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From the collection of Friends of Ballarat Botanical Gardens History Group

530 Items featured online

Slide - Colour transparency, Eastman Kodak, c. 1940

Bronze bust of Edmund Barton in the Prime Ministers Avenue

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Historical information

On March 2, 1940, Sir Winston Dugan, Governor of Victoria unveiled the busts of the six first prime ministers of Australia at a ceremony on the long avenue of Horse Chestnuts. The donor, Richard Armstrong Couch, was born in Ballarat in 1868.

Edmund Barton (1849 –1920) was an Australian politician and judge who served as the first Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1901 to 1903. He was appointed prime minister on 1 January 1901, the day on which the new federal constitution came into effect.

Significance

The Prime Ministers Avenue is a feature of national significance, set in the magnificent Horse Chestnut Avenue of the Gardens. The 28 Prime Ministers of Australia are displayed as bronze portraits mounted on polished granite pedestals. The collection includes a portrait of one of the founding fathers of Federation, Alfred Deakin, who was the first Federal Member for Ballarat and the second Prime Minister.

Physical description

3/4 view using flash of the bronze bust and granite pedestal of Prime Minister, Edmund Barton in the Prime Ministers Avenue. A vertical scratch line is visible on the right side.