Chris Watson's Resignation of the Federal Parliamentary Labor Party

Abstract

John Christian Watson (known as Chris Watson) was the first Federal Parliamentary Labor Party (FPLP) leader and from May 1901 to October 1907. During this time, while sitting on the cross benches between Alfred Deakin's Protectionists and George Reid's Free Traders, Labor regularly held the balance of power. For a short stint between April and August 1904, Watson was (the first world Labor and Australia's youngest) prime minister and treasurer. Watson resigned as FPLP leader on 23 October 1907. By choosing not to contest his seat, Watson left parliament on 29 April 1910. It is Watson's resignation as FPLP leader that is the focus of this paper. By drawing on a repository of newspaper clippings once owned by Watson and now held by the National Library of Australia along with Trove Digitised Newspapers, this article analyses the reporting of the week surrounding Watson's resignation including the question if Watson's retained articles favoured a particular stance. The paper concludes that newspapers were of the opinion that the stress of the job and subsequent ill health it induced, led to Watson's resignation. Hence, this paper's focus is contained to Watson's resignation, a period of newspaper reporting and collections.