Father of the Australian Senate

In Australian parliamentary practice, the Father of the Senate is the senator in the Australian Senate who has served longer, continuously, than any other currently serving senator. The title is seldom used today. It is an informal, honorific title which carries no parliamentary responsibilities. Where two or more senators have had equal lengths of continuous service, more than any other currently serving senators, they are known as the joint Fathers of the Senate. The current Father of the Senate is Ian Macdonald who acquired the status on 6 February 2015 after the resignation from Parliament of the then Father of the Senate, John Faulkner.

The only Father of the Senate with broken service but whose latter period of continuous service was sufficiently long to qualify was Sir Walter Cooper. Annabelle Rankin was a joint Father of the Senate, from 1 July 1968 to 24 May 1971, the only female to achieve that status. The possibility of a woman becoming a longest-serving senator was not provided for in Australian Senate Practice, and there has still been no move to amend the text or title to this day.

The first Senate was elected on 29 and 30 March 1901. Despite the different election dates, all the members elected to that first Parliament were considered to have had equal seniority. It follows that there could not be a "longest-serving Senator" until only one Senator from the first Parliament was still serving. That occurred on 14 September 1923 with the death of Hon Edward Millen, leaving Sir George Pearce as the sole longest-serving Senator, and thus the first sole Father of the Senate.

Since that date the Fathers and joint Fathers of the Senate have been as follows, with joint Fathers being shown in small type:

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