Edmund Barton

and politics.

Has always mixed our first prime minister, Edmund Barton.

Do you know how he rose to prominence? No.

He was actually a bit of a cricketer.

Then he was a cricket umpire.

And I shout out to Adam Collins and Jeff Lemon, who I think told me this story through their podcast.

But in 1879, Edmund Barton was umpiring a game between New South Wales and a touring England side.

There was a riot.

bro.

What's his name? Edmund Barton.

Edmund Barton.

Okay.

I read that.

In 1903, the High Court of Australia sat for the first time in a borrowed room, the Banco Court in Melbourne.

On the bench sat Edmund Barton, Australia's first Prime Minister that same year.

From running the country to judging it.

And the court toured the state capitals for most of a century before Canberra gave it a home.

Um, there was thankfully a really obvious choice.

We had Edmund Barton.

Edmund Barton is famous for being Australia's first prime minister and one of the most boring cunts to ever serve in a role reserved for boring cunts.

So to Barton, serving as prime minister was kind of a dress rehearsal for the job he actually wanted, which was to be a high court judge.

And he seems to have absolutely loathed being prime minister, which is honestly kind of relatable, really.

He later became Sir William Lyon.

And he was, and I cannot stress this enough, a different person.

to edmund barton there was another reason uh that line would have made a non-ideal prime minister of australia and that was he was opposed to the existence of australia nevertheless uh undaunted and presumably dripping diarrhea hoped and offered the prime ministership to lime a man who thought there shouldn't be a country named australia Lyon did try to make a goal of it because, honestly, if someone offers you to become prime minister without needing to go through that whole election thing, you're probably going to go for it.

It is an absolute joke.

At least our prime minister and the government are on to it, because the other big fella with the wig and the orange complexion, he doesn't think there's anything wrong.

Ah,

of course he doesn't.

Now, the third historic AFL night for Ipswich that I'll tell you about concerns a gentleman by the name of Herbert Bryant.

Now, Bryant was born in Ipswich in 1860.

He was the nephew of Australia's first Prime Minister, Sir Edmund Barton.

Now, Bryant actually captained Brisbane Grammar School's Australian Rules football team and played in the Brisbane Football Club senior team while he was still at school.