View source for John Curtin

{{Short description|Prime Minister of Australia from 1941 to 1945}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use Australian English|date=September 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2025}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name                = John Curtin
| image               = JohnCurtin.jpg
| order               = 14th
| office              = Prime Minister of Australia
| monarch             = [[George VI]]
| governor-general    = [[Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Baron Gowrie|Lord Gowrie]]<br />[[Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester|The Duke of Gloucester]]
| deputy              = Frank Forde
| term_start          = 7 October 1941
| term_end            = 5 July 1945
| predecessor         = [[Arthur Fadden]]
| successor           = [[Frank Forde]]
| office1             = [[Minister for Defence (Australia)|Minister for Defence]]{{efn|Curtin's title was Minister for Defence Co-ordination until 21 September 1943, at which point it was changed to simply Minister for Defence.}}
| primeminister1      = ''Himself''
| term_start1         = 7 October 1941
| term_end1           = 5 July 1945
| predecessor1        = [[Robert Menzies]]
| successor1          = [[Jack Beasley]]
| order2              = 7th
| office2             = Leaders of the Australian Labor Party#Leader{{!}}Leader of the Labor Party
| deputy2             = Frank Forde
| term_start2         = [[1935 Australian Labor Party leadership election|1 October 1935]]
| term_end2           = 5 July 1945
| predecessor2        = [[James Scullin]]
| successor2          = [[Frank Forde]] (acting)<br>[[Ben Chifley]]
| office3             = [[Leader of the Opposition (Australia)|Leader of the Opposition]]
| primeminister3      = [[Joseph Lyons]]<br />[[Earle Page]]<br />Robert Menzies<br />Arthur Fadden
| term_start3         = 1 October 1935
| term_end3           = 7 October 1941
| deputy3             = Frank Forde
| predecessor3        = [[James Scullin]]
| successor3          = Arthur Fadden
| parliament4         = Australian
| constituency_MP4    = [[Division of Fremantle|Fremantle]]
| term_start4         = [[1934 Australian federal election|15 September 1934]]
| term_end4           = 5 July 1945
| predecessor4        = [[William Watson (Australian politician)|William Watson]]
| successor4          = [[Kim Beazley Sr.]]
| term_start5         = [[1928 Australian federal election|17 November 1928]]
| term_end5           = [[1931 Australian federal election|19 December 1931]]
| predecessor5        = [[William Watson (Australian politician)|William Watson]]
| successor5          = William Watson
| birth_name          = John Joseph Ambrose Curtin
| birth_date          = {{birth date|df=yes|1885|01|08}}
| birth_place         = [[Creswick, Victoria|Creswick]], [[Colony of Victoria]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|df=yes|1945|07|05|1885|01|08}}
| death_place         = Canberra, Australia
| resting_place       = [[Karrakatta Cemetery]]
| party               = [[Australian Labor Party|Labor]]
| otherparty          = [[Victorian Socialist Party]]
| relations           = [[Claude Curtin]] (nephew)
| spouse              = {{marriage|[[Elsie Curtin|Elsie Needham]]|21 April 1917}}
| children            = 2
| signature           = John Curtin Signature.svg
| caption             = Official portrait, 1942
}}
{{John Curtin sidebar}}

