Records of prime ministers of Australia

This page details numerous records and characteristics of individuals who have held the office of Prime Minister of Australia.

The prime minister with the longest time between the beginning of the first and end of the last terms was also Menzies, with over 25 years between those dates.

Billy Hughes (1862–1952), Stanley Bruce (1883–1967), James Scullin (1876–1953), Earle Page (1880–1961), Robert Menzies (1894–1978), Arthur Fadden (1894–1973), Frank Forde (1890–1983), and John McEwen (1900–1980) all lived under the reigns of six sovereigns: Victoria, Edward VII, George V, Edward VIII, George VI and Elizabeth II.

These include: The youngest prime minister upon appointment by the Governor-General was Chris Watson, who was 37 years, and 18 days old when his term began on 27 April 1904.

[2] The oldest prime minister upon appointment was John McEwen, who was 67 years, and 265 days old when he took office in a temporary capacity on 17 December 1967.

The largest age gap between an incoming prime minister and outgoing one was 22 years and 44 days between Chris Watson and George Reid during 1904.

The smallest age gap between an incoming prime minister and outgoing one was 27 days between Andrew Fisher and Billy Hughes during 1915.

In recent years, the smallest age gap between an incoming prime minister and outgoing one was 44 days between Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott during 2013.

This is a common occurrence due to the parliamentary and party systems in Australia, when the position is often made vacant by a spill or leader who is resigning or retiring.

He served as a senator for Victoria for 17 years before he contested and won Harold Holt’s seat of Higgins in the House of Representatives.

The longest service as an MP of a prime minister was Billy Hughes, who served from March 1901 until his death in October 1952, a total of 51 years.

Only four prime ministers are known to have been at least partly of non-Anglo-Celtic descent: Chris Watson, whose father was a German Chilean;[14] Harold Holt, whose maternal grandmother was German; Malcolm Fraser, whose maternal grandfather was a Jewish New Zealander;[15] and Anthony Albanese, whose father was Italian.

As of 2020, the last prime minister who had any military service was Gough Whitlam, who served as a pilot in the Air Force from 1941 to 1945, during World War II.

He served in the Armed Forces from 1939 to 1940, when he was asked to return by Menzies due to low parliamentary numbers and difficulties.

The tallest prime minister is believed to be Gough Whitlam, who stood at around 6 feet 4 inches (194 cm) in height.

Alfred Deakin, Chris Watson, George Reid, Andrew Fisher, Joseph Cook and Billy Hughes.