second best

ALFRED DEAKIN Every Australian knows who the first prime minister was: it’s something drilled into us in childhood with greater zeal than fire safety and stranger danger put together. Edmund Barton was the first prime minister, and the average Australian’s knowledge of the man begins and ends with that fact. Far more interesting, and far more bearded, was the man who succeeded Barton: Alfred Deakin. It’s not really surprising that the second prime minister should be more effective than the first; after all, the second one has the advantage of being able to see where the first went wrong. Truthfully, in his early days, Deakin wasn’t even considering a career in politics. It was as a poet and playwright that he yearned to make his way in life. But he loved being prime minister. He loved it so much that he was not only the second, but also the fifth