The First Commonwealth Ministry of Australia

The first Commonwealth Parliament of Australia opened in Melbourne in May 1901. Edmund Barton was sworn in as Australia’s first Prime Minister after 10 years of devotion to Federation.

Barton and his eight ministers started a government with no parliament, no public service and no accommodation. The Prime Minister’s first office was a borrowed room in Sydney’s Parliament House. His secretary, Arthur Hunt, worked from a makeshift desk in a hallway.

This montage shows photographs of Edmund Barton, Sir George Turner, Alfred Deakin, Sir John Forrest, CC Kingston, Sir William Lyne, JG Drake, Sir Philip Fysh and RE OConnor.