1.
Australia
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Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the worlds sixth-largest country by total area, the neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east. Australias capital is Canberra, and its largest urban area is Sydney, for about 50,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who spoke languages classifiable into roughly 250 groups. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades, and by the 1850s most of the continent had been explored, on 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia has since maintained a liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy comprising six states. The population of 24 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard, Australia has the worlds 13th-largest economy and ninth-highest per capita income. With the second-highest human development index globally, the country highly in quality of life, health, education, economic freedom. The name Australia is derived from the Latin Terra Australis a name used for putative lands in the southern hemisphere since ancient times, the Dutch adjectival form Australische was used in a Dutch book in Batavia in 1638, to refer to the newly discovered lands to the south. On 12 December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted, in 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia. The first official published use of the term Australia came with the 1830 publication of The Australia Directory and these first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, were originally horticulturists, the northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited sporadically by fishermen from Maritime Southeast Asia. The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent, are attributed to the Dutch. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutch navigator, Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent New Holland during the 17th century, but made no attempt at settlement. William Dampier, an English explorer and privateer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688, in 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. The first settlement led to the foundation of Sydney, and the exploration, a British settlement was established in Van Diemens Land, now known as Tasmania, in 1803, and it became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the part of Western Australia in 1828. Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales, South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, the Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia
2.
Monarch
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A monarch is the sovereign head of state in a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority and power in the state, alternatively, an individual may become monarch by conquest, acclamation or a combination of means. A monarch usually reigns for life or until abdication, if a young child is crowned the monarch, a regent is often appointed to govern until the monarch reaches the requisite adult age to rule. A monarch can reign in multiple monarchies simultaneously, for example, the monarchy of Canada and the monarchy of the United Kingdom are separate states, but they share the same monarch through personal union. Monarchs, as such, bear a variety of titles — king or queen, prince or princess, emperor or empress, archduke, duke or grand duke, Prince is sometimes used as a generic term to refer to any monarch regardless of title, especially in older texts. A king can also be a husband and a queen can be a kings wife. If both people in a reign, neither person is generally considered to be a consort. Monarchy is political or sociocultural in nature, and is associated with hereditary rule. Most monarchs, both historically and in the present day, have been born and brought up within a royal family, different systems of succession have been used, such as proximity of blood, primogeniture, agnatic seniority, Salic law, etc. In an elective monarchy, the monarch is elected but otherwise serves as any other monarch, historical examples of elective monarchy include the Holy Roman Emperors and the free election of kings of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In recent centuries, many states have abolished the monarchy and become republics, advocacy of government by a republic is called republicanism, while advocacy of monarchy is called monarchism. A principal advantage of hereditary monarchy is the continuity of national leadership. In cases where the monarch serves mostly as a ceremonial figure real leadership does not depend on the monarch, a form of government may in fact be hereditary without being considered monarchy, such as a family dictatorship. Monarchies take a variety of forms, such as the two co-princes of Andorra, positions held simultaneously by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Urgel and the elected President of France. Similarly, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia is considered a monarch despite only holding the position for five years at a time, hereditary succession within one patrilineal family has been most common, with preference for children over siblings, sons over daughters. Other European realms practice one form or another of primogeniture, whereunder a lord was succeeded by his eldest son or, if he had none, by his brother, the system of tanistry was semi-elective and gave weight also to ability and merit. The Salic law, practiced in France and in the Italian territories of the House of Savoy, in most fiefs, in the event of the demise of all legitimate male members of the patrilineage, a female of the family could succeed. Spain today continues this model of succession law, in the form of cognatic primogeniture, in more complex medieval cases, the sometimes conflicting principles of proximity and primogeniture battled, and outcomes were often idiosyncratic
3.
