About this record

This is photograph is an official portrait of the Hon. William Morris Hughes, Australia’s seventh Prime Minister, who took office in 1915. He was Prime Minister for most of the First World War. As a parliamentarian, Hughes served continuously until 1952, a record 51 years. He was a founding member of three political parties, all of which eventually expelled him.

Educational value

• When Prime Minister Hughes visited Britain and the war front in 1916, the British government convinced him that Australia had to send many more troops each month to reinforce those already serving on the Western Front. But recruitment numbers in Australia were declining as the war dragged on, and news of the heavy casualties made Australians less enthusiastic about supporting the war effort. Hughes decided that, to win the war, it would be necessary to introduce compulsory military service through conscription – a measure widely practised by other nations. Australia already had compulsory military service, but this had been restricted to service within our own borders.
• All of the Australian troops fighting overseas in the First World War had enlisted voluntarily and Hughes’ own political party, the Labor Party, had a policy against conscription. However, Hughes decided to ask the Australian people, through a plebiscite, to agree to the conscription of troops for overseas service.
• The debate over conscription split the Labor Party, and Hughes was expelled from the party. Hughes remained Prime Minister, however, by merging a group of his Labor Party followers with the then Opposition. The plebiscite was defeated in 1916, and again in 1917 when Hughes presented it to Australian voters for a second time.