By Greg Blood

ANDREW FISHER – AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY   

5th Prime Minister (1908–1909; 1910–1913; 1914–1915)

Andrew Fisher viewed sport and physical fitness in terms of nationalism. The physical fitness of Australian men would be important in defending the new nation and the Olympic Games could help promote physical fitness and the nation on the international stage. The Defence Act 1909 supported by Fisher ensured that Australian men had a good level of fitness in entering World War I in 1904.

Birth: 29 August 1862, Crosshouse, Ayrshire, Scotland –  Death: 22 October 1928,  London, England

Political Appointments

• Queensland Legislative Assembly: Member for Gympie 23 April 1893 – 28 March 1896 ; 11 March 1899 – 9 May 1901
• Federal Member for Wide Bay: 9 May 1901 – 27 October 1915
• Leader of the Federal Opposition: 2 June 1909 – 29 April 1910, 8 July 1913 – 17 September 1914
• Federal Australian Labor Party Leader: 30 October 1907 – 27 October 1915
• Ministries: Minister for Trade and Customs 27 April 1904 – 18 August 1904, Treasurer 13 November 1908 – 2 June 1909, 29 April 1910 – 24 June 1913, 17 September 1914 – 27 October 1915
• Prime Minister: 13 November 1908 – 2 June 1909 (201 days  – minority government defeated), 29 April 1910 – 24 June 1913 (3 years, 56 days – defeated in federal election), 17 September 1914 – 27 October 1915 (1 year, 40 days – resigned in favour of William Hughes)
• Australian High Commissioner to United Kingdom: 22 April 1916 – 21 April 1921

Andrew Fisher was born in the Scottish coal mining town of Crosshouse, Ayrshire and he was one of eight children. At the age of ten, he started working in the local town mine and by seventeen became secretary of Ayrshire Miners’ Union. Fisher with his brother James emigrated to Queensland in August 1885. Fisher continued his commitment to unionism and became president of the Gympie branch of the Minier’s union. In April 1893, as an Australian Labor Party candidate, he was elected to the Queensland Legislative Assembly for the seat of Gympie. Fisher supported the federation and was elected the Member of Wide Bay at the first federal election in 1901.

Fisher was a member of  Chris Watson’s minority Labor government, the first federal Labor government, Fisher served as Minister for Trade and Customs from April to August 1904. He was elected as Deputy Leader of the federal Labor Party in August 1905 and replaced Watson as Opposition leader in October 1907.

Fisher was prime minister three times due to volatility of early federal parties and governments. Shortly after Australia entered World War I on 4 August 1914 under prime minister Joseph Cook, Fisher became prime minister for the third time on 17 September 1914 after defeating Cook at the general election. Due to his decline in health and the pressures of leadership, Fisher resigned in October 1915 and was replaced by William “Billy’ Hughes. From 1916 to 1921, he was Australian High Commissioner in London. In returning to live in the United Kingdom in 1922, he unsuccessfully sought Labour preselection for a Scottish seat in the House of Commons. Fisher died in London on 22 October 1928.[1]

Day in his biography on Fisher noted that he was athletic and was 5 foot 10 inches. He helped form a local football team. Whilst Labor leader, he would occasionally play cricket in the gardens adjacent to Parliament House in Melbourne. [2] It appears that Fisher took an interest in Australian football whilst attending federal parliament in Melbourne and it reported that he attended a VFL game with former footballer and Western Australian Premier John Scaddan. [3]

Fitness of the Nation

Fisher was a strong proponent of improving the fitness of Australian men as he perceived that it would be important in defending the new nation. Fisher as federal opposition leader supported the Deakin Government’s policy to provide compulsory military training in peacetime and it passed in the Defence Act 1909 in December 1909. [4]

The second Fisher Government (April 1910 to June 1913) managed the implementation of the Defence Act 1909 that came into operation on 1 January 1911. The act was the first compulsory military training scheme for men and boys. It provided boys as young as seven daily physical training daily at school and at the age to twelve commencing compulsory military training as junior cadets. In 1912, the majority of Australian youth had undertaken 120 hours of training under their belt.  Failure to undertake training resulted in fines and possibly gaol.

Sport and War

During World War 1, there was community debate on whether sport should be played in Australia.  This debate would also play out during World War II. In March 1915, Fisher as  prime minister provided the following response to a question on whether sport should cease in Australia:

 “I think it would a mistake to restrict healthy legitimate sport, except in cases in which it would interfere with the defence of the country and the great military task before us as a part of the British Empire”. [5]

Fisher was replaced as prime minister by William “Billy’ Hughes in October 1915 and it was left to Hughes to manage the at divisive issue of whether sport should continue in Australia whilst World War I continued.

Olympic Games

Fisher was the first prime minister to realise that the Australian Olympic team could promote the value of fitness and provide national representation on the international stage.  Fisher also had the desire for Australia to host the Olympic Games. Gordon in Australia at the Olympic Games provides details on Fisher receiving a delegation from officials from newly established state Olympic Councils on 24 January 1912 in Melbourne. [6] These officials informed Fisher that it was their desire to send an Australian team of to the 1912 Stockholm Olympic Games. Previously an Australasian team represented Australian and New Zealand athletes. The team would include rowers, swimmers, cyclists, tennis players, track and field athletes and officials. It was requested that the federal government provide financial assistance up to 2000 pounds.  Fisher supported the request but it was rejected by federal cabinet on 7 February 1912. [7]

Fisher was also interested in Australia hosting the Olympic Games. He stated “If the Commonwealth Government does take part, I think the team should be accompanied by an invitation from the government to the controlling body to hold the Games in Australia. If Sweden can manage it, surely the same can be done by Australia’. [8] This statement encouraged Richard Coombes, the founding President of the Amateur Athletic Union of Australasia and Australia’s first International Olympic Committee member, to pursue with Fisher the hosting of the Games in Australia.  Unfortunately, a federal cabinet meeting on 17 May 1912 rejected the proposal to host the Games. M.L. Shepherd, Secretary to the Prime Minister’s Dept noted on the official cabinet submission that Fisher had genuine interest in hosting the Olympic Games in Australia but it was not shared by cabinet members. [9]]

Fisher left Parliament in 1915 and took up the position of Australian High Commissioner in London. In July 1920, Fisher entertained the Australian Olympic team in London on their way to the 1920 Games in Antwerp. [10]

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References

[1] Online biographies – Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Archives of Australia, Museum of Australian Democracy

[2] Day, David, Andrew Fisher: Prime Minister of Australia. Sydney, Pymble Estate, 2008,p. 184

[3] Blair, Dale  and Hess, Rob, Australian Rules Football During The First World War, Palgrave, 2017.

[4] Defence Act 1909

[5] Sport and War,  The Sydney Morning Herald, 4 March 1915, p. 9

[6] Gordon, Harry, Australia and the Olympic Games, Brisbane, University of Queensland Press, 1994, p. 72

[7] Gordon , p. 72

[8] Gordon, p.72

[9] Gordon, p.73

[10] Olympic Games,  The Daily Telegraph (Sydney), 21 July 1920, p. 9