Who was John Curtin and how did he come to lead Australia during World War II?

Follow his path from working class childhood in country Victoria to wartime leadership in Canberra.

Jan 8 1885 John Curtin born at Creswick in Victoria to Irish - born John Curtin and Kate Bourke

c. 1890 Curtin family leaves Creswick, moves from hotel to hotel with John Sr working as hotel manager

YARRA BANK YOUTH

c.1899 Curtin family settles in Melbourne suburb of Brunswick. Curtin leaves school aged about 14.

1902 Meets his mentor Frank Anstey (Victorian labour politician) and Tom Mann (famous British socialist and union leader).

1903-1911 Works as an estimates clerk at the Titan Manufacturing Company in South Melbourne.

1906 Joins the Victorian Socialist Party (VSP). First article published in VSP journal the Socialist.

1907-1908 President then Secretary of the Brunswick branch of the Political Labor Council (later to become the Australian Labor Party).

1911-1915 Appointed secretary then first Federal President of the Timber Workers' Union.

1916 Appointed secretary of the Trades Hall Council anti-conscription campaign
Spends time in Lara Hospital being treated for drinking problem

The Westralian Worker Office
in Perth, c 1920. Records of the Australian Labour Party WA Branch. JCPML00379/1.

HEADING WEST

Feb 1917 Moves to Perth as Editor of the Westralian Worker

April 21 1917 Marries Elsie Needham at Registrars Office in Perth

Dec 1917 Daughter Elsie born

Jan 1921 Son John born

1924 Represents Australia at annual conference of International Labour Organisation in Geneva

1927-1928 Member of Commonwealth Royal Commission into Child Endowment

Records of the Curtin family. John Curtin with his children, 1930. JCPML00004/16.

Nov 1928 Wins federal seat of Fremantle, serves in Labor Opposition.

Feb 1929 Elected to Labor caucus executive.

Oct 1929 Labor wins government. Curtin retains seat of Fremantle, but is not elected to Scullin's ministry.

Dec 1931 Labor is defeated. Curtin loses his seat and returns to Perth. Permanently gives up alcohol, works as a journalist.

Sept 1934 Curtin wins seat of Fremantle again, returns to Canberra to serve in Labor Opposition.

Oct 1935 Curtin elected by one vote to replace retiring Scullin as leader of the ALP.

Oct 1937 Retains seat of Fremantle in federal election.

Sept 1940 Retains seat of Fremantle again, but by narrow margin.

Oct 28 1940 Curtin appointed to newly established Advisory War Council.

Xmas greetings from 3 Squadron RAAF
to the prime minister. National Archives of Australia. M1416/1, 76.

Oct 3 1941 Fadden government is defeated in Parliament. Curtin is invited to form a ministry.

Oct 7 1941 Curtin is sworn in as Prime Minister.

Dec 26 1941 Curtin states 'Australia looks to America`.

Feb 1942 Curtin clashes with Churchill over the return of the 6th & 7th Divisions of the AIF.

Feb 1943 9th Division of the AIF returns to Australia from the Middle East on Curtin's insistence.

Feb 1943 Curtin convinces ALP to accept a measure of conscription for overseas service; Militia Bill passed by Parliament.

Aug 21 1943 Landslide victory for ALP in federal election.

Curtin with US Secretary of State Cordell Hull, Washington DC, 1944. Records of the Curtin family. JCPML00376/106.

April-June 1944 John and Elsie Curtin travel to USA, Britain and Canada.

Nov 1944 Curtin suffers a heart attack and spends two months in a Melbourne hospital.

July 5 1945 Curtin dies at the Lodge.

