image icon'Man of the hour', 1943 - asset 5

Transcript of the commentary

Through months of grim danger, with the dark threat of invasion coming ever closer, John Curtin never faltered. Ignoring petty critiques, caring nothing of personal popularity, shouldering the greatest responsibility ever borne by a prime minister of Australia, he reached a day when after consultation with General MacArthur he was able to say this:

Transcript of Curtin's words

'The Battle of Australia has assuredly been won just as the Battle of Britain has been won. Now, that does not mean that the war in the Pacific is not yet to be won, but it does mean that the security of Australia as the base for the concentration on deployment of offensive power has been assured. And I say the Government's war effort has been unparalleled in the history of Australia.'

Acknowledgements

Copyright Courtesy of the Australian Labor Party
Reproduced courtesy of John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library
Creator Australian Labor Party, producer, 1943
John Curtin, speaker, 1943
Identifiers John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library Records of the Australian Labor Party WA Branch JCPML00166/1/1
TLF resource R5475
Source John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library, http://john.curtin.edu.au/

 

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 © Reproduced courtesy of John Curtin Prime Ministerial LibraryJohn Curtin Prime Ministerial Library