'''John Curtin''' (8 January 1885 – 5 July 1945) was an Australian politician who served as the 14th [[prime minister of Australia]] from 1941 until his death in 1945. He held office as the leader of the [[Australian Labor Party]] (ALP), having been most notable for leading the country through the majority of [[World War II]], including all but the last few weeks of the [[war in the Pacific]]. Curtin's leadership skills and personal character were acclaimed by his political contemporaries, and he is frequently [[Historical rankings of prime ministers of Australia|ranked as one of Australia's greatest prime ministers]] and political leaders.<ref name="age1">{{cite web|url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Prime-ministers-rank-and-file/2004/12/17/1102787277290.html|title=Prime ministers' rank and file|work=The Age|date=18 December 2004|accessdate=30 December 2017|archive-date=14 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121114084608/http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Prime-ministers-rank-and-file/2004/12/17/1102787277290.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://theconversation.com/who-were-australias-best-prime-ministers-we-asked-the-experts-165302|title=Who were Australia's best prime ministers? We asked the experts|work=[[The Conversation (website)|The Conversation]]|first=Paul|last=Strangio|date=2 August 2021|accessdate=4 August 2021|archive-date=16 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230816033148/https://theconversation.com/who-were-australias-best-prime-ministers-we-asked-the-experts-165302|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Paul|last=Strangio|chapter=Evaluating Prime-Ministerial Performance: The Australian Experience|title=Understanding Prime-Ministerial Performance: Comparative Perspectives |editor1-first=Paul|editor1-last=Strangio|editor2-first=Paul|editor2-last='t Hart|editor3-first=James|editor3-last=Walter|publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2013 |isbn=9780199666423 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/ranking-australias-prime-ministers-20100624-z3bn.html|title=Ranking Australia's prime ministers|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=25 June 2010|accessdate=17 August 2011|archive-date=25 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181025091144/https://www.smh.com.au/national/ranking-australias-prime-ministers-20100624-z3bn.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Curtin left school at the age of 13 and became involved in the [[Australian labour movement|labour movement]] in Melbourne. He joined the Labor Party at a young age and was also involved with the [[Victorian Socialist Party]]. He became state secretary of the [[CFMEU|Timberworkers' Union]] in 1911 and federal president in 1914. Curtin was a leader of the "No" campaign during the [[1916 Australian conscription referendum|1916 referendum]] on overseas conscription, and was briefly jailed for refusing to attend a compulsory medical examination. He moved to Perth the following year to become the editor of the ''[[Westralian Worker]]'', and later was state president of the [[Australian Journalists' Association]].

After three unsuccessful attempts, Curtin was elected to the [[Australian House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] at the [[1928 Australian federal election|1928 federal election]], winning the [[Division of Fremantle]]. He is the only prime minister to have represented a constituency in [[Western Australia]]. He remained loyal to the Labor government during the [[Australian Labor Party split of 1931|party split of 1931]]. He lost his seat in Labor's landslide defeat at the [[1931 Australian federal election|1931 election]], but won it back in 1934. The following year, Curtin was [[1935 Australian Labor Party leadership election|elected]] party leader in place of [[James Scullin]], defeating [[Frank Forde]] by a single vote. The party gained seats at the [[1937 Australian federal election|1937]] and [[1940 Australian federal election|1940 election]]s, with the latter resulting in a [[hung parliament]]. The ALP eventually formed a [[minority government]] in October 1941, when the [[Fadden government]] lost a confidence motion.

The Japanese attacks on [[Malayan campaign|British Malaya]] and [[Attack on Pearl Harbor|Pearl Harbor]] occurred two months after Curtin became prime minister, and Australia entered the war against Japan.  The failure of the British army and navy against Japan and bombing raids on northern Australia created the fear of an imminent Japanese invasion. Curtin realized that only a dependence upon the United States could protect Australia. Curtin led the nation's war effort and made significant decisions about how the war was conducted. He placed Australian forces under the command of the American general [[Douglas MacArthur]], with whom he formed a close relationship.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Peter |last=Edwards |author-link=Peter Edwards (historian) |title=Curtin, MacArthur and the 'surrender of sovereignty': A historiographical assessment |journal=Australian Journal of International Affairs |volume=55 |issue=2 |year=2001 |pp=175-185 |doi=10.1080/10357710120066876}}</ref> On the home front he successfully negotiated the issue of overseas conscription that had split his party during World War I. The ALP won almost two-thirds of the seats in the House of Representatives at the [[1943 Australian federal election|1943 election]], which remains a party record. Curtin died in office in July 1945, after months of ill health attributed to the stresses of the war. Many of his post-war reconstruction plans were implemented by his successor [[Ben Chifley]], who [[1946 Australian federal election|in 1946]] led the ALP to consecutive victories for the first time.

