Isaacs, Sir Isaac Alfred

Related Category: Australian, New Zealand, and Pacific Islands History: Biographies

(ī´zəks), 1855–1948, Australian jurist and political leader. He sat in the colonial legislature (1892–1901), became solicitor general (1893), and served as attorney general (1894–99, 1900–1901). He was a framer of the commonwealth constitution and sat in the dominion Parliament (1901–6), becoming attorney general in 1905. He was for many years (1906–30) a high court justice and sat as chief justice (1930–31). His appointment (1931) as governor-general was the first made by the British crown directly on the advice of a dominion ministry. The first native-born Australian to hold that office, he served until 1936.