THE WORKER
Throughout this time, young John Curtin was always looking for jobs to help support his family. He slowly worked his way up to more secure jobs offering better pay and conditions. His first job was as a printer's devil working for Norman Lindsay at the Rambler, a radical magazine published by Lindsay. Later he became an estimates clerk at the Titan factory which manufactured hardware. In 1911 he sought and got the job of secretary to the Timber Workers' Union. For the first time, his political interests enabled him to earn a living. Two years later, he established the Timber Worker, a monthly journal consisting of four pages of newsprint, some photographs and satirical cartoons. As the secretary of the
Union, John Curtin slowly came to realise that there was a role for government to play in the socialist revolution through reform, social welfare and arbitration.

 

John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library, Records of the National Library of Australia, John Curtin with Titan Manufacturing Co. Workers, n.d., JCPML 00438/23. John Curtin first on left, second top row. (Original held by National Library of Australia, MS3939, Box 28, Folder 9.)