==Early life and education==
===Birth and family background===
Curtin was born in [[Creswick]], Victoria, on 8 January 1885.{{sfn|Day|1999|p=15}} He was christened "John Joseph Ambrose", although his middle names were not recorded on his birth certificate and he stopped using them in later life. Within his family he was known as "Jack".{{sfn|Day|1999|p=16}} Curtin was the oldest of four children – his younger brother George was born in 1887, followed by his younger sisters Molly and Hannah in 1889 and 1891.{{sfn|Day|1999|p=15}} His parents were both born in [[County Cork]], Ireland. His father, John Curtin Sr., had arrived in [[Colony of South Australia|South Australia]] in 1873, with two of his brothers.{{sfn|Day|1999|p=3}} His brothers settled in Adelaide, but he moved on to [[Colony of Victoria|Victoria]] and found work as a warder at [[Pentridge Prison]]. He later joined the [[Victoria Police]], where in thirteen years he never rose above the rank of a constable; he received reprimands for indecent assault and using excessive force against children.{{sfn|Day|1999|p=4}} In 1883, he married Catherine Agnes Bourke (known as "Kate"), who had arrived in Melbourne in 1875. She was the sister of one of his police colleagues.{{sfn|Day|1999|p=14}}

===Childhood and education===
[[File:JohnCurtin1908.JPG|thumb|upright|John Curtin in 1908]]
Curtin was born with congenital [[strabismus]] of the left eye, which remained noticeable throughout his life. It was largely a cosmetic defect, but he was quite self-conscious about it. According to his biographer [[David Day (historian)|David Day]], it had "a considerable psychological effect" on him, and likely exacerbated his natural shyness.{{sfn|Day|1999|p=31}} Curtin lived in Creswick until 1890, when his father retired from the police. His father suffered from chronic [[rheumatoid arthritis]] and [[syphilis]], and was assessed as medically unable to resume his police duties. He was offered a choice between an annual pension and a lump-sum pay-out, and opted for the latter. He subsequently moved his family to inner Melbourne, taking over the lease of a pub on [[Little Lonsdale Street]] and moving into rented accommodation in [[Brunswick, Victoria|Brunswick]].{{sfn|Day|1999|pp=24–26}}

Curtin began his education at St Francis' Boys School, a [[Congregation of Christian Brothers|Christian Brothers]] school attached to [[St Francis' Church, Melbourne|St Francis' Church]].{{sfn|Day|1999|p=29}} He later briefly attended St Bridget's School in [[Fitzroy, Victoria|Fitzroy]]. He also attended Macedon Primary School in [[Macedon, Victoria|Macedon]]. In 1894, Curtin and his family moved to [[Charlton, Victoria|Charlton]], a small country town in north-west Victoria. His father had failed to prosper in Melbourne, which was in the middle of an economic downturn. In Charlton, he took over the lease of a pub owned by his brother-in-law, John Bourke.{{sfn|Day|1999|p=33}} Curtin was enrolled in the local state school, as a Catholic school had not yet been established. He excelled academically, and was seen as a potential "scholarship boy".{{Efn|At the time, the Victorian government did not maintain its own system of secondary schools. Children from families who could not afford private school fees could only receive a secondary education if they won a scholarship, usually after ranking highly in a particular examination. A number of writers have compared Curtin's experiences with those of [[Robert Menzies]], who also received his initial schooling at small state schools in country Victoria. Menzies came from a more stable family environment, and by winning a series of scholarships was able to attend an elite private school and eventually study law at the [[University of Melbourne]]. In contrast, it is unclear if Curtin was ever given the opportunity to sit a scholarship examination.}}{{sfn|Day|1999|p=37}} However, he and his family left Charlton in 1896. Struggling financially, they spent the following two years moving around country Victoria, as his father managed pubs in [[Dromana]], [[Drouin, Victoria|Drouin]], and [[Mount Macedon, Victoria|Mount Macedon]]. Curtin attended the local state schools, ending his formal education in 1898 at the age of 13.{{sfn|Day|1999|pp=42–44}}