• 1890s Depression in Australia
  
• 1901 Federation of colonies to form the Commonwealth of Australia
  
• July 1908 'Australian Labor Party' becomes official name of the parliamentary wing of the labour movement
  
• Aug 4 1914 World War I begins
  
• Oct 1916 & Dec 1917 Conscription referenda in Australia defeated
  
• 1917 Russian Revolution
  
• Nov 11 1918 World War I ends
  
• Jan 1920 Australian Country Party formed
  
• Nov 1920 Communist Party of Australia formed
  
• May 9 1927 Federal Parliament sits for first time in the new Australian capital of Canberra
  
• Nov 1928 National-Country Party coalition victory at federal election
  
• Oct 1929 Victory for Scullin's ALP at federal election
  
• Wall Street crashes and the Great Depression begins
  
• Jan 1930 Don Bradman scores a record 452 not out for NSW against QLD
  
• Nov 1930 Phar Lap wins Melbourne Cup
  
• Dec 1931 Scullin's Labor Government falls, victory for Lyons' United Australia Party
  
• Sept 1934 Another United Australia Party victory in federal election
  
• 1934 Australia starts to recover from Great Depression
  
• 1936 King Edward VIII abdicates
  
• Oct 1937 Another United Australia Party victory in federal election
  
• April 1939 Menzies takes over as Prime Minister after the death of Lyons
  
• Sept 3 1939 Australia declares war on Germany
  
• June 1940 Australia declares war on Italy when Italy allies with Germany
  
• Sept1940 Marginal victory for United Australia Party in federal election. Curtin rejects Menzies' offer to form an all-party government
  
• Aug 1941 Menzies is replaced as Prime Minister by Country Party leader Arthur Fadden
  
• Oct 3 1941 Fadden Government is defeated, ALP is invited to form government
  
• Nov 19 1941 German raider sinks HMAS 'Sydney' off WA coast with loss of 645 lives
  
• Dec 7 1941 Japanese attack Pearl Harbor
  
• Dec 8 1941 Australia declares war on Japan
  
• Feb 15 1942 Singapore falls to the Japanese
  
• Feb 19 1942 Japanese bomb Darwin for the first time
  
• March 17 1942 US General Douglas MacArthur arrives in Australia
  
• May 31-June 1942 Japanese midget submarines raid Sydney Harbour
  
• May 1942 Battle of the Coral Sea thwarts Japanese plans to isolate Australia
  
• Nov 1942 Australian troops recapture Kokoda in Papua
  
• Sept-Dec 1943 Allied victories lead to Japanese retreat in New Guinea
  
• April 12 1945 US President FD Roosevelt dies
  
• May 7 1945 War against Germany ends
  
• July 5 1945 Deputy Prime Minister Frank Forde becomes Prime Minister after Curtin's death
  
• July 13 1945 Ben Chifley becomes Prime Minister
  
• Aug 1945 Allies drop atomic bombs- on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
  
• Aug 15 1945Pacific War ends

John Curtin was a modest and reserved man - perhaps an unlikely prime minister. Yet few politicians before or since have enjoyed such universal respect and affection from those on both sides of politics.

He led an austere and simple life, and seemed to remain unaffected by the power of high office.

The front room of the Curtin's
Cottesloe home, 1943. Records of the Curtin family. JCPML00376/35.

Despite his choice of career, Curtin was extremely sensitive to criticism, and prone to bouts of dark depression. Loneliness plagued him during the years he spent in Canberra, separated from his family who still lived in Perth.

He was seen by many as a man of principle, devoted to the cause of the worker, and loyal to the Labor Party to the end.

THE CURTIN FAMILY

Despite his long absences from home, Curtin had a close relationship with his family. During most of his time as Prime Minister, his wife Elsie lived in Perth, where their daughter Elsie and son John also lived.

There she maintained their Cottesloe home, attended to Curtin's electorate correspondence, and became involved in community activities, including the Labor Women's Organisation.

The last photo of John and Elsie
together at the Lodge, Canberra, 1945. Records of the Curtin family. JCPML00376/29.

She usually made two trips to Canberra each year, staying for a few months at a time.

During Curtin's final illness, Elsie lived at the Lodge continuously for six months. She was with her husband when he died. Elsie Curtin was appointed CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in 1970 for her services to the community. She died in 1975 at the age of eighty-four.