Biography
Book Details

John Curtin

A Biography

Lloyd Ross

Biography of one of Australia’s most important Labor Prime Ministers by a distinguished biographer.

Opinion

‘A first-rate fighter, with the mild appearance of a curate’ Bulletin

About this Title

This is an important classic biography of an Australian Prime Minister whose life still exerts an abiding influence on Australian society and national consciousness—a key figure in Australian history.

‘Curtin was a complex character. Warm and sympathetic, but cold and aloof; a comrade but a loner; a rebel and anti-conscriptionist but Prime Minister. Moody; irritable; uncertain; changeable; vacillating; temperamental; opportunist; sentimental; courageous; all are true of Curtin.’ Lloyd Ross sums up the character of the wartime Labor Prime Minister who fought Churchill to bring back Australian troops from Europe to defend our nation. An intense and passionate orator, Curtin inspired respect in cynical Australians by his unassuming dignity, straightforwardness and refusal of any personal privilege.

‘A natural Australian, impervious to imperial ideology. Labor and Australia were his twin causes.’ Geoffrey Serle

Table of Contents

Illustrations; Abbreviations; Acknowledgements; 1. Early Days, 1885–1905; 2. A Young Socialist, 1906–1911; 3. Timber Worker, 1912–1912; 4. Anti-war, Anti-conscription, 1914–1917; 5. To the West, 1917–1918; 6. Westralian Worker, 1919–1923; 7. Consolidation, 1924–28; 8. Member of Parliament, 1928–1929; 9. Labor in Office, 1929–1931; 10. Back to the West, 1932–35; 11. Leader of the Opposition, October 1935; 12. Responses to Aggression, 1935–36; 13. The Approach of War, 1937–August 1939; 14. Australia at War, September 1939–June 1940; 15. Election Year, July 1940–April 1941; 16. Political Crisis, May–September 1941; 17. The Curtin Government, October 1941; 18. War with Japan, November–December 1941; 19. Curtin and Churchill, January–February 1942; 20. The Coming of MacArthur, March 1942; 21. Victory at Sea, April–May 1942; 22. One Year as Prime Minister, June–October 1942; 23. Militia Bill, December 1942–February 1943; 24. Brisbane Line, February–December 1943; 25. The Holding War, January–December 1943; 26. Australia-New Zealand Agreement, January 1944; 27. The Strain Begins to Tell, January–March 1944; 28. Trip Abroad, April–May 1944; 29. Failing Strength, June 1944–May 1945; 30. Death of a Prime Minister, June–July 1945; Notes; Sources; Bibliography; Index

About the Author

Lloyd Ross was the Director of Public Relations for the Department of Postwar Reconstruction 1943–49 and thereafter he pursued a distinguished career in Australian public and intellectual life. Among his other publications is William Lane and the Australian Labour Movement.

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978-0-522-84734-5