Sir Alexander James Peacock (11 June 1861 – 7 October 1933) was an Australian politician who served as the 20th

Premier of Victoria The premier of Victoria is the head of government of the state of Victoria in Australia. The premier leads the Cabinet of Victoria and selects its ministers. The premier is appointed by the governor of Victoria, must be a member of the Vic ...

Early years

Peacock was born of

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descent at

Creswick Creswick is a town in west-central Victoria, Australia, Victoria, Australia, 18 kilometres north of Ballarat, Victoria, Ballarat and 122 kilometres northwest of Melbourne, in the Shire of Hepburn. It is 430 metres above sea level. At the ...

, the first Victorian Premier born after the gold rush of the 1850s and the attainment of self-government in Victoria. He was the eldest of five children of James Henry Peacock, draper and later tailor from Suffolk, England, and his wife Mary Jane Murphy from Cork, Ireland. His primary education was at

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, and his secondary at Mrs. Fiddian's Grammar School, as a pupil-teacher – an apprentice teacher taking classes by day and studying by night. He told an interviewer in 1902 that his mother 'with warm maternal affection, endeavoured to give her son the best education obtainable', but that his father's business suffered 'heavy losses', forcing him to give up plans to study at

Melbourne University The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state of Victoria. Its ...

and to take a job in a grocery, where he worked from 9.00 in the morning to 8.00 at night. His interviewer commented that 'This short, sharp experience made a vivid impression upon him, and doubtless formed the flame of rebellion against sweaters and sweating'. Peacock's lack of tertiary qualifications did not hamper his career. He found employment as a junior clerk in a legal mining manager's office in Creswick – another kind of apprenticeship. After a few years, he established his firm, managing the legal affairs of some of the richest gold-mining companies in Victoria. By 1889 he was president of the Legal Managers' Institute of Victoria, and he remained in the business for most of his life. He was distantly related to the family of the politician Andrew Peacock. He was prominent in the

Australian Natives' Association The Australian Natives' Association (ANA) was a mutual society founded in Melbourne, Australia in April 1871. It was founded by and for the benefit of White native-born Australians, and membership was restricted to that group. The Association's ...

and the movement for Australian federation in the 1880s and '90s. He was a man whom it was difficult to dislike. A biographer has described him as 'tall, imposing, jovial and moustached', a man who 'did all the right things as representative of the district, had a suave word for everybody, patted children on the head and was extremely popular'. He was famous for having what Webb called a laugh 'of appalling noisiness'.

Entry in Parliament

In 1889 Peacock was elected to the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the states and territories of Australia, state lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the state upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament H ...

for the seat of Clunes and Allendale, near

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australia and the third-largest city in Victoria. Within mo ...

, which he held for 43 years. Although he was a moderate liberal, he was a minister without portfolio in the conservative government of James Munro (1890–1892), and Minister of Public Instruction in the Shiels government (1892–1893) and

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15 November 1892 to 23 January 1893. He was Chief Secretary in both the governments of Sir George Turner from 1894 to 1899 and 1900 to 1901, being also Minister for Public Instruction in the first and Minister for Labour in the second. In 1897 Peacock was elected as one of the Victorian delegates to the Constitutional Convention which wrote the

Australian Constitution The Constitution of Australia (also known as the Commonwealth Constitution) is the fundamental law that governs the political structure of Australia. It is a written constitution, which establishes the country as a Federation of Australia, ...

Premier for the first time

In 1901, he chose not to stand for new

Parliament of Australia The Parliament of Australia (officially the Parliament of the Commonwealth and also known as the Federal Parliament) is the federal legislature of Australia. It consists of three elements: the Monarchy of Australia, monarch of Australia (repr ...

. This was partly because the federal electorate covering the area he represented, the seat of Ballaarat, was being contested by

Alfred Deakin Alfred Deakin (3 August 1856 – 7 October 1919) was an Australian politician who served as the second Prime Minister of Australia, prime minister of Australia from 1903 to 1904, 1905 to 1908, and 1909 to 1910. He held office as the leader of th ...

