2021-07-30 Fri

Sir Joseph Cook was an Australian politician who served as the sixth Prime Minister of Australia from 1913 to 1914. Joseph was the Commonwealth Liberal Party leader from 1913, after completing his tenure as the leader of the Anti-Socialist Party from 1908 to 1909. Sir Joseph Cook helped found the nation’s military institutions.

Beginning his 20-year tenure in the federal Parliament in 1901, Cook became leader of the Free Trade Party in 1908 and the following year formed a coalition with the Liberal government headed by Alfred Deakin. In Deakin’s administration (1909–10), he helped establish the Australian navy. He was elected prime minister in 1913 but had inadequate support in Parliament and was voted out of office the following year. His government’s most imaginative step was to appoint an Inter-State Commission.

Cook was appointed to the Privy Council on 16 July 1914. He was knighted in 1918 as Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG). In 1972, he was honoured on a postage stamp bearing his portrait issued by Australia Post.

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