Kevin Rudd liked to describe himself as the "farm boy from Queensland" [AFP]

Kevin Rudd was for years the darling of Australian politics before undergoing a rapid decline.

He took over as Australian Labor party leader in December 2006, inheriting a demoralised party, split by bitter factional divisions and seemingly incapable of denting the popularity of John Howard, the then prime minister.

The fluent Mandarin speaker promised closer engagement with Asia and wowed voters with a landmark apology to Australia's aborigines for their treatment under white rule.

The assured, if bookish, leader unravelled Howard's harsh immigration policies and kept Australia recession-free throughout the global financial crisis, something no other advanced economy achieved.

But on Thursday Rudd stood down from office to avoid a humiliating party vote, as opinion polls headed south in recent months.

The move paved the way for his deputy Julia Gillard to become the country's first female leader, replacing him after engineering a party revolt.

Rudd endured a tough childhood, forced to temporarily sleep in a car aged 11 when his family was evicted from their Queensland farm following his father's death in a road accident.

He said that experience shaped the views on social justice that led him to run for federal parliament, where he was elected to in 1998 on his second attempt.

Married with three children, his wife Therese is a millionaire businesswoman in her own right, a fact that plays well with female voters.

Fall from grace

The start of Rudd's downfall could be traced back to December, when an attempt to pass vaunted emissions trading laws ended in embarrassing failure.

He later announced the shelving of his plans for the carbon trading scheme aimed at slowing global warming, which he had branded the "greatest moral challenge of our generation", until 2013, a move that saw his public support plunge.

His popularity was further savaged by a more recent and very public dust-up with the powerful mining industry over plans to introduce a 40 per cent super-profits tax, which ultimately led to his political demise amid plummeting poll figures.

Additionally, he faced constant criticism over the steady flow of asylum boats approaching Australian shores and was accused of failing to achieve better ties with China, despite booming resources trade.

But his government's $58bn stimulus package can claim a large part of the credit for maintaining Australia's growth during the global economic crisis, and spurring a strong recovery since.

While the 50-year-old likes to describe himself as a "farm boy from Queensland", Rudd was seen as too intellectual and lacking the common touch Australians prefer in their political leaders when first appointed.