Chris Watson
Encyclopedia
John Christian Watson (9 April 186718 November 1941), commonly known as Chris Watson, Australia
n politician, was the third Prime Minister of Australia
. He was the first prime minister from the Australian Labour Party
(the spelling of 'Labour' was changed to 'Labor' in 1912), and the first Labour Party prime minister in the world.
Serving in state parliament for seven years, Watson was elected to federal parliament at the first federal election in March 1901. The Caucus
chose him as the inaugural parliamentary leader of the Labour Party on 8 May 1901, just in time for the first meeting of parliament. His term as Prime Minister was brief - only four months, between 27 April and 18 August 1904, but his party did hold the balance of power
, giving support to Protectionist Party
legislation in exchange for concessions to enact the Labour Party policy platform. He retired from Parliament in 1907.
According to Percival Serle
, Watson "left a much greater impression on his time than this would suggest. He came at the right moment for his party, and nothing could have done it more good than the sincerity, courtesy and moderation which he always showed as a leader". Alfred Deakin
wrote of Watson: "The Labour section has much cause for gratitude to Mr Watson, the leader whose tact and judgement have enabled it to achieve many of its Parliamentary successes".
an citizen of German descent, Johan Cristian Tanck, and that Watson was born in Valparaíso
, Chile.
Records also show his mother was a New Zealander, Martha Minchin, who had married Tanck in New Zealand
and then gone to sea with him. In 1868 his parents separated, and in 1869 she married George Watson, whose name young Chris then took. None of these facts became known until after Watson's death.
Watson went to school in Oamaru
, New Zealand, and at 13 was apprenticed as a printer. In 1886 he moved to Sydney
to better his prospects. He found work as an editor for several newspapers. Through this proximity to newspapers, books and writers he furthered his education and developed an interest in politics. In 1889 he married Ada Jane Low, an English-born Sydney seamstress. Nothing is known about her previous life and no photograph of her has been found.
Watson was a founding member of the New South Wales Labor Party in 1891. He was an active trade unionist, and became Vice-President of the Sydney Trades and Labour Council
in January 1892. In June 1892, he settled a dispute between the TLC and the Labor Party and as a result became the president of the council and chairman of the party. In 1893 and 1894, he worked hard to resolve the debate over the solidarity pledge and established the Labor Party's basic practices, including the sovereignty of the party conference, caucus solidarity, the pledge required of parliamentarians and the powerful role of the extra-parliamentary executive. In 1894 Watson was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
for the country seat of Young
.
Labor at this time had a policy of "support in return for concessions," and Watson voted with his colleagues to keep the Free Trade
Premier, Sir George Reid
, in office. After the 1898 election, Watson and Labor leader James McGowen
decided to keep the Reid government in office so that it could complete the work of establishing Federation
.
Watson assisted to shape party policy regarding the movement for federation from 1895, and was one of ten Labour candidates nominated for the Australasian Federal Convention on 4 March 1897, however none were elected. The party, perforce, endorsed Federation, however they took a view of the draft Commonwealth constitution as undemocratic, believing the Senate as proposed was much too powerful, similar to the anti-reformist Colonial state upper houses, and the UK House of Lords
. When the draft was submitted to a referendum on 3 June 1898, Labour opposed it, with Watson prominent in the campaign, and saw the referendum rejected.
Watson was devoted to the idea of a referendum as an ideal feature of democracy. To ensure that Reid might finally bring New South Wales into national union on an amended draft constitution, Watson helped to negotiate a deal, involving the party executive, that included the nomination of four Labor men to the Legislative Council.
At the March 1899 annual party conference, Hughes and Holman moved to have those arrangements nullified and party policy on Federation changed, thus thwarting Reid's plans. Watson, for once, got angry; he 'jumped to his feet in a most excited manner and in heated tones … contended … that they should not interfere with the referendum'. The motion was lost. The four party men were nominated to the council on 4 April and the bill approving the second referendum, to be held on 20 June, was passed on 20 April.
Labour, including Watson, opposed the final terms of the Commonwealth Constitution, however their voting status was not enough to stop it from proceeding, and unlike Holman and Hughes, he believed that it should be submitted to the people. Nevertheless, with all but two of the Labour parliamentarians, he campaigned against the 'Yes' vote at the referendum. When the Constitution was accepted, he agreed that 'the mandate of the majority will have to be obeyed'. He had made an essential contribution to that democratic decision.
Watson successfully ran for the new federal Parliament at the inaugural 1901 federal election, in the House of Representatives
rural seat of Bland
.
