| Date | Event |
| 1859 | Born at Fitzroy, Melbourne, son of William and Sarah Deakin, on 3 August |
| 1864-1871 | Attended Melbourne Church of England Grammar School |
| 1872-1877 | Studied law at University of Melbourne |
| 1878 | Called to Bar |
| Began to contribute to The Age
|
| 1879 | Member for West Bourke in Victorian Legislative Assembly; resigned over an electoral irregularity |
| 1880-1889 | Member for West Bourke in Victorian Legislative Assembly |
| 1882 | Married Elizabeth Martha Anne ('Pattie') Browne (1863-1934) |
| 1883-1884 | Commissioner of Public Works and Water Supply |
| 1884-1885 | Solicitor-General and Minister of Public Works |
| Chairman, Royal Commission on Irrigation |
| Visited United States |
| 1885-1890 | Leader of Liberal Party |
| 1886-1890 | Chief Secretary and Minister for Water Supply |
| 1887 | Victorian delegate at Imperial Conference in London |
| 1889-1900 | Member for Essendon and Flemington in Victorian Legislative Assembly |
| 1890 | Victorian delegate at Australasian Federal Conference in Melbourne |
| Visited Ceylon and India |
| 1891 | Victorian delegate at National Australasian Convention in Sydney |
| 1897-1898 | Victorian delegate at Federal Conventions in Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne |
| 1900 | Visited London to support Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Bill |
| 1901-1903 | Attorney-General in Barton Government |
| 1901-1913 | Member of the House of Representatives for Ballarat |
| 1903-1904 | Prime Minister and Minister for External Affairs |
| 1904-1905 | Leader of the Opposition |
| 1905-1908 | Prime Minister and Minister for External Affairs |
| 1907 | Australian delegate at Imperial Conference in London |
| 1909 | Alliance with Freetraders: 'Fusion' |
| 1909-1910 | Prime Minister |
| 1910-1913 | Leader of the Opposition |
| 1914 | Chairman of the Royal Commission on Food Supplies and Prices |
| 1915 | Australian representative at Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco |
| 1919 | Died at South Yarra, Melbourne on 7 October |
| Children: Ivy (1883-1970), married Herbert Brookes in 1905; Stella (1886-1976), married A.C.D. Rivett (later Sir David Rivett) in 1911; Vera (1891-1978), married T.W. White (later Sir Thomas White) in 1920 |
Murdoch, Walter. Alfred Deakin : a sketch. London : Constable, 1923.