Julia Gillard became the first woman prime minister of Australia in June, and has now won the right to remain in the job as head of a minority government.

When Ms Gillard seized power from Kevin Rudd in the Labor party room, she recognised she did not have a mandate from the Australian people and so she would not move into the Lodge until she had earned their trust at an election.

The key independents' decision to back a Labor minority government clears the way for her to move into the prime minister's residence.

Born in Wales in 1961, Ms Gillard arrived in Australia aged four as a "10-pound pom" and settled in Adelaide with her parents and sister.

She comes from a Labor household and has often spoken of the influence her hard-working parents had on shaping her beliefs.

The fact her father was denied a proper education when he was a child has also had a strong bearing on her belief in the importance of education and hard work.

Ms Gillard was educated at Unley High in Adelaide, where she earned a reputation as a diligent, if somewhat shy, student.

She decided as a teenager that she did not want to have children and has never married; she lives with her long-term partner, Tim Mathieson.

Although she has described herself as a shy child, by the time she began studying arts-law at the University of Adelaide in 1979, she was confident enough to become involved in student politics after joining the ALP.

By 1982 Ms Gillard had moved to Melbourne to work for the Australian Union of Students as education vice-president and her involvement with a group called the Socialist Forum at the time has long been used by her opponents to paint her as a product of the "radical left".

After finishing her degree Ms Gillard began working as a solicitor for Slater and Gordon in Melbourne in 1987. In just three years she was the first woman to be offered a salaried partnership by the firm.

Although her law career was highly successful, her path to Federal Parliament was fraught with setbacks and she was twice knocked back for pre-selection in the early 1990s.

While pondering her political future Ms Gillard took up an offer to work for then Victorian Opposition leader John Brumby.

Finally in 1998 Ms Gillard was able to overcome any previous resistance from her detractors to win pre-selection for the seat of Lalor and was voted into Parliament at that year's election.

By 2001 she was in the shadow ministry formulating immigration policy and in 2003 she moved to health, where she began facing off against then minister Tony Abbott.

So began their famous rivalry, which has played out on morning television, in Parliament and ultimately on the campaign trail.

In 2006, while working in the industrial relations and education portfolio, Ms Gillard teamed up with Mr Rudd to oust Kim Beazley from the leadership. Although Ms Gillard had leadership ambitions she agreed to be Mr Rudd's deputy on a joint ticket.

After Mr Rudd led Labor to its famous 2007 election victory Ms Gillard continued on in the same portfolio and secured a win in the Senate after her legislation to abolish WorkChoices was passed.

However, her stewardship of the $16 billion Building the Education Revolution came under intense scrutiny after repeated claims of waste and rorting were aired in the media.

Labor rode high in the polls for two years but after its decision to shelve the emissions trading scheme and a number of other backflips and bungles its primary vote dived, as did Mr Rudd's popularity.

As leadership speculation mounted, Ms Gillard insisted she did not have plans to challenge Mr Rudd.

But in one swift evening support for Mr Rudd crumbled as factional leaders swung behind Ms Gillard and by the morning of June 24 she was Australia's 27th prime minister.

When Australians delivered a hung Parliament on August 21, Ms Gillard vowed to fight to hang onto power despite the loss of a swag of seats in Queensland and New South Wales.

Long regarded as having strong negotiation skills, Ms Gillard was able to win the support of Greens MP Adam Bandt, new Tasmanian independent Andrew Wilkie and incumbent MPs Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor to remain in government.

Ms Gillard now needs to choose new finance and defence ministers, as well as deciding what job she will give to her predecessor.