===Early working life===
In early 1899, Curtin began working as an office boy at a weekly magazine called ''The Rambler'', earning five shillings per week. His employer was the artist and writer [[Norman Lindsay]], who had also grown up in Creswick and knew his family.{{efn|Norman Lindsay's father, Robert Lindsay, had been the attending doctor at Curtin's birth.}} The magazine did not last long, and over the following years Curtin held down a series of short-term jobs, including as a [[copy boy]] at ''[[The Age]]'', a potter's apprentice, and a houseboy at a [[gentlemen's club]]. These were interspersed with periods of unemployment.{{sfn|Day|1999|pp=49–50}} He did not secure a permanent job until he was 18, taking up a position as an estimates clerk with the Titan Manufacturing Company in [[South Melbourne]] in September 1903. By that time he was the family's primary breadwinner, as his father was a virtual invalid.{{sfn|Day|1999|p=72}}

As a youth, Curtin was a talented sportsman. Between 1903 and 1907, he played as a half-forward flanker for the [[Brunswick Football Club]] in the semi-professional [[Victorian Football Association]] (VFA). His teammates gave him the nickname "Bumble".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://john.curtin.edu.au/sport/bouncedown.html |title=Bouncedown at Brunswick Football Club |publisher=John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library |access-date=26 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180423010602/http://john.curtin.edu.au/sport/bouncedown.html |archive-date=23 April 2018 |url-status=live  |date=18 December 2002 }}</ref> His nephew [[Claude Curtin|Claude]] played for [[Fitzroy Football Club|Fitzroy]] in the [[Victorian Football League (1897–1989)|Victorian Football League]] (VFL).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://john.curtin.edu.au/sport/barracker.html |title=A great barracker: Curtin and footy |publisher=John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library |access-date=26 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180423010636/http://john.curtin.edu.au/sport/barracker.html |archive-date=23 April 2018 |url-status=live  |date=18 December 2002 }}</ref> Curtin also played cricket for the [[Brunswick Cricket Club]], where he had a reputation as a solid [[batting (cricket)|batsman]]. He remained involved in both sports throughout the remainder of his life, as an administrator and supporter. He was said to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of cricket statistics.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://john.curtin.edu.au/sport/innings.html |title=A fine innings: Curtin and cricket |publisher=John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library |access-date=26 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180423010656/http://john.curtin.edu.au/sport/innings.html |archive-date=23 April 2018 |url-status=live  |date=18 December 2002 }}</ref>

=== Political views ===
[[File:John Curtin cartoon.jpg|thumb|upright|Caricature of Curtin in 1914 (''[[Truth (Melbourne newspaper)|Truth]]'')]]
From a young age, Curtin was active in both the [[Australian Labor Party]] and the [[Victorian Socialist Party]], which was a [[Marxist]] organisation. While a member of the Victorian Socialist Party Curtin held strong anti-imperialist and anti-militarist views, and in opposition to the mainstream of the Labor movement, opposed racism due to his belief that racial hatred was used as a tool of the "exploiting class".<ref name="socialistdillema">{{cite news |last1=Osborne |first1=Graeme |title=A Socialist Dilemma  |work=Labour History |date=1978 |pages=112 |doi=10.2307/27508339|jstor=27508339 }}</ref> Labor historian Graeme Osborne describes Curtin's stance as "anticipating [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] in the view that imperialism was capitalism in its last stage".<ref name="socialistdillema" />

