Billy Hughes: Prime Minister and Controversial Founding Father of the Australian Labor Party

AUSTRALIANA

William Morris Hughes was Labor Prime Minister in 1915 – 16, then was expelled from the party over his support for conscription. He held two referendums on the issue, convinced that only compulsory reinforcements of troops overseas would win the war. After his expulsion, Hughes formed the Nationalist Party and remained Prime Minister until 1923. In 1918?19 Hughes travelled to England and headed the Australian delegation at Versailles for the signing of the peace treaty in 1919. He was again in England in 1921 for an Imperial conference. Hughes was popularly known as ?the little Digger? for his leadership of the nation throughout the war. But after the formation of the Country Party, Hughes was unable to retain support in the House of Representatives and resigned on 9 February 1923 in favour of SM Bruce Hughes served as Australia’s Prime Minister between 1915 and 1923; a time of great change (between the Great War and the start of the Great Depression). This definitive biography fully examines the life of one of our prolific leaders. Not only exploring his life as a young boy and his relationship with his wife and family, it will also look at those aspects of his term which we may not know a great deal about. Billy Hughes founded the CSIRO in 1915; he was a member of the Australian House of Representatives for 51 years; he founded the Australian Labor Party; he had 101 secretaries (still a record!)… and much, much more. A beautifully-packaged biography of one of the most controversial leaders in our Australia’s short history.

xv, 176 p., [8] p. of plates : ill., ports. ; 23 cm. #121122