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William Hill Irvine ( 6 July 1858 - 20 August 1943 ), Australian politician and judge, was the 21st Premier Of Victoria . Irvine born in Newry in County Down , Ireland , into a Scottish - Presbyterian family. He was educated in Armagh and Dublin , graduating in law in 1879 before migrating to Melbourne , where he taught in Presbyterian schools and read law at Melbourne University , gaining a masters degree in arts and law. He soon became a leading Melbourne barrister. In 1894 Irvine was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly as a liberal. He was Attorney-General 1899 - 1900 and 1902 - 03 and Solicitor-General in 1903 . He succeeded George Turner as leader of the Victorian Liberals, but was much more conservative than either Turner or the federal Protectionist Party leader, Alfred Deakin . In 1903 he displaced the more liberal Alexander Peacock and became Premier and Treasurer, holding office until 1904 , when he was succeeded by Thomas Bent . In 1906 Irvine was elected to the Australian House Of Representatives for the seat of Flinders . First elected as an independent Protectionist, he became a member of Deakin's Commonwealth Liberal Party in 1908 . He was Attorney-General in Joseph Cook 's Liberal government of 1913 - 14 . He was considered a potential Prime Minister Of Australia , but his abrupt manner and hard-line conservatism made him unacceptable to many Liberals: he was known in Parliament as "Iceberg Irvine." Recognising this, Irvine accepted the appointment as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Of Victoria in 1918 , and held this position until 1935 . He was knighted in 1914 and made GCMG in 1936 . A keen motorist, he was a founding member of the Royal Automobile Club Of Victoria (RACV) and was its patron 1938 - 43 . In 1932 a painting of Irvine by Ernest Buckmaster won the Archibald Prize , Australia's best-known portrait prize. REFERENCES
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