George VI
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George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death. He was the last Emperor of India and the first Head of the Commonwealth, known as Albert until his accession, George VI was born in the reign of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria, and was named after his great-grandfather Albert, Prince Consort. As the second son of King George V, he was not expected to inherit the throne and spent his life in the shadow of his elder brother. He attended naval college as a teenager, and served in the Royal Navy, in 1920, he was made Duke of York. He married Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in 1923 and they had two daughters, Elizabeth and Margaret, in the mid-1920s, he had speech therapy for a stammer, which he never fully overcame. Georges elder brother ascended the throne as Edward VIII upon the death of their father in 1936, however, later that year Edward revealed his desire to marry divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson. British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin advised Edward that for political and religious reasons he could not marry a divorced woman, Edward abdicated in order to marry, and George ascended the throne as the third monarch of the House of Windsor. During Georges reign, the break-up of the British Empire and its transition into the Commonwealth of Nations accelerated, the parliament of the Irish Free State removed direct mention of the monarch from the countrys constitution on the day of his accession. The following year, a new Irish constitution changed the name of the state to Ireland, from 1939, the Empire and Commonwealth – except Ireland – was at war with Nazi Germany. War with Italy and Japan followed in 1940 and 1941, respectively, though Britain and its allies were ultimately victorious in 1945, the United States and the Soviet Union rose as pre-eminent world powers and the British Empire declined. After the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947, George remained king of countries, but relinquished the title of Emperor of India in June 1948. Ireland formally declared itself a republic and left the Commonwealth in 1949, George adopted the new title of Head of the Commonwealth. He was beset by problems in the later years of his reign. He was succeeded by his eldest daughter, Elizabeth II, George was born at York Cottage, on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, during the reign of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria. His father was Prince George, Duke of York, the second and eldest-surviving son of the Prince and his mother was the Duchess of York, the eldest child and only daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Teck. His birthday was the 34th anniversary of the death of his great-grandfather, Albert, uncertain of how the Prince Consorts widow, Queen Victoria, would take the news of the birth, the Prince of Wales wrote to the Duke of York that the Queen had been rather distressed. Two days later, he again, I really think it would gratify her if you yourself proposed the name Albert to her. Consequently, he was baptised Albert Frederick Arthur George at St. Mary Magdalenes Church near Sandringham three months later, within the family, he was known informally as Bertie
4.
Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie
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Serving for 9 years and 7 days, he is the longest-serving governor-general in Australias history. He first worked in a tea merchants office in Glasgow and then traveled to India to work on a tea plantation in Assam, Hore-Ruthven, however, soon succumbed to malaria and he returned to England in 1892. On 19 October 1889, Hore-Ruthven was commissioned a lieutenant in the Lanarkshire Yeomanry Cavalry. After his return to England in 1892, he joined the regular army. During the Sudan Campaign, he was mentioned in despatches, on 17 May, he received a regular commission as a second lieutenant in the Queens Own Cameron Highlanders, dropping back two ranks. In late November, he was part of a Camel Corps during the leading to the defeat of the Khalifa. In 1905, Hore-Ruthven became an aide-de-camp to Lord Dudley, then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, transferring to the 1st Dragoon Guards in 1908, he was promoted to supernumerary captain in that regiment on 11 April, regaining his former rank after nine years. In 1908, Dudley was appointed Governor-General of Australia, and Hore-Ruthven went with him as military secretary, in the same year he married Zara Pollok, with whom he had two sons, one of whom died in infancy. He left Australia in 1910 and returned to service in India. On 2 April 1915, Hore-Ruthven transferred to the Welsh Guards and was promoted to major from the same date and he was appointed a GSO1 on 18 January 1916, with the temporary rank of lieutenant-colonel, and was awarded the DSO on 1 January 1916. The citation reads as follows, He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel on 15 October 1917. On 1 January 1918, he was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and he was awarded a Bar to his DSO on 2 April 1919, and appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 3 June. During the First World War, he served in France and at Gallipoli and he finished the war as a brigadier general and commanded British forces in Germany between 1919 and 1920. On 14 December 1920, he was appointed the CO of his regiment, with the rank of colonel. After this he held various Army staff positions, and received command of a brigade on 1 October 1924 in the rank of colonel-commandant. When he was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George, Hore-Ruthven arrived in Adelaide in May 1928. He took to his duties with enthusiasm, visiting many areas of the State in a de Havilland DH.60 Moth owned by his ADC, together with Lady Hore-Ruthven, he was a keen supporter of the Boy Scout and Girl Guide movements. She was also president of the South Australian Red Cross, in a 1930 Anzac Day speech, Hore-Ruthven criticised the union movement for exacerbating, through strike action, the hardship suffered by returned servicemen
5.
