Edmund Barton quotes

Edmund Barton was an Australian politician and the first Prime Minister of Australia. A key figure in the movement towards Australian federation, he played an instrumental role in unifying the nation. He later served as a founding justice of the High Court of Australia. Here are 7 of his quotes:

If it is the duty of the State to educate, it is the duty of the State also to bear the burden of education, namely, the taxation out of which education is provided.

Edmund Barton

A State which has universal suffrage and a wide extension of the jury franchise, must qualify the people by education to rightly exercise the great powers with which they are invested.

Edmund Barton

I was for two years a pupil at the Model School in Fort street which was then conducted upon the Irish national system, and if any special religious instruction was given in connection with that system, I do not recollect it.

Edmund Barton

Creating a nation requires the will of the people!

Edmund Barton

I say further that our system of education should be unsectarian.

Edmund Barton

The difference between the denominational system and the public school system is all the difference between bolstering them up on the one hand and letting them alone of the other.

Edmund Barton