He wrote for radical and socialist newspapers.<ref name="obit dn">{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article78786701 |title=Curtin WA's First Prime Minister. |newspaper=[[Daily News (Perth, Western Australia)|The Daily News]] |location=Perth |date=5 July 1945 |access-date=19 August 2014 |page=14 |edition=Home |via=National Library of Australia |archive-date=9 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200909145329/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/78786701 |url-status=live }}</ref> From 1911 until 1915, Curtin was employed as state secretary of the [[CFMEU|Timberworkers' Union]]. He was elected federal president of the union in 1914. During World War I he was a militant anti-conscriptionist; he was briefly imprisoned in December 1916 for refusing to attend a compulsory medical examination,<ref>{{cite web |title=Biography of John Curtin |work=John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library |url=https://jcpml.library.curtin.edu.au/resources/johncurtin |access-date=16 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190306100619/https://jcpml.library.curtin.edu.au/resources/johncurtin/ |archive-date=6 March 2019 |url-status=live  |date=24 November 2017 |author1=Ciaran }}</ref> even though he knew he would fail the exam due to his very poor eyesight.<ref name="AuDB">{{cite AuDB |id2=curtin-john-9885 |last=Serle |first=Geoffrey |author-link=Geoffrey Serle |title=Curtin, John (1885–1945) |access-date=17 March 2019 }}</ref> He also stood (unsuccessfully) as the Labor candidate for [[Division of Balaclava|Balaclava]] in the [[1914 Australian federal election|1914 federal election]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article198639738 |title=Balaclave – Mr J. Curtin's Candidature. |newspaper=The Age |issue=18541 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=22 August 1914 |access-date=23 March 2019 |page=14 |via=National Library of Australia |archive-date=20 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240220132001/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/198639738 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article198637772 |title=Metropolitan Electorates |newspaper=The Age |issue=18554 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=7 September 1914 |access-date=23 March 2019 |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia |archive-date=20 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240220132000/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/198637772 |url-status=live }}</ref> The strain of this period led him to drink heavily and regularly, a vice which blighted his career for many years.{{sfn|Edwards|2017|pp=21–22}} He proposed to [[Elsie Curtin|Elsie Needham]] on [[St Kilda Beach, Victoria|St Kilda Beach]],<ref name="AuDB"/> and they were married on 21 April 1917 in the dining room of a private home in [[West Leederville, Western Australia|West Leederville]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Biography of Elsie Curtin |work=John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library |publisher=Curtin University |url=https://jcpml.library.curtin.edu.au/resources/wives/elsiecurtin/ |access-date=23 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190323022022/https://jcpml.library.curtin.edu.au/resources/wives/elsiecurtin/ |archive-date=23 March 2019 |url-status=live  |date=17 January 2018 |author1=Ciaran }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article58025132 |title=Perth Prattle |newspaper=[[Sunday Times (Perth)]] |issue=1008 |location=Western Australia |date=29 April 1917 |access-date=23 March 2019 |page=5 (Second Section) |via=National Library of Australia |archive-date=20 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240220131929/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/58025132 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Curtin moved to Perth, Western Australia, in 1917 to become an editor for the ''[[Westralian Worker]]'', the official trade union newspaper. He settled in the suburb of [[Cottesloe, Western Australia|Cottesloe]] where his residence is now heritage-listed as "[[John Curtin's House]]". He enjoyed the less pressured life of Western Australia and his political views gradually moderated. He joined the [[Australian Journalists' Association]] (AJA) in 1917 and was elected its Western Australian President in 1920. He wore his AJA badge (WA membership #56) every day he was prime minister. In addition to his stance on labour rights, Curtin was also a strong advocate for the rights of women and children. In 1927, the Federal Government convened a Royal Commission on Child Endowment, and Curtin was appointed as a member of that commission.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article148367247 |title=Labor Women |newspaper=[[Westralian Worker]] |location=Perth |date=13 July 1945 |access-date=20 August 2014 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia |archive-date=20 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240220131930/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/148367247 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article51756845 |title=Life in Politics |newspaper=[[The West Australian]] |location=Perth |date=6 July 1945 |access-date=20 August 2014 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia |archive-date=20 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240220132001/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/51756845 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Early political career==
[[File:Nla.pic-an23301715-v.jpg|thumb|upright|John Curtin in the 1920s]]
Curtin stood for [[Parliament of Australia|Parliament]] a second time in [[1925 Australian federal election|1925]], this time for [[Division of Fremantle|Fremantle]], although he lost heavily to the incumbent [[William Watson (Australian politician)|William Watson]]. Watson retired in [[1928 Australian federal election|1928]], and Curtin ran again, this time winning on the second count. Re-elected in Labor's sweeping election victory [[1929 Australian federal election|the following year]], he expected to be named as a member of Prime Minister [[James Scullin]]'s Cabinet, but disapproval of his heavy drinking habit meant that he remained on the backbench. William Watson chose to briefly come out of retirement in [[1931 Australian federal election|1931]], and easily defeated Curtin in an election that saw Labor collapse to just 14 seats in Parliament. After the loss, Curtin became the advocate for the [[Government of Western Australia|Western Australian Government]] with the [[Commonwealth Grants Commission]]. He stood for his old seat in [[1934 Australian federal election|1934]] after Watson announced his retirement for the second time, and was able to win it back.<ref name="obit dn" />

