Fisher and his younger brother James arrived in Brisbane, Queensland, on 17 August 1885, after a two-month steamship journey from London.
He first saw Australia during a stopover at Thursday Island, where whites were a minority and there was a large Japanese population.
His biographer David Day has speculated that this initial first impression may have contributed to his later opposition to non-white immigration.
Fisher's path to Australia was virtually identical to that of Billy Hughes, who had arrived less than a year earlier in December 1884 – both men took assisted passage, arrived at the age of 22, and travelled from London to Brisbane.
Unlike Hughes, Fisher never lost his original accent and retained a thick Scottish "brogue" for the rest of his life.

After arriving in Brisbane, Fisher made his way to the Burrum River coalfields where there were already a number of Scottish miners.
He began as an ordinary miner and joined the local miners' union, but after successfully sinking a new shaft at Torbanlea was employed as a mine manager.
Prospering financially for the first time in his life, he built a timber cottage at Howard and began investing in shares.
Fisher moved to the larger gold-mining town of Gympie in 1888, initially working in the No.
1 North Phoenix mine and then in the South Great Eastern Extended.
He continued his involvement in unionism, helping form the Gympie branch of the Amalgamated Miners' Association (AMA) and serving terms as secretary and president.
He obtained an engine-driver's certificate in 1891, and was elected president of the related craft union.
This new job allowed him to work above-ground, operating the machinery that raised and lowered the cages in the mineshaft.
During his time in Gympie, Fisher stayed in a boardinghouse in Red Hill; it is now heritage-listed as "Andrew Fisher's Cottage".
He would eventually marry his landlady's daughter, Margaret Irvine.

Within years of arriving in the town, Fisher had become "an important figure in the Gympie labour movement, straddling both its political and industrial wings".
He was a founding member of the Gympie cooperative, and in 1891 became the secretary of the Gympie Joint Labour Committee, the local labour council.
He helped establish a branch of the Workers' Political Association, the forerunner of the Labor Party, and served as the inaugural branch president with George Ryland as secretary.
In 1892, he represented Gympie at the Labour-in-Politics Convention in Brisbane.
He was sacked from his engine-driving job in the same year, and subsequently devoted his full attention to politics.
Fisher and his younger brother James arrived in Brisbane, Queensland, on 17 August 1885, after a two-month steamship journey from London. He first saw Australia during a stopover at Thursday Island, where whites were a minority and there was a large Japanese population. His biographer David Day has speculated that this initial first impression may have contributed to his later opposition to non-white immigration. Fisher's path to Australia was virtually identical to that of Billy Hughes, who had arrived less than a year earlier in December 1884 – both men took assisted passage, arrived at the age of 22, and travelled from London to Brisbane. Unlike Hughes, Fisher never lost his original accent and retained a thick Scottish "brogue" for the rest of his life.
After arriving in Brisbane, Fisher made his way to the Burrum River coalfields where there were already a number of Scottish miners. He began as an ordinary miner and joined the local miners' union, but after successfully sinking a new shaft at Torbanlea was employed as a mine manager. Prospering financially for the first time in his life, he built a timber cottage at Howard and began investing in shares. Fisher moved to the larger gold-mining town of Gympie in 1888, initially working in the No. 1 North Phoenix mine and then in the South Great Eastern Extended. He continued his involvement in unionism, helping form the Gympie branch of the Amalgamated Miners' Association (AMA) and serving terms as secretary and president. He obtained an engine-driver's certificate in 1891, and was elected president of the related craft union. This new job allowed him to work above-ground, operating the machinery that raised and lowered the cages in the mineshaft. During his time in Gympie, Fisher stayed in a boardinghouse in Red Hill; it is now heritage-listed as "Andrew Fisher's Cottage". He would eventually marry his landlady's daughter, Margaret Irvine.
Within years of arriving in the town, Fisher had become "an important figure in the Gympie labour movement, straddling both its political and industrial wings". He was a founding member of the Gympie cooperative, and in 1891 became the secretary of the Gympie Joint Labour Committee, the local labour council. He helped establish a branch of the Workers' Political Association, the forerunner of the Labor Party, and served as the inaugural branch president with George Ryland as secretary. In 1892, he represented Gympie at the Labour-in-Politics Convention in Brisbane. He was sacked from his engine-driving job in the same year, and subsequently devoted his full attention to politics.
Andrew Fisher