Arriving in May in the temporary seat of government, Melbourne
, Watson was elected the first leader of the Federal Parliamentary Labour Party (usually known as the Caucus) on 8 May 1901, the day before the opening of the parliament. McGowen had failed to gain election, and the other prominent New South Wales MP elected, Hughes, had too many enemies. Watson, though a compromise choice, soon established his authority as leader.
In the federal Parliament, where Labour was the smallest of the three parties, but held the balance of power, Watson pursued the same policy as Labour had done in the colonial parliaments. He kept the Protectionist
governments of Edmund Barton
and Alfred Deakin
in office, in exchange for legislation enacting the Labour platform.
Watson, as a Labour moderate, genuinely admired Deakin and shared his liberal views on many subjects. Deakin reciprocated this sentiment. He wrote in one of his anonymous articles in a London newspaper: "The Labour section has much cause for gratitude to Mr Watson, the leader whose tact and judgement have enabled it to achieve many of its Parliamentary successes."
Labour under Watson more than doubled their vote at the 1903 federal election and continued to hold the balance of power. In April 1904, however, Watson and Deakin fell out over the issue of extending the scope of industrial relations laws concerning the Conciliation
and Arbitration
Bill to cover state public servants, the fallout causing Deakin to resign. Free Trade leader George Reid
declined to take office, which saw Watson become the first Labour Prime Minister of Australia
, and the world's first Labour head of government at a national level (Anderson Dawson
had lead a short-lived Labour state government in Queensland in December 1899). He was aged only 37, and is still the youngest Prime Minister in Australia's history.
Billy Hughes
later recalled the first meeting of the Labour Cabinet with characteristic sharp wit:
Despite the apparent fitness of the new Prime Minister for his role, the government hung on the fine thread of Deakin's promise of ‘fair play’. The triumph of the historic first Australian Labor government was a qualified one – Labour did not have the numbers to implement key policies. The ‘three elevens’ – the lack of a definite majority in the parliament after the second federal election – dogged Watson just as it had Deakin.
Six bills were enacted during Watson's brief government. All but one – an amended Acts Interpretation Act 1904 – were supply bills
. The most significant legislative achievement of the Watson government was the advancement of the troublesome Conciliation and Arbitration Bill
, which was eventually passed by the Reid Government in December 1904. Although Watson sought a dissolution of parliament so that an election could be held, the Governor-General
Lord Northcote
refused. Unable to command a majority in the House of Representatives, Watson resigned the premiership less than four months after taking office, his term ending on 18 August 1904 (Deakin was later defeated on a similar bill). Free Trade leader George Reid
became Prime Minister. The Conciliation and Arbitration Act was assented to by the end of the year, and it extended to state public servants, as Watson had proposed.
Deakin again became Prime Minister after Reid lost confidence of the parliament in 1905. Watson led the Labour Party into the 1906 federal election and improved its position again. At this election the seat of Bland was abolished, so he shifted to the seat of South Sydney
. But in October 1907, mainly due to concern over the health of his wife Ada, he resigned the Labour leadership in favour of Andrew Fisher
. He retired from politics, aged only 42, prior to the 1910 federal election
, at which Fisher beat Deakin comfortably.
Out of the Parliamentary arena, Watson continued to work for Labor, becoming Director of Labor Papers Ltd, publishers of The Worker, the Australian Workers Union paper. He also pursued a business career and was also a parliamentary lobbyist. But in 1916 the Labor Party split over the issue of conscription
for World War I
, and Watson sided with Hughes and the conscriptionists. He was expelled from the party he had helped found. He remained active in the affairs of Hughes's Nationalist Party
until 1922, but after that he drifted out of politics altogether.
Watson devoted the rest of his life to business. He helped found the National Roads and Motorists Association
(NRMA) and remained its chairman until his death. He was also a founder of the Australian Motorists Petrol Co Ltd (Ampol
). His wife Ada died in 1921.
On 30 October 1925 Watson married Antonia Mary Gladys Dowlan in the same church in which he had married Ada 36 years previously. His second wife was a 23-year-old waitress from Western Australia whom he had met when she served his table at the Commercial Travellers’ Club he frequented when in Sydney. He and Antonia had one daughter, Jacqueline. Watson died at his home in the Sydney suburb of Double Bay
.
