Editing Alfred Deakin (section)

===Childhood and education===
[[File:Nla.ms-ms1540-19-613-s5-b1-e.jpg|left|thumb|upright|Deakin as a young man in 1877.]]
Deakin spent his early years in Fitzroy, then lived briefly in [[Emerald Hill, Victoria|Emerald Hill]] (now South Melbourne) before his family settled in [[South Yarra, Victoria|South Yarra]] in about 1863. Rather than build an entirely new house, his father transported a wooden cottage from Fitzroy to South Yarra and then had it [[Brick nog|brick-nogged]]. His parents and sister would live there for the rest of their lives.{{sfn|La Nauze|1965a|p=8}} At the age of four, Deakin was sent to join his ten-year-old sister in [[Kyneton]], a small country town where she was attending a girls' boarding school run by the Thompson sisters. He was the only male pupil at the school.{{sfn|La Nauze|1965a|p=16}} It was unusual for children to be sent away at such a young age, and his biographer [[Judith Brett]] has speculated that their mother may have been suffering from a bout of depression or recovering from a stillbirth.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Judith |last=Brett |author-link=Judith Brett |title=Alfred Deakin's Childhood: Books, a Boy and his Mother |year=2012 |journal=Australian Historical Studies |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=69–70|doi=10.1080/1031461X.2011.585653|s2cid=144311101 }}</ref> The Thompson sisters eventually moved their school to Melbourne, which Deakin continued to attend until the age of seven. In early 1864, he was enrolled at [[Melbourne Grammar School]] as a day-boy.{{sfn|La Nauze|1965a|p=16}} He attended Melbourne Grammar for eight years, where he was a good student without excelling academically. He later recalled that he had been "an incessantly restless, random and at times studiously mischievous pupil", and regretted that he had not been made to work harder.{{sfn|La Nauze|1965a|pp=18–19}} Deakin was also passionate about [[Australian rules football]] a game which he played during his youth, though it is not known for which clubs or teams he played in.<ref name="JuddHallinan2019">{{cite journal | last1 = Judd | first1 = Barry | last2 = Hallinan | first2 = Christopher | title = Indigeneity and the Disruption of Anglo-Australian Nationalism in Australian Football | journal = Review of Nationalities | date = 1 December 2019 | volume = 9 | issue = 1 | pages = 101–110 | eissn = 2543-9391 | doi = 10.2478/pn-2019-0008 | pmid = | s2cid = 215770426 | url = | doi-access = free }}</ref>

In 1871, aged 15, Deakin passed the [[matriculation]] exam for the [[University of Melbourne]].{{sfn|La Nauze|1965a|p=19}} He formed an ambition to become a [[barrister]], and began attending evening classes the following year. He could not afford to study full-time, working during the day as a schoolteacher and private tutor. At the time, the [[Victorian Bar]] did not require a complete university degree for admission, only passing grades in relevant legal subjects. Deakin was consequently admitted to the bar in September 1877, aged 21, without ever graduating from university.{{sfn|La Nauze|1965a|p=23}} According to his biographer [[John La Nauze]], his legal studies were "the least important part of his education" during his time at university.{{sfn|La Nauze|1965a|p=24}} He was a frequent speaker in the Melbourne University Debating Society, where he was mentored by [[Charles Henry Pearson]],{{sfn|La Nauze|1965a|p=22}} and was also involved in the Eclectic Society. He spent much of his spare time reading, "from Chaucer to the great writers of his own time".{{sfn|La Nauze|1965a|pp=24–25}} For some time Deakin was "more interested in dreams of being a dramatist, a poet or a philosopher" rather than a lawyer. He wrote numerous works of [[blank verse]] and [[narrative poetry]], and in 1875 published ''Quentin Massys'', a drama in five acts.{{sfn|La Nauze|1965a|pp=26–28}}

Deakin initially had difficulty in obtaining briefs as a barrister. In May 1878, he met [[David Syme]], the owner of the Melbourne daily ''[[The Age]]'', who paid him to contribute reviews, leaders and articles on politics and literature. In 1880, he became editor of ''The Leader'', ''The Age''{{'}}s weekly. During this period Syme converted him from supporting free trade to protectionism.<ref name=dab/><ref name=adb/> He became active in the [[Australian Natives' Association]] and began to practise vegetarianism.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Cheap Livers and Death Dodgers: Vegetarianism in the National Library |journal=NLA News |volume=XIV |issue=3 |date=December 2003 |url=http://www.nla.gov.au/pub/nlanews/2003/dec03/story-5.pdf |access-date=8 February 2010}}</ref> He became a lifelong [[Spiritualism (religious movement)|spiritualist]], holding the office of President of the Victorian Spiritualists' Union.<ref name=dab>{{cite web |first=Percival |last=Serle |author-link=Percival Serle |title=Deakin, Alfred (1856–1919) |publisher=[[Project Gutenberg Australia]] |work=[[Dictionary of Australian Biography]] |url=http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks15/1500721h/0-dict-biogD.html#deakin1 |access-date=8 February 2010}}</ref><ref name=adb>{{Australian Dictionary of Biography |last=Norris |first=R. |coauthor= |author-link= |title=Deakin, Alfred (1856–1919) |year=1981 |id2=deakin-alfred-5927}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Alfred Deakin |work=Prime Facts |publisher=Australian Prime Ministers Centre |url =http://apmc.oph.gov.au/lib/docs/02-Deakin-Web.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706121919/http://apmc.oph.gov.au/lib/docs/02-Deakin-Web.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=6 July 2011 |access-date=8 February 2010}}</ref>