Billy Hughes Biography Essay

Subheading of Collated Information Notes
Billy Hughes: - William Morris (Billy) Hughes born on the 25th September, 1862, Pimlico, London.
- Prime Minister Andrew Fisher, on 27th October 1915, resigned from his position and the role was passed on to the Deputy Prime Minister William Hughes- after he was elected by the Labor group.
- Hughes held Prime ministership of Australia for seven and a quarter years, from 1915-1923, one year prior and five years following World War One
- Hughes held Prime ministership of Australia for seven and a quarter years, from 1915-1923, one year prior and five years following World War One
- Member of the House of Representatives from 1901-1952 (until death). During this time, he was associated with six different

However, once news on the casualties and devastation of war reached the people, support dropped suddenly.
- Men weren’t so easy to persuade now, campaigning for the recruitment of Australian men intensified via posters and speeches directed at men eligible (21+ men unlisted were called ‘shirkers’ or ‘traitors’). By 1916, there was a shortage of men.
- 1916- Britain pressured Australia into contributing more to the war effort after heavy casualties in the Western Front- currently at 5500 men per month to maintain its forces overseas at operational level-, and after P.M. Hughes visited the war front he returns convinced that in order to win the war conscription in foreign territories must be implemented (Defence Act of 1903 enabled the government to conscript men but only to fight in defence of the Australian mainland).
- Taking quickly to his newfound purpose, Billy brought it to the Federal Parliament. To introduce conscription, Parliament has to have a majority vote in the House of Reps. and Senate, but the Australian Labor Party’s (Hughes’ own political party) policy was against this & majority of Senators also were against

During this time, the country was referred to as ‘White Australia’- the bulk of the population where of European descent and consisted very little of foreign minorities (remnants of the mass immigration from the Gold Rush).
- Australia was posed with their first major problem as a federated nation: WWI. Although the population consisted of mainly ‘white Australians’, they were conflicted in their desired relationship with the British. Some believed that Australia should be its own nation, their own society, and especially not forced to lay down their life because another nation said so. Others were willing to serve their, in essence, masters, and to fight with their English brethren.
- This newly-born country had taken one of the many steps to independence when the polls of both indicated that a slightly larger majority of Australia would not like to implement conscription in overseas territories.
- Aus. history of WWI was to be remembered as a time of conflict, both mentally and physically, where we held our values close in the darkest of times.
• Development of an Australian identity – sense of ourselves, acceptance of different groups, our place in the world etc. as a result of this