In April 2004 the Labor Party marked the centenary of the Watson Government with a series of public events in Canberra
and Melbourne, attended by then party leader Mark Latham
and former ALP Prime Ministers Gough Whitlam
, Bob Hawke
and Paul Keating
. Watson's daughter, Jacqueline Dunn, 77, was guest of honour at these functions. The Canberra
suburb Watson
and the federal electorate of Watson
are named after him. In 1969 he was honoured on a postage stamp
bearing his portrait issued by Australia Post
.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n politician, was the third Prime Minister of Australia
Prime Minister of Australia
The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
. He was the first prime minister from the Australian Labour Party
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
(the spelling of 'Labour' was changed to 'Labor' in 1912), and the first Labour Party prime minister in the world.
Serving in state parliament for seven years, Watson was elected to federal parliament at the first federal election in March 1901. The Caucus
Caucus
A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a political party or movement, especially in the United States and Canada. As the use of the term has been expanded the exact definition has come to vary among political cultures.-Origin of the term:...
chose him as the inaugural parliamentary leader of the Labour Party on 8 May 1901, just in time for the first meeting of parliament. His term as Prime Minister was brief - only four months, between 27 April and 18 August 1904, but his party did hold the balance of power
Balance of power (parliament)
In parliamentary politics, the term balance of power sometimes describes the pragmatic mechanism exercised by a minor political party or other grouping whose guaranteed support may enable an otherwise minority government to obtain and hold office...
, giving support to Protectionist Party
Protectionist Party
The Protectionist Party was an Australian political party, formally organised from 1889 until 1909, with policies centred on protectionism. It argued that Australia needed protective tariffs to allow Australian industry to grow and provide employment. It had its greatest strength in Victoria and in...
legislation in exchange for concessions to enact the Labour Party policy platform. He retired from Parliament in 1907.
According to Percival Serle
Percival Serle
Percival Serle was an Australian biographer and bibliographer.Serle was born in Victoria and for many years worked in a life assurance office before becoming chief clerk and accountant at the University of Melbourne...
, Watson "left a much greater impression on his time than this would suggest. He came at the right moment for his party, and nothing could have done it more good than the sincerity, courtesy and moderation which he always showed as a leader". Alfred Deakin
Alfred Deakin
Alfred Deakin , Australian politician, was a leader of the movement for Australian federation and later the second Prime Minister of Australia. In the last quarter of the 19th century, Deakin was a major contributor to the establishment of liberal reforms in the colony of Victoria, including the...
wrote of Watson: "The Labour section has much cause for gratitude to Mr Watson, the leader whose tact and judgement have enabled it to achieve many of its Parliamentary successes".
Early life
Watson maintained that his father was a British seaman called George Watson. Records dispute this, however; they indicate that Watson's father was a ChileChile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
an citizen of German descent, Johan Cristian Tanck, and that Watson was born in Valparaíso
Valparaíso
Valparaíso is a city and commune of Chile, center of its third largest conurbation and one of the country's most important seaports and an increasing cultural center in the Southwest Pacific hemisphere. The city is the capital of the Valparaíso Province and the Valparaíso Region...
, Chile.
Records also show his mother was a New Zealander, Martha Minchin, who had married Tanck in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and then gone to sea with him. In 1868 his parents separated, and in 1869 she married George Watson, whose name young Chris then took. None of these facts became known until after Watson's death.
Watson went to school in Oamaru
Oamaru
Oamaru , the largest town in North Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand, is the main town in the Waitaki District. It is 80 kilometres south of Timaru and 120 kilometres north of Dunedin, on the Pacific coast, and State Highway 1 and the railway Main South Line connects it to both...
, New Zealand, and at 13 was apprenticed as a printer. In 1886 he moved to Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
to better his prospects. He found work as an editor for several newspapers. Through this proximity to newspapers, books and writers he furthered his education and developed an interest in politics. In 1889 he married Ada Jane Low, an English-born Sydney seamstress. Nothing is known about her previous life and no photograph of her has been found.
Union activities and colonial politics
Labor Council of New South Wales
The Labor Council of New South Wales is a representative body of Trade union organisations in the State of New South Wales, Australia. As of 2005 there are 67 unions and 8 Rural and Regional Trades & Labor Councils affiliated to the Labor Council, representing 800,000 workers in NSW...
in January 1892. In June 1892, he settled a dispute between the TLC and the Labor Party and as a result became the president of the council and chairman of the party. In 1893 and 1894, he worked hard to resolve the debate over the solidarity pledge and established the Labor Party's basic practices, including the sovereignty of the party conference, caucus solidarity, the pledge required of parliamentarians and the powerful role of the extra-parliamentary executive. In 1894 Watson was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
New South Wales Legislative Assembly
The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The other chamber is the Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney...
for the country seat of Young
Electoral district of Young
Young was an electoral district for the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales in the Young area. It elected two members between 1880 to 1894 and one member from 1894 to 1904, when it was replaced by Burrangong. Young was recreated in 1927 and abolished in 1981.-Members for...
