Watson, John Christian (1867–1941)

Australian trade union leader and Labor politician, prime minister of Australia in 1904. His administration was the first to be formed by the Labor Party (founded 1891) in the Australian federal parliament.

After an education in New Zealand, Watson settled in New South Wales, Australia, where he became head of the newspaper compositors' trade union. In 1894 he entered the Legislative Assembly and soon afterwards was elected leader of the parliamentary Labor Party. In 1901 he became leader of the federal Labor Party. He retired from politics in 1910 to concentrate on his business interests, mainly in newspaper publishing.