旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 쿓as Australia ever had a Buddhist as Prime Minister ? � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� Yes, Alfred Deakin was three times Prime Minister of Australia and Paul Croucher in his book 'Buddhism in Australia' writes: "He led two very different lives, that of Victorian politics by day and 'Esoteric Buddhism' by night. He read very widely on Buddhism, Vedanta and Theosophy, and was always intensely affected by the 'cheap and gaudy and facile display of worldly life'........." From November 1890 Deakin spent three months in Sri Lanka and India, This trip resulted in a book entitled 'Temple and Tomb in India' which devotes three highly sympathetic chapters to Buddhism. Of the Buddha, Deakin wrote: 'It was an all-pervading pity, an infinite tenderness, and boundless compassion, which winged the words of Gautama and made him the soverign of souls'.