.
Labor at this time had a policy of "support in return for concessions," and Watson voted with his colleagues to keep the Free Trade
Free Trade Party
The Free Trade Party which was officially known as the Australian Free Trade and Liberal Association, also referred to as the Revenue Tariff Party in some states and renamed the Anti-Socialist Party in 1906, was an Australian political party, formally organised between 1889 and 1909...
Premier, Sir George Reid
George Reid (Australian politician)
Sir George Houstoun Reid, GCB, GCMG, KC was an Australian politician, Premier of New South Wales and the fourth Prime Minister of Australia....
, in office. After the 1898 election, Watson and Labor leader James McGowen
James McGowen
James Sinclair Taylor McGowen was an Australian politician and the first Labor Premier of New South Wales from 21 October 1910 to 30 June 1913.-Early life and family:...
decided to keep the Reid government in office so that it could complete the work of establishing Federation
Federation of Australia
The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia formed one nation...
.
Federation
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
. When the draft was submitted to a referendum on 3 June 1898, Labour opposed it, with Watson prominent in the campaign, and saw the referendum rejected.
Watson was devoted to the idea of a referendum as an ideal feature of democracy. To ensure that Reid might finally bring New South Wales into national union on an amended draft constitution, Watson helped to negotiate a deal, involving the party executive, that included the nomination of four Labor men to the Legislative Council.
At the March 1899 annual party conference, Hughes and Holman moved to have those arrangements nullified and party policy on Federation changed, thus thwarting Reid's plans. Watson, for once, got angry; he 'jumped to his feet in a most excited manner and in heated tones … contended … that they should not interfere with the referendum'. The motion was lost. The four party men were nominated to the council on 4 April and the bill approving the second referendum, to be held on 20 June, was passed on 20 April.
Labour, including Watson, opposed the final terms of the Commonwealth Constitution, however their voting status was not enough to stop it from proceeding, and unlike Holman and Hughes, he believed that it should be submitted to the people. Nevertheless, with all but two of the Labour parliamentarians, he campaigned against the 'Yes' vote at the referendum. When the Constitution was accepted, he agreed that 'the mandate of the majority will have to be obeyed'. He had made an essential contribution to that democratic decision.
Watson successfully ran for the new federal Parliament at the inaugural 1901 federal election, in the House of Representatives
Australian House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....
rural seat of Bland
Division of Bland
The Division of Bland was an Australian Electoral Division in New South Wales. The division was created in 1900 and was one of the original 75 divisions contested at the first federal election. It was abolished in 1906. It was named for Dr William Bland, a New South Wales colonial politician...
.
Arriving in May in the temporary seat of government, Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Watson was elected the first leader of the Federal Parliamentary Labour Party (usually known as the Caucus) on 8 May 1901, the day before the opening of the parliament. McGowen had failed to gain election, and the other prominent New South Wales MP elected, Hughes, had too many enemies. Watson, though a compromise choice, soon established his authority as leader.
In the federal Parliament, where Labour was the smallest of the three parties, but held the balance of power, Watson pursued the same policy as Labour had done in the colonial parliaments. He kept the Protectionist
Protectionist Party
The Protectionist Party was an Australian political party, formally organised from 1889 until 1909, with policies centred on protectionism. It argued that Australia needed protective tariffs to allow Australian industry to grow and provide employment. It had its greatest strength in Victoria and in...
governments of Edmund Barton
Edmund Barton
Sir Edmund Barton, GCMG, KC , Australian politician and judge, was the first Prime Minister of Australia and a founding justice of the High Court of Australia....
and Alfred Deakin
Alfred Deakin
Alfred Deakin , Australian politician, was a leader of the movement for Australian federation and later the second Prime Minister of Australia. In the last quarter of the 19th century, Deakin was a major contributor to the establishment of liberal reforms in the colony of Victoria, including the...
in office, in exchange for legislation enacting the Labour platform.