Robert Menzies
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Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, KT, AK, CH, PC, QC, FAA, FRS, was the Prime Minister of Australia from 1939 to 1941 and again from 1949 to 1966. He is Australias longest-serving prime minister, serving over 18 years in total, Menzies studied law at the University of Melbourne and became one of Melbournes leading lawyers. He was Deputy Premier of Victoria from 1932 to 1934, and then transferred to federal parliament, subsequently becoming Attorney-General, in April 1939, following Lyons death, Menzies was elected leader of the United Australia Party and sworn in as prime minister. He authorised Australias entry into World War II in September 1939, on his return to Australia in August 1941, Menzies found that he had lost the support of his party and consequently resigned as prime minister. He subsequently helped to create the new Liberal Party, and was elected its leader in August 1945. At the 1949 federal election, Menzies led the Liberal–Country coalition to victory, after 1955, his government also received support from the Democratic Labor Party, a breakaway group from the Labor Party. Menzies won seven consecutive elections during his term, eventually retiring as prime minister in January 1966. Robert Gordon Menzies was born to James Menzies and Kate in Jeparit and he was the fourth of six children, with one sister and three brothers. His maternal grandfather, John Sampson, was a Cornish miner from Penzance who also came to seek his fortune on the goldfields and his father was elected to the Victorian State Parliament for the seat of Lowan in 1911 and moved with the family to Melbourne after selling the farm. His middle name, Gordon, was given to him in honour and memory of Charles George Gordon, Menziess formal education began at Humffray Street State School in Bakery Hill, Ballarat, then later at private school in Ballarat. He attended Wesley College in Melbourne and studied law at the University of Melbourne, when World War I began, Menzies was 19 years old and held a commission in the universitys militia unit. He resigned his commission at the very time others of his age and it was later stated that, since the family had made enough of a sacrifice to the war with the enlistment of two of three eligible brothers, Menzies should stay to finish his studies. Menzies himself never explained the reason why he chose not to enlist and it should be noted that the two brothers, James and Frank, who did enlist did not do so until 1915 after the landings at Anzac which belies the alleged reason. Subsequently, he was prominent in undergraduate activities and won prizes and declared himself to be a patriotic supporter of the war. In 1916 he became the editor of the Melbourne University Magazine, establishing a reputation as an unusually bright and articulate member of the undergraduate community. After graduating from the University of Melbourne in 1916 with First Class Honours in Law, Menzies was admitted to the Victorian Bar and to the High Court of Australia in 1918. Establishing his own practice in Melbourne, Menzies specialised chiefly in Constitutional law which he had read with the leading Victorian jurist and future High Court judge, Sir Owen Dixon. In 1920 Menzies served as an advocate for the Amalgamated Society of Engineers which eventually took its appeal to the High Court of Australia, the case became a landmark authority for the positive reinterpretation of Commonwealth powers over those of the States
6.
Arthur Fadden
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Sir Arthur William Fadden, GCMG was an Australian politician and the 13th Prime Minister of Australia. He became Prime Minister in 1941, after the resignation of Robert Menzies and he was the first Australian Prime Minister born in Queensland. Fadden was born in Ingham, Queensland, on 13 April 1894 and he was educated at state schools, and later studied accountancy while working as a clerk. Once he had qualified he became assistant Town Clerk of Mackay, in 1919 Fadden helped form the North Queensland Rugby League, and served as its founding secretary. In the 1920s he established a successful accountancy firm with offices in Brisbane and he was active in the Country Party from its foundation. In 1932 Fadden was elected for one term to the Legislative Assembly of Queensland as member for Kennedy, the following year, though, he won a by-election in the federal seat of Darling Downs. He was a blunt, effective debater and soon made an impression and he was appointed Minister for Supply and Development, then Minister for Air, then Treasurer. In August 1941 Robert Menzies resigned as Prime Minister and leader of the party in the coalition. Although the non-Labor Coalition had been in power for a decade, under normal circumstances, this would have made Hughes Prime Minister for a second time. However, Hughes was a month shy of 78, and was viewed as too old and frail to be anything other than a stopgap leader, especially during wartime. Under the circumstances, on 28 August a joint UAP-Country meeting chose Fadden as Coalition leader even though the Country Party was the smaller of the two non-Labor parties, Fadden was duly sworn in as Prime Minister the next day, and also remained Treasurer. He was the member of the Country/National Party to serve as Prime Minister without an expectation of a short tenure. Nevertheless, Faddens term of office was troubled from the start, even parliamentarians in his own party feared the worst. On 3 October, the two independent legislators who had been keeping the Coalition in office for the last year, Arthur Coles and Alexander Wilson, Coles and Wilson had been so disgusted with how Menzies had been treated that they refused to support the Coalition any longer. Due to this loss of supply, Fadden submitted his governments resignation to the Governor-General Lord Gowrie later the same day and this was the last occasion to date on which an Australian government was forced to resign after being defeated on the floor of the House of Representatives. Fadden joked that he was like the Flood, he had reigned for 40 days and 40 nights, however, he would have been left with no other option if Labor leader John Curtin did not have enough support to govern. With this in mind, Gowrie summoned Coles and Wilson and obtained their assurances that they would support Curtin as Prime Ministier, Coles and Wilson agreed to this, and Curtin was sworn in on 7 October. Following the fall of his ministry, a joint UAP-Country Party meeting endorsed Fadden as Leader of the Opposition, the Coalition sank into near-paralysis in opposition
