, the forerunner to the Queensland Labor Party. He became a founding member of the Queensland Labor Party in 1891.
Political Career
In 1893 Fisher was elected to Queensland Legislative Assembly for the seat of Gympie. After he lost the seat in the 1896 election, he cofounded the Gympie Truth, a pro-Labor newspaper. Reelected to the state legislature in 1899, he held the seat through 1901. During his second term, he twice introduced legislation for a workers’ compensation bill but failed to get it passed. He served as the minister for railways and public works during Andrew Dawson’s seven-day Labor government in December 1899.
Fisher won endorsement as the Australian Labor Party candidate for Wide Bay in an 1899 referendum. He won the seat in 1901 and was reelected every year until his retirement from Parliament in 1915. During Labor’s first federal government, headed by Chris Watson, Fisher was the minister of trade and customs for five months in 1904. He became the deputy party leader in 1905 and succeeded Watson as party leader in 1907.
After Alfred Deakin’s government collapsed in 1908, Fisher became prime minister and treasurer. During the first of his three nonconsecutive terms as prime minister (November 13, 1908, to June 2, 1909), he proposed several initiatives, including a constitutional amendment to increase federal authority over labor issues, sugar industry protection, increased funding for pensions, a land tax, compulsory military training, and an expanded naval force. His term was cut short, however, when Deakin’s new Fusion Party defeated his government.
As leader of the opposition from June 1909 to April 1910, Fisher unified and strengthened the Labor parliamentarians. He led the Labor Party to victory in the 1910 general election and became prime minister on April 29, 1910. During Fisher’s second term, his government effected significant legislation. It established the Royal Australian Navy and the Commonwealth Bank; launched the transcontinental railway; increased the number of judges on the High Court to seven; incorporated the Northern Territory into the Commonwealth; created the Australian Capital Territory; and passed the Navigation Act of 1913. Social welfare initiatives included the maternity allowance, more liberal pensions, and workers’ compensation for federal employees. It also adopted the royal commissions’ recommendations on the sugar industry.
Fisher lost the government to Joseph Cook and the Liberal Party on June 24, 1913, but regained the government for his third term as prime minister on September 17, 1914. A month prior to the 1914 election, World War I started, and Fisher campaigned on the promise to support Great Britain in the war “to the last man and the last shilling.” His government passed legislation that increased federal powers, and he sent Australian troops overseas to fight in the war. In poor health, Fisher resigned on October 27, 1915. He was succeeded by Attorney General William Morris Hughes.
The following year Fisher was appointed high commissioner to the United Kingdom, a post he held through 1921. He served on the Dardanelles Commission, which investigated the failed Gallipoli Campaign during World War I (1914-1918), during which thousands of Australians, under British leadership, lost their lives in a disastrous offensive against the forces of the Ottoman Empire.
Fisher retired and spent his final years in London, England. There he died on October 22, 1928, from heart disease and complications from influenza.
Impact
As a young man, Fisher read the works of several radical thinkers and was deeply influenced by the ideology of social democracy. He sought to create a better society for Australians through legislation that promoted social welfare and fostered opportunities for individuals over those of speculators. He also helped the Labor Party become a dominant political party, although he was unable to keep it from splintering over the issue of conscription. Various memorials have been created to honor him, including the Andrew Fisher Memorial Park in Gympie.
Personal Life
Fisher and Margaret Jane Irvine married in December 1901. They had one daughter and five sons.
Bibliography
“Andrew Fisher.” Australian Prime Ministers, primeministers.moadoph.gov.au/prime-ministers/andrew-fisher. Accessed 1 June 2020.
“Andrew Fisher.” National Archives of Australia, primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/fisher. Accessed 8 Apr. 2020.
Bastian, Peter. Andrew Fisher: An Underestimated Man. UNSW Press, 2009.
Carroll, Brian. “Andrew Fisher: The People’s Choice.” Australia’s Prime Ministers: From Barton to Howard. Rosenberg Publishing, 2004, pp. 69–77. Google Books, books.google.com/books/about/Australia‗s‗Prime‗Ministers.html?id=W8PUBuw4idYC. Accessed 1 June 2020.
Day, David. “Andrew Fisher: Triumph and Tragedy.” Papers on Parliament,No. 53, 2010. Parliament of Australia, www.aph.gov.au/About‗Parliament/Senate/Research‗and‗Education/~/~/link.aspx?‗id=B8DDC9C6307C45418D3AB9E07551D469&‗z=z&print=1. Accessed 1 June 2020.
Day, David. “The Last Man: The Making of Andrew Fisher and the Australian Labor Party.” National Museum of Australia, 25 Oct. 2007, www.nma.gov.au/audio/historical-interpretation-series/transcripts/the-last-man-the-making-of-andrew-fisher-and-the-australian-labor-party. Accessed 1 June 2020.
Marsden, Susan, and Roslyn Russell. “Andrew Fisher.” Our First Six: Archives of Australia’s Prime Ministers, National Archives of Australia, Commonwealth of Australia, 2002, pp. 128–57. National Archives of Australia, guides.naa.gov.au/content/20141219-GuidePMFirstSix‗tcm48-54602.pdf. Accessed 1 June 2020.
Murphy, D. J. “Fisher, Andrew (1862–1928).” Australian Dictionary of Biography, 1988, adb.anu.edu.au/biography/fisher-andrew-378. Accessed 1 June 2020.