Watson, as a Labour moderate, genuinely admired Deakin and shared his liberal views on many subjects. Deakin reciprocated this sentiment. He wrote in one of his anonymous articles in a London newspaper: "The Labour section has much cause for gratitude to Mr Watson, the leader whose tact and judgement have enabled it to achieve many of its Parliamentary successes."
Prime Minister in 1904
Conciliation
Conciliation is an alternative dispute resolution process whereby the parties to a dispute agree to utilize the services of a conciliator, who then meets with the parties separately in an attempt to resolve their differences...
and Arbitration
Arbitration
Arbitration, a form of alternative dispute resolution , is a legal technique for the resolution of disputes outside the courts, where the parties to a dispute refer it to one or more persons , by whose decision they agree to be bound...
Bill to cover state public servants, the fallout causing Deakin to resign. Free Trade leader George Reid
George Reid (Australian politician)
Sir George Houstoun Reid, GCB, GCMG, KC was an Australian politician, Premier of New South Wales and the fourth Prime Minister of Australia....
declined to take office, which saw Watson become the first Labour Prime Minister of Australia
Prime Minister of Australia
The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
, and the world's first Labour head of government at a national level (Anderson Dawson
Anderson Dawson
Andrew Dawson , usually known as Anderson Dawson, was an Australian politician, the Premier of Queensland for one week in 1899...
had lead a short-lived Labour state government in Queensland in December 1899). He was aged only 37, and is still the youngest Prime Minister in Australia's history.
Billy Hughes
Billy Hughes
William Morris "Billy" Hughes, CH, KC, MHR , Australian politician, was the seventh Prime Minister of Australia from 1915 to 1923....
later recalled the first meeting of the Labour Cabinet with characteristic sharp wit:
Despite the apparent fitness of the new Prime Minister for his role, the government hung on the fine thread of Deakin's promise of ‘fair play’. The triumph of the historic first Australian Labor government was a qualified one – Labour did not have the numbers to implement key policies. The ‘three elevens’ – the lack of a definite majority in the parliament after the second federal election – dogged Watson just as it had Deakin.
Six bills were enacted during Watson's brief government. All but one – an amended Acts Interpretation Act 1904 – were supply bills
Money bill
In the Westminster system , a money bill or supply bill is a bill that solely concerns taxation or government spending , as opposed to changes in public law.- Conventions :...
. The most significant legislative achievement of the Watson government was the advancement of the troublesome Conciliation and Arbitration Bill
Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904
The Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904 was an Australian Commonwealth Government Act "relating to Conciliation and Arbitration for the Prevention and Settlement of Industrial Disputes extending beyond the Limits of any one State", and was assented to on 15 December 1904, almost four years after...
, which was eventually passed by the Reid Government in December 1904. Although Watson sought a dissolution of parliament so that an election could be held, the Governor-General
Governor-General of Australia
The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia is the representative in Australia at federal/national level of the Australian monarch . He or she exercises the supreme executive power of the Commonwealth...
Lord Northcote
Henry Northcote, 1st Baron Northcote
Henry Stafford Northcote, 1st Baron Northcote GCMG, GCIE, CB, PC , known as Sir Henry Northcote, Bt, between 1887 and 1900, was a Conservative politician and colonial administrator...
refused. Unable to command a majority in the House of Representatives, Watson resigned the premiership less than four months after taking office, his term ending on 18 August 1904 (Deakin was later defeated on a similar bill). Free Trade leader George Reid
George Reid (Australian politician)
Sir George Houstoun Reid, GCB, GCMG, KC was an Australian politician, Premier of New South Wales and the fourth Prime Minister of Australia....
became Prime Minister. The Conciliation and Arbitration Act was assented to by the end of the year, and it extended to state public servants, as Watson had proposed.
Deakin again became Prime Minister after Reid lost confidence of the parliament in 1905. Watson led the Labour Party into the 1906 federal election and improved its position again. At this election the seat of Bland was abolished, so he shifted to the seat of South Sydney
Division of South Sydney
The Division of South Sydney was an Australian Electoral Division in the state of New South Wales. It was located in the south of the city of Sydney....
. But in October 1907, mainly due to concern over the health of his wife Ada, he resigned the Labour leadership in favour of Andrew Fisher
Andrew Fisher
Andrew Fisher was an Australian politician who served as the fifth Prime Minister on three separate occasions. Fisher's 1910-13 Labor ministry completed a vast legislative programme which made him, along with Protectionist Alfred Deakin, the founder of the statutory structure of the new nation...
. He retired from politics, aged only 42, prior to the 1910 federal election
Australian federal election, 1910
Federal elections were held in Australia on 13 April 1910. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and 18 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election...