=== Leader of the Opposition ===
In 1935, when Scullin resigned as Labor Leader, Curtin stood in [[1935 Australian Labor Party leadership election|the election]] to replace him, although he was not expected to win. His opponent was [[Frank Forde]], the deputy leader of the party since 1931 who had been closely associated with the economic policies of the Scullin government. This led left wing factions and trade unions to support Curtin, in an attempt to block Forde from getting the leadership. With their support, Curtin was able to defeat Forde by just one vote to become [[Australian Labor Party|Leader of the Labor Party]] and [[Opposition (Australia)|Leader of the Opposition]]. The groups that had supported Curtin did so on the basis that he promise to give up alcohol, which he subsequently did. Although Labor made little progress at the [[1937 Australian federal election|1937 election]], by 1939 Labor's position had vastly improved. Curtin led Labor to a five-seat swing in the [[1940 Australian federal election|1940 election]], which resulted in a hung parliament. In that election, Curtin's own seat of Fremantle had been in doubt. [[United Australia Party]] challenger Frederick Lee appeared to have won the seat on the second count after most of independent Guildford Clarke's preferences flowed to him, and it was not until the final counting of preferential votes that Curtin knew he had won the seat.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article51756815 |title=Curtin, The Man |newspaper=[[The West Australian]] |location=Perth |date=6 July 1945 |access-date=20 August 2014 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia |archive-date=20 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240220132007/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/51756815 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In September 1939, the Second World War commenced when [[Nazi Germany]] invaded Poland. In line with the king's declaration of war, Prime Minister [[Robert Menzies]] declared war on Germany and announced Australia's support for the British war effort.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article40908629 |title=Britain Declares War |newspaper=[[The Courier-Mail]] |issue=1874 |location=Brisbane |date=4 September 1939 |access-date=23 March 2019 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia |archive-date=20 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240220132025/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/40908629 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1941, Menzies travelled to Britain to discuss Australia's role in the war strategy, and to express concern at the reliability of Singapore's defences, only to be drawn into [[Winston Churchill]]'s disastrous [[Greek campaign]].{{sfn|Edwards|2017|pp=228–229}} While he was in Britain, Menzies lost the support of his own party, and was forced to resign as prime minister. The Coalition elected [[Arthur Fadden]], the leader of the [[National Party of Australia|Country Party]], as Menzies' replacement, even though the UAP was the senior partner in the Coalition. Curtin adroitly refused calls from his own caucus to bring about the defeat of the government through a [[motion of no confidence]].{{sfn|Edwards|2017|pp=258–261}}

==Prime minister==
[[File:John Curtin austerity speech SLNSW 1942.jpg|thumb|John Curtin giving his austerity speech at Sydney Town Hall, October 1942<ref>{{Cite web |title=JCPML00408/10. Austerity speech by John Curtin, 3 October 1942 |url=https://john.curtin.edu.au/audio/00408_10web.html |access-date=4 March 2025 |website=john.curtin.edu.au}}</ref>]]
{{main|Curtin government}}
Curtin had refused Menzies' initial offer to form a wartime "[[national unity government|national government]]", partly because he feared that it would split the Labor Party, although he did agree to join the [[Advisory War Council]].{{sfn|Edwards|2017|pp=196–199}} In October 1941, [[Arthur Coles]] and [[Alexander Wilson (Australian politician)|Alexander Wilson]], the two independent MPs who had been keeping the Coalition in office since 1940 (first under Menzies, then under Fadden), joined forces with Labor in defeating Fadden's budget and bringing the government down. [[Governor-General of Australia|Governor-