. Instead, he stayed in Victorian politics and when Premier Turner resigned to contest the first federal elections, Peacock succeeded him and became Premier. But by this time public support for the liberals was waning, and the new conservative leader, William Irvine, mounted a public campaign for "retrenchment"—reduction in the size of the Parliament and the public service, and cuts to government spending. Peacock as a good liberal resisted this campaign, but in June 1902 Irvine carried a vote of no-confidence in Peacock's government and at the subsequent election the liberals and their Labor allies were heavily defeated. He was made a Knight Commander of the

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in 1902. Peacock stayed in opposition during Irvine's ministry, but in 1907 he returned to office as Chief Secretary and Minister for Labour in the government of Thomas Bent. By this time the distinction between liberals and conservatives was fading in the face of the rising challenge of the Labor Party, and from about this time the non-Labor members became officially the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

Premier for the second time

Peacock was Minister for Public Instruction in the government of William Watt in 1913, and in June 1914 Watt resigned so he contest a seat in Federal Parliament, Peacock once again became Premier, and also Treasurer, at the head of a Liberal government. Soon afterwards,

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broke out, and Peacock's government joined the initial enthusiastic response to the war. By 1916, however, the war was placing increasing strain on the Victorian economy, as labour shortages hit its important rural industries. This caused increased opposition to the Liberals in rural areas, led by the Victorian Farmers Union (which later became the Country Party). In 1917 the Liberals were renamed the Nationalist Party. At the November 1917 elections, the Nationalists were split into pro and anti-Peacock factions, and the anti-Peacock group swept the country seats. The anti-Peacock leader

John Bowser Sir John Bowser (2 September 1856 – 10 June 1936), Australian politician, was the 26th Premier of Victoria. He was born in London, the son of an army officer, and arrived in Melbourne as a child with his family. He grew up at Bacchus Mar ...

then became Premier. Peacock was a very durable politician, however, and by 1920 he was back in office, as Minister for Public Instruction and Minister for Labour in Harry Lawson's Nationalist government, positions he held until 1924.

Premier for the third time

The coalition government that Lawson formed broke down in March 1924 when the Country Party made demands Lawson would not accept. The Country Party ministers resigned, and then united with Labor, ending Lawson's term. Lawson resigned and Peacock was again chosen as leader of the Nationalist Party and became Premier for the third time. He immediately brought in a bill to reduce the disproportionate representation of country areas. Dissent grew from within the party and Peacock called an election, at which Labor emerged as the largest party, though well short of a majority. Peacock resigned again, and was succeeded by a minority Labor government led by George Prendergast. Peacock returned as Minister for Public Instruction and Minister for Labour in John Allan's Country Party government, holding these positions until 1927, when he left ministerial office for the last time. In 1928 he was elected

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, a position he held until his death in 1933.

Personal life

In January 1901, Peacock married Millie Gertrude Holden in Port Fairy. Millie, Lady Peacock was active in community organisations like the

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, and carried much of her husband's local electoral work, earning the title 'the deputy member for Allandale'. When Alex Peacock died in 1933 Lady Peacock was persuaded to stand for his seat in a by-election, becoming the first woman member of the Victorian parliament. Her maiden speech – recalling her husband's legislation on worker's wages and conditions – was her last; she announced her retirement before the next election, in 1935.

Australian Natives' Association

Alex Peacock joined the

branch of the

in 1881, and became branch secretary in 1882, a position he held until 1901. In 1884 he was elected to the ANA board of directors, and in the following year was appointed Chief President. He was three times the Chief President, in 1885-1887 and 1893–1894, and a member of the board until 1904. He was always an active office holder in the association, expanding its membership and branches in the 1880s, and leading it into an increasingly public role in the 1890s, especially in area of Federation. Peacock's high-profile within the Australian Natives Association assisted his parliamentary career. As a

benefit society A benefit society, fraternal benefit society, or fraternal benefit order is a voluntary association formed to provide mutual aid, benefit, for instance insurance for relief from sundry difficulties. Such organizations may be formally organized with ...

the ANA was banned from undertaking party political activity, but in the late 1880s and the 1890s ANA members formed the backbone of the organisations supporting Liberal candidates in the electorates. Peacock learnt his brand of 'advanced Liberalism' in ANA lectures and debates: a commitment to full democracy, including

woman suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffrage was in effect during ...

, and to active state intervention in the interests of public welfare. Beatrice Webb described him as having neither 'intellectual conviction nor intellectual prejudices', but 'ready to try any plausible remedy for actual suffering'.

Mason

Peacock served as Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of Victoria of

Freemasons Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

from 1900 to 1905. At age 39 he was the youngest person ever to obtain that position in Australian Freemasonry, before or since.Kent Henderson, ''The Masonic Grand Masters of Australia'', Ian Drakeford Publishing, Bayswater, 1988, pp.163 He pleaded heavy parliamentary commitments when he retired as Grand Master in 1905.