Activity 1: Collecting numbers and dates

1. The year John Curtin was born
2. The year that the Australian colonies federated
3. The year that John Curtin moved to Western Australia
4. The year that John Curtin married Elsie Needham
5. The year that John Curtin became editor of the Westralian Worker
6. The year that John Curtin was first elected to be the Member of Parliament for the Federal Seat of Fremantle
7. The day, month and year that Curtin became prime minister
8. The day, month and year that the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor
9. The day, month and year that John Curtin died
Check your answers to Activity 1

Activity 2: Using numbers and dates

Use the information in Activity 1 to solve these mathematical problems about John Curtin's life. Questions 6, 7 and 8 are harder ones to challenge the maths' wizzes!

1. How old was John Curtin when Australia became a federation? Hint: Year of federation - year of John Curtin's birth = 1901 - 1885 = answer
2. How old was John Curtin when he became editor of the Westralian Worker?
3. How old was John Curtin when he first became a member of parliament?
3. How old was John Curtin when he became prime minister?
4. How old was John Curtin when he died?
5. John Curtin spent about a quarter of his life in parliament. How many years did he serve in parliament?
6. John Curtin was married for just under half his life. Approximately how many years was he married?
7. John Curtin left school when he was 14.    a. How old was he when he was three times as old as 14?    b. What year was it when he was three times as old as 14?    c. What job did he have when he was three times as old as 14?
8. How many days was it between John Curtin becoming prime minister and the Japanese bombing of Pear Harbor?
Check your answers to Activity 2