John Christian Watson was born in 1867 in Chile while his parents were travelling. When John was old enough to go to school, he went to a government school in Oamaru, New Zealand.Watson started work on the railways at the age of ten. Then at thirteen he started to work at a newspaper.

In 1886, Watson moved to Sydney. He was elected to the New South Wales Parliament in 1894 and became President of the Commonwealth Labor Party in 1901. He worked closely with the Protectionist leader, Alfred Deakin.

When he was aged 37, he became Australia's third and youngest Prime Minister, on 27 April 1904. Watson's Political Parties were Commonwealth and Labor.He resigned on the 17 August 1904, just three months and twenty days after becoming Prime Minister. He remained in Parliament until 1910. In 1916 he was expelled from the Labor Party for supporting conscription into the army.

Watson helped established Ampol, an Australian oil company, and the N.R.M.A.,a motorists association. He never became an Australian citizen, which is very strange.

Watson died in Sydney, Australia on the 18 November 1941 at the age of 74.