Australian Prime Ministers Quiz for Experts | Government

Answer: New South Wales

Sir Edmund Barton was the first Australian Prime Minister from 1st January 1901 to 24th September 1903. He was the member for the seat for Hunter (in New South Wales) in the House of Representatives. He was a member of the Protectionist Party. The first parliament had 75 members (exactly half the number it would have 100 years later).

The Protectionist Party won office with 31 seats. During this time Australia had a three party system (Protectionist Party, Free Trade Party and the Australian Labor Party).

Answer: 1969

Paul John Keating was Prime Minister of Australia from 20th December 1991 to 11th March 1996. He was a member of the Australian Labor Party. He held the seat of Blaxland (in the suburbs of Sydney, NSW) from October 1969 until his election defeat in March 1996.

He became the Minister for Northern Australia in October 1975, before the Whitlam government was dismissed soon after, on 11th November 1975. He became Treasurer under the Hawke government from March 1983 until he challenged for the leadership in June 1991.

He failed in his first leadership attempt and went to the backbench. His second attempt in December was, however, successful and he became leader of the ALP, and the Prime Minister of Australia.

Answer: Defence

John Malcolm Fraser was Prime Minister from 11th November 1975 to 11th March 1983. He became care taker Prime Minister after the dismissal of Gough Whitlam in November 1975, and went on to defeat Gough Whitlam at the December 1975 election. He was Minister for Defence under John Gorton.

Answer: Higgins, Vic

The Victorian seat of Higgins produced two Prime Ministers. Both were members of the Liberal party. Harold Holt was the first Prime Minister from 26th January 1966 to 19th December 1967. Harold Holt was the successor to Sir Robert Menzies. Harold Holt died in office. John Gorton was the second; he was Prime Minister from 10th January 1968 to 10th March 1971.

Answer: South Australia

No Prime Minister ever held a seat from South Australia (ditto the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory). From Federation on 1st January 1901 until the end of the 20th century, Prime Ministers have come from these states:
New South Wales - 10
Victoria - 10
Queensland - 3
Western Australia - 1
Tasmania - 1

Answer: Commonwealth Liberal Party

Alfred Deakin was the second Prime Minister of Australia. He won two elections. He won the first two as the leader of the Protectionist Party. However, from 2nd June 1909 to 29th April 1910 he was Prime Minister for the Commonwealth Liberal Party. He lost the 1910 election to the ALP led by Andrew Fischer.

Answer: 1941

John Curtin was Australia's Prime Minister from 7th October 1941 to 5th July 1945. He was a member of the Australian Labor Party, and died in office. He held the seat of Fremantle, Western Australia. John Curtin was the Prime Minister when the Australian mainland came under threat during World War 2.

In 1949 a seat in Western Australia was created and named Curtin in his honour. Ironically enough this seat was never been held by a Labor MP, from its creation until the end of the 20th century.

Answer: 3

Sir Earle Page, Arthur Fadden and John McEwen all were Australian Prime Ministers. All three were members of the Country Party. None of these Prime Ministers were ever elected.

Sir Earle Page became Prime Minister in 1939 after the death of Prime Minister Joseph Lyons, of the United Australia Party. At this time the United Australia Party and the Country party were in a coalition together. Arthur Fadden became Prime Minister after Robert Menzies resigned in 1941. Robert Menzies was Prime Minister for the United Australia Party, before becoming Prime Minister for a second time, with the newly formed Liberal Party in 1949. Robert Menzies resigned because Sir Earle Page publicly criticised him. John McEwen became Prime Minister when Prime Minister Harold Holt went missing in December 1967.

The Country party entered into a coalition with the Liberal Party when the United Australia Party became defunct. The Country Party changed its name to the National Country Party in 1975 and in 1983 became known as the National Party.

Answer: Bob Hawke

When Bob Hawke joined parliament on the opposition benches it was during the Prime Ministership of Malcolm Fraser, who Hawke defeated in March 1983. Bob Hawke did, however, become Federal Treasurer for just 1 day during his Time as Prime Minister. In June 1991 when his Treasurer, Paul Keating challenged him for the position of Prime Minister Bob Hawke removed him from the position.

He took up the role for a day before appointing John Kerin to the position. Paul Keating was successful in a second leadership challenge in December 1991 and became Prime Minister. John Howard was Federal Treasurer under Malcolm Fraser and Harold Holt was treasurer under Sir Robert Menzies.

Answer: 25

There were 25 different Prime Ministers during the 20th century. The first being Sir Edmund Barton, and the last being John Howard. The longest serving Prime Minister of the 20th century was Sir Robert Menzies with 18 years (1939-41 and 1949-66), and the shortest serving was Frank Forde (one 8 days in July 1945 following the death of John Curtin). Below is a tally of Prime Ministers for each political party:

10- Australian Labor Party
6 - Liberal Party of Australia
3 - Country Party
2 - Commonwealth Liberal Party
2 - United Australia Party
2 - Nationalist Party
2 - Protectionist Party
1 - Free Trade Party
1 - National Labor Party

Please Note: The above table is for 20th century Prime Ministers only; and some Prime Ministers represented another political party in a subsequent election e.g. Alfred Deakin was Prime Minister under the Protectionist Party (1903-04 and 1905-08), and then later for the Commonwealth Liberal Party (1909-10); Billy Hughes for the ALP (1915-16) and then the Nationalist Party (1916-23); Robert Menzies for the United Australia Party and then the Liberal Party.