Editing Andrew Fisher (section)

==High Commissioner to the United Kingdom==
[[Image:AndrewFisher3.jpg|left|upright|thumb|Australia's second [[List of Australian High Commissioners to the United Kingdom|High Commissioner to the United Kingdom]]]]
Fisher was Australia's second [[List of Australian High Commissioners to the United Kingdom|High Commissioner to the United Kingdom]] from 1 January 1916 until 1 January 1921. Fisher opposed conscription which made his dealings with Billy Hughes difficult.  Hughes asked Fisher for support by cable three weeks before the first referendum, but Fisher cabled back "Am unable to sign appeal. Position forbids."  He subsequently refused to publicly comment on the issue.  Hughes' [[Australian plebiscite, 1916|1916 referendum]] on conscription had a No vote of around 52 per cent, while the [[Australian plebiscite, 1917|1917 referendum]] had a No vote of around 54 per cent. Fisher visited Australian troops serving in Belgium and France in 1919, and later presented Pearce with an album of battlefield photos from 1917 and 1918, showing the horrendous conditions experienced by the troops.<ref name=apma>{{cite web |title=Andrew Fisher, After office |work=Australia's Prime Ministers |publisher=National Archives of Australia |url=http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/fisher/after-office.aspx |access-date=9 February 2010 |archive-date=11 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140811011544/http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/fisher/after-office.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The [[Dardanelles Commission]], including Fisher, interviewed witnesses in 1916 and 1917 and issued its final report in 1919. It concluded that the expedition was poorly planned and executed and that difficulties had been underestimated, problems which were exacerbated by supply shortages and by personality clashes and procrastination at high levels. Some 480,000 Allied troops had been dedicated to the failed campaign, with around half in casualties. The report's conclusions were regarded as insipid with no figures (political or military) heavily censured. The report of the commission and information gathered by the inquiry remain a key source of documents on the campaign.<ref>{{cite web |title=Battles: The Gallipoli Front - An Overview |publisher=Firstworldwar.com |date=18 August 2002 |url=http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/overview_gf.htm |access-date=30 August 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Fisher |first=Mackensie |author2=Cawley |author3=Clyde |author4=Gwynn |author5=May |author6=Nicholson, Lord |author7=Pickford |author8=Roch |title=First report (of the Dardanelles Commission) (Abstract) |publisher=British Official Publications Collaborative Reader Information Service |date=February 1917 |url=http://www.bopcris.ac.uk/bopall/ref7720.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927004655/http://www.bopcris.ac.uk/bopall/ref7720.html |archive-date=27 September 2007 |access-date=12 May 2011}}</ref>