Hughes Suite

William Morris Hughes, Australia's 7th Prime Minister, was also the longest serving until 1957 when Robert Menzies overtook Hughes’ record term in office. Hughes’ other record still stands: no parliamentarian has surpassed his 51 years and 7 months of continuous service as a member of Australia’s House of Representatives – from the 1st parliament in 1901 to the 20th in 1952.

‍

Before Federation, Hughes had been a Labor member of the New South Wales parliament from 1894 to 1901. In March 1901, he won the seat of West Sydney in the first House of Representatives. He served in the Labor Cabinets of Chris Watson and Andrew Fisher. He then replaced Andrew Fisher as Prime Minister in 1915 and led Australia during the First World War.

‍

Hughes’ campaign for conscription during the 1914-18 war split the Labor Party and affected political alignment in Australia for the next 50 years. After the war, Hughes was instrumental in the international recognition of Australia as an independent nation through its membership of the League of Nations. He was also responsible for founding the Advisory Council for Science and Industry, later CSIRO, and helped found three political parties (Labor, Nationalist and United Australia Party), of which he was expelled from them all.
‍

Hughes lost office in February 1923, but served in parliament for almost 3 decades more*

‍

* Source: © Commonwealth of Australia (National Archives of Australia) 2024.

‍