George Warburton Fuller

Sir George Warburton Fuller (22 January 1861 – 22 July 1940) was an Australian politician who served as the 22nd Premier of New South Wales, in office from 1922 to 1925 and for one day in December 1921. He previously served in the federal House of Representatives from 1901 to 1913, representing the Division of Illawarra, and was Minister for Home Affairs under Alfred Deakin from 1909 to 1910.

Early life Fuller was born in Kiama, New South Wales. He was the son of George Lawrence Fuller. He was educated at Kiama Public School, Sydney Grammar School and at St Andrew's College at the University of Sydney. He received a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in 1879, and a Master of Arts in 1882 from the University of Sydney. He studied law under Sir William Patrick Manning (eminent judge and university chancellor) and became a barrister in 1884.

Colonial politics Fuller served in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for over 18 years. Initially he represented Kiama from 1889 to 1894, but was defeated in 1894 and again in 1898.

Federal politics

Fuller was the first member for Illawarra in the new Australian House of Representatives between 1901 and 1913. He was Minister for Home Affairs in 1909 and 1910 in Alfred Deakin's Commonwealth Liberal Party government and was responsible for making Canberra the national capital. In 1911 he was an Australian representative at the coronation of George V.

Premier

Labor won the 1920 election and Fuller became Leader of the Opposition. In 1921 he took advantage of the death of John Storey to defeat James Dooley's Government on a motion of no confidence and as a result was asked to form a government. But Fuller himself had to give up the Premiership after only seven hours, after losing another motion of no confidence and Dooley returned to office.

In the 1922 state election, Dooley was defeated and Fuller became Premier once again. His government began the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. This time his tenure lasted till the 1925 state election, won by Labor's Jack Lang.

Later years Shortly after Lang's victory, Fuller resigned from the Nationalist leadership in favour of Thomas Bavin. From 1928 to 1931 he was the state's Agent-General in London. He died in the Sydney suburb of Darlinghurst.