Pits To Parliament
Andrew Fisher rose from the Ayrshire coal mines, fighting for worker’s rights, to become the first Labour prime minister of Australia
Kenny MacAskill remembers Andrew Fisher, the Ayrshire coalminer who became prime minister of Australia
ASK who the first Labour prime minister was, and the answer will be Ramsay Macdonald for the UK in 1924, then again from 1929 to 1935. But another Scot preceded the well-known Labour leader from Lossiemouth.
Andrew Fisher, from near Kilmarnock, became Labor – Australian spelling of Labour – prime minister of Australia in 1908, serving three terms. Fisher’s life has more similarities with Keir Hardie, who founded the UK Labour Party with Ramsay Macdonald, and with whom Fisher worked closely with prior to his emigration.
Fisher was born in 1862 in the village of Crosshouse, East Ayrshire, where the hospital now stands. It was traditionally a mining area with 12 pits.
His father worked in the pit and he grew up one of eight children in a miners’ row, with shared washrooms and a communal tap.
His father was a Christian, union activist and founding member of the Crosshouse Co-operative Society.
Those views were inherited by young Andrew who made good use of the Co-op reading room, as he sought to continue his education.
At the age of 10, he was required to go down the pits after his father retired due to pneumoconiosis or “black lung”. It was a hard and dangerous job and the hours were long – 12-hour days, six days a week.
Working in those conditions and forged by his father’s beliefs, it was no surprise that by the age of 17 he was Crosshouse branch secretary of the Ayrshire Miners Federation. Tall and good looking, he was a natural
leader. It came at a price though as just two years later he was out of work, after a strike, led by Keir Hardie in 1881.
Further employment was obtained but his activities were undiminished. Sacked again in 1885, this time he was blacklisted.
Thomas Mcilwraith, another Ayrshire man, and by then premier – or head of state – of Queensland, was speaking in Kilmarnock, as Scottish miners were sought for coalfields on the other side of the world.
With work denied in his native land, Fisher sailed for Brisbane – ironically named after another Ayrshire man but from a vastly different social background. Fisher arrived in the Burrum coal fields in 1885.
As was the case with so many emigrant Scots, he found opportunities denied him at home and within two months was a supervisor. Moving south to Gympie a few years later he became president of the local branch of the Amalgamated Miners Association.
History was to repeat itself in his new home in 1890 when he was sacked after leading a strike and it was a then that his focus turned to the political struggle.
It was an opportune time as the Australian Labor Party was being formed in the fallout from a major maritime strike. Australia as we know it today didn’t come about until 1901 and before then power lay with the six colonies that were all separate entities. But there had been collusion among the political leaders with employers and it was recognised that elected power was needed.
Success was not long in coming and by the end of the decade there had even been a brief Labor government in Queensland, before the opposition united to oust them. Fisher had been part of that wave, elected for Gympie and serving briefly in the administration.
More importantly, it provided momentum for the first elections to the newly established Australian Federation in 1901. The Federation was something he had strongly supported, and his faith was to be repaid by being elected MP for the Wide Bay constituency in Queensland.
Fisher represented that seat throughout his political career and married his former landlady’s daughter, Margaret
“Labor grew and by 1904 had their first power” taste of
Irvine, who, despite the surname, was not from Ayrshire.
Labor grew in strength in the Australian parliament and by 1904 they briefly had their first taste of power and Fisher served ably as minister for trade and customs. Clearly making his mark within the party, he became deputy leader in 1905 and leader in 1907. Viewed as a radical, the scene was set for both him and his party to succeed.
In 1908, the ruling government collapsed and a minority Labor administration was formed this time with Fisher as prime minister. One of his acts was the establishment of Canberra as the seat of the federal government, as well as taking more powers from the British Empire and boosting the status of the federation.
As a result, the 1910 election was a remarkable success for the Ayrshire man with Labor winning 42 of
“He crowds” was met at Kilmarnock by jubilant
the 75 House of Representative seats and all 18 contested Senate seats, giving 22 out of 36 seats in that chamber.
It was the first Labor majority government anywhere in the world and one that would bring in old age pensions and other social benefits including a worker’s compensation scheme – no doubt driven by Fisher losing two of his brothers in mining accidents.
His victory also allowed him to make a triumphant return to his native Ayrshire. In 1911, an Imperial Conference was held in London to coincide with the Coronation of King George V. Travelling north thereafter, accompanied by his old mentor Keir Hardie, by then an MP in Westminster, he was met at Kilmarnock station by jubilant crowds, including former colleagues.
Labor lost the 1913 election by a single seat, although retained control of the senate. The following year the Liberal administration collapsed, returning Fisher to power with a majority government. But the First World War had started and Fisher never seemed comfortable. After the disaster of Gallipoli, he stepped down, deeply affected though no blame was attached to him.
Appointed High Commissioner to the UK he moved to London, dying in 1928 at 66 and sadly afflicted by dementia. Australia recalls him as a decent and progressive man.