, at which Fisher beat Deakin comfortably.
Later life
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
for World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, and Watson sided with Hughes and the conscriptionists. He was expelled from the party he had helped found. He remained active in the affairs of Hughes's Nationalist Party
Nationalist Party of Australia
The Nationalist Party of Australia was an Australian political party. It was formed on 17 February 1917 from a merger between the conservative Commonwealth Liberal Party and the National Labor Party, the name given to the pro-conscription defectors from the Australian Labor Party led by Prime...
until 1922, but after that he drifted out of politics altogether.
Watson devoted the rest of his life to business. He helped found the National Roads and Motorists Association
NRMA
NRMA refers to either of two historically related Australian companies:*The National Roads and Motorists' Association, known as NRMA Motoring and Services, is a member-owned mutual organisation offering , motoring advice and other services in New South Wales and the Australian Capital...
(NRMA) and remained its chairman until his death. He was also a founder of the Australian Motorists Petrol Co Ltd (Ampol
Ampol
Ampol, the Australian Motorists Petrol Company, was incorporated by Sir William Gaston Walkley in 1936 in New South Wales. This was in response to Australians' concerns about perceived inequitable petrol pricing, and allegations of transfer pricing by foreign oil companies to limit their tax...
). His wife Ada died in 1921.
On 30 October 1925 Watson married Antonia Mary Gladys Dowlan in the same church in which he had married Ada 36 years previously. His second wife was a 23-year-old waitress from Western Australia whom he had met when she served his table at the Commercial Travellers’ Club he frequented when in Sydney. He and Antonia had one daughter, Jacqueline. Watson died at his home in the Sydney suburb of Double Bay
Double Bay, New South Wales
Double Bay is a harbourside eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Double Bay is located 4 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre of the local government area of the Municipality of Woollahra.Double Bay takes its name...
.
Honours
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
and Melbourne, attended by then party leader Mark Latham
Mark Latham
Mark William Latham , an author and former Australian politician, was leader of the Federal Parliamentary Australian Labor Party and Leader of the Opposition from December 2003 to January 2005....
and former ALP Prime Ministers Gough Whitlam
Gough Whitlam
Edward Gough Whitlam, AC, QC , known as Gough Whitlam , served as the 21st Prime Minister of Australia. Whitlam led the Australian Labor Party to power at the 1972 election and retained government at the 1974 election, before being dismissed by Governor-General Sir John Kerr at the climax of the...
, Bob Hawke
Bob Hawke
Robert James Lee "Bob" Hawke AC GCL was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia from March 1983 to December 1991 and therefore longest serving Australian Labor Party Prime Minister....
and Paul Keating
Paul Keating
Paul John Keating was the 24th Prime Minister of Australia, serving from 1991 to 1996. Keating was elected as the federal Labor member for Blaxland in 1969 and came to prominence as the reformist treasurer of the Hawke Labor government, which came to power at the 1983 election...
. Watson's daughter, Jacqueline Dunn, 77, was guest of honour at these functions. The Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
suburb Watson
Watson, Australian Capital Territory
Watson is a suburb of Canberra, Australia in the North Canberra district. Watson is named after the third Prime Minister of Australia, John Christian Watson. The suburb name was gazetted on 7 April 1960. Streets in Watson are named after Australian judges and other legal professionals...
and the federal electorate of Watson
Division of Watson
The Division of Watson is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of New South Wales. It is located in the southern suburbs of Sydney, and includes the suburbs of Belfield, Belmore, Burwood Heights, Campsie, Chullora, Clemton Park, Enfield, Greenacre, Lakemba, Mount Lewis, Roselands,...
are named after him. In 1969 he was honoured on a postage stamp
Postage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...
bearing his portrait issued by Australia Post
Australia Post
Australia Post is the trading name of the Australian Government-owned Australian Postal Corporation .-History:...
.
Further reading
- Hughes, Colin AColin HughesColin Anfield Hughes is an Australian academic specializing in electoral politics and government.He received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from Columbia University and his Ph.D from the London School of Economics. In 1966, along with John S...
(1976), Mr Prime Minister. Australian Prime Ministers 1901-1972, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, Victoria, Ch. 4. ISBN 0-19-550471-2
External links
- The last page of a secret despatch from Australia’s Governor-General to Britain’s Colonial Secretary 23 April 1904, detailing circumstances that created the first Labor Prime Minister in the British Empire (and the world).