John Curtin

Rt Hon John Curtin

John Curtin (January 8 1885 - July 5 1945), Australian politician and 14th Prime Minister of Australia, led Australia through the darkest period of its history: when the Australian mainland came under direct military threat during the Japanese advance in World War II. Many Australians regard him as the country's greatest political leader and Prime Minister.

Militant youth

Curtin was born John Joseph Ambrose Curtin (he dropped the two middle names when he left the Catholic church as a young man), in Creswick in central Victoria, the son of a police officer of Irish descent. He had some primary education, but by the age of twelve he was working in a factory in Melbourne. He soon became active in both the Labor Party and the Victorian Socialist Party, a Marxist group. He wrote for radical and socialist newspapers as "Jack Curtin."

In 1911 Curtin was employed as secretary of the Timberworkers' Union, and during World War I he was a militant anti-conscriptionist. He was briefly imprisoned for refusing to attend a compulsory medical examination, even though he knew he would fail the exam due to his very poor eyesight. The strain of this period led him to drink heavily, a vice which blighted his career for many years. In 1917 he married Elsie Needham, sister of a Labor Senator.

Labor politician

Curtin moved to Western Australia in 1918 to become editor of the Westralian Worker, the official trade union newspaper. He enjoyed the less pressured life of the west and his political views gradually moderated. He stood for Parliament several times before winning the federal seat of Fremantle in 1928. He expected to be elected to the ministry in the Scullin Labor government in 1929, but disapproval of his drinking kept him on the backbench. He lost his seat in 1931, but won it back in 1934.

When Scullin resigned as Labor leader in 1935, Curtin was unexpectedly elected to succeed him. The left wing and trude union group in the Caucus backed him because his rival, Frank Forde, had supported the economic policies of the Scullin government. They also made him promise to give up drinking, which he did. He made little progress against the Lyons government, but after Lyons's death in 1939 Labor's position improved. Curtin fell only a few seats short of winning the 1940 election.

Wartime leader

Curtin with Douglas MacArthur

Curtin refused Robert Menzies's offer to form a wartime "national government," partly because he feared it would split the Labor Party. In October 1941 the two independent MPs who had been keeping the conservatives in power since 1940 switched their support to Labor, and Curtin became Prime Minister. In December the Pacific War broke out, and in February 1942 Singapore fell to the Japanese, who were soon bombing northern Australian towns. Invasion seemed a real threat.

Curtin took three crucial decisions. The first was to bring all Australia's forces back from the Middle East to defend the Australian mainland, despite the furious objections of Winston Churchill. The second was to appeal to the United States for assistance. Curtin formed a close friendship with General Douglas MacArthur, and MacArthur took command of the US and Australian forces. By 1943 the threat of invasion had been averted, and in August Curtin led Labor to its greatest ever election victory.

The third step Curtin took was the introduction of conscription, which he judged vital for Australia's survival. This met furious opposition from most of Curtin's old friends on the left, and from many of his colleagues, led by Arthur Calwell. The stress of this bitter battle inside his own party took a toll on Curtin's health.

Curtin's health had never been robust, and he suffered all his life from stress related illnesses. He also smoked heavily. In 1944, when he travelled to London for meetings with Allied leaders, he already had heart disease, and in 1945 his health deteriorated. He died in Canberra in July 1945, the second Australian Prime Minister to die in office in six years. MacArthur said that Curtin was "one of the greatest of the wartime statesmen" and that "the preservation of Australia from invasion will be his immemorial monument".

The Curtin Legend

His early death and the sentiments it aroused have given Curtin a unique place in Australian political history. Successive Labor leaders, particularly his fellow Western Australians Bob Hawke and Kim Beazley, have sought to build on the Curtin tradition of "patriotic Laborism." Even political conservatives pay at least formal homage to the Curtin legend, in a way that Labor supporters certainly not do to the corresponding Liberal hero, Menzies.

Curtin is commemorated by Curtin University of Technology in Perth, the John Curtin School of Medical Research in Canberra and the John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library (http://john.curtin.edu.au/).

First Curtin Ministry

7 October 1941 to 21 September 1943

• Rt Hon John Curtin, MP: Prime Minister. Minister for Defence Co-ordination (to 14 April 1942), Minister for Defence (from 14 April 1942)
• Rt Hon Frank Forde, MP: Minister for the Army
• Rt Hon Ben Chifley, MP: Treasurer. Minister for Postwar Reconstruction (from 22 December 1942)
• Rt Hon Dr Herbert Evatt, KC MP: Attorney-General, Minister for External Affairs
• Hon John Beasley, MP: Minister for Supply and Development (to 17 October 1942), Minister for Supply and Shipping (from 17 October 1942)
• Senator Hon Joseph Collings: Minister for the Interior
• Hon Norman Makin, MP: Minister for the Navy, Minister for Munitions
• Hon Edward Holloway, MP: Minister for Health, Minister for Social Services
• Senator Hon Richard Keane: Minister for Trade and Customs, Vice-President of the Executive Council
• Hon Arthur Drakeford, MP: Minister for Air, Minister for Civil Aviation
• Hon William Scully, MP: Minister for Commerce (to 22 December 1942), Minister for Commerce and Agriculture (from 22 December 1942)
• Senator Hon William Ashley: Postmaster-General, Minister for Information
• Hon Eddy Ward, MP: Minister for Labour and National Service
• Hon George Lawson, MP: Minister for Transport
• Hon Charles Frost, MP: Minister for Repatriation, Minister in charge of War Service Homes
• Hon John Dedman, MP: Minister for War Organisation of Industry, Minister in charge of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
• Hon Hubert Lazzarini, MP: Minister for Home Security
• Senator Hon James Fraser: Minister for External Territories
• Senator Hon Donald Cameron: Minister for Aircraft Production

Second Curtin Ministry

21 September 1943 to 6 July 1945

• Rt Hon John Curtin, MP: Prime Minister, Minister for Defence
• Rt Hon Frank Forde, MP: Minister for the Army
• Rt Hon Ben Chifley, MP: Treasurer. Minister for Postwar Reconstruction (to 2 February 1945)
• Rt Hon Dr Herbert Evatt, KC MP: Attorney-General, Minister for External Affairs
• Hon John Beasley, MP: Minister for Supply and Shipping (to 2 February 1945), Vice-President of the Executive Council (from 2 February 1945)
• Senator Hon Joseph Collings: Minister for the Interior
• Hon Norman Makin, MP: Minister for the Navy, Minister for Munitions. Minister for Aircraft Production (from 2 February 1945)
• Hon Edward Holloway, MP: Minister for Labour and National Service
• Senator Hon Richard Keane: Minister for Trade and Customs
• Hon Arthur Drakeford, MP: Minister for Air, Minister for Civil Aviation
• Hon William Scully, MP: Minister for Commerce and Agriculture
• Senator Hon William Ashley: Postmaster-General, Vice-President of the Executive Council (to 2 February 1945), Minister for Supply and Shipping (from 2 February 1945)
• Hon Eddy Ward, MP: Minister for Transport, Minister for External Territories
• Hon Charles Frost, MP: Minister for Repatriation, Minister in charge of War Service Homes
• Hon John Dedman, MP: Minister for War Organisation of Industry (to 19 February 1945), Minister in charge of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. Minister for Postwar Reconstruction (from 2 February 1945)
• Hon Hubert Lazzarini, MP: Minister for Home Security
• Senator Hon James Fraser: Minister for Health, Minister for Social Services
• Senator Hon Donald Cameron: Minister for Aircraft Production (to 2 February 1945), Postmaster-General (from 2 February 1945)
• Hon Arthur Calwell, MP: Minister for Information

Further Reading

• David Day, Curtin: A Life, HarperCollins, 1999

External links

• John Curtin (http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/meetpm.asp?pmId=14) - Australia's Prime Ministers / National Archives of Australia
• John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library (http://john.curtin.edu.au/) / Curtin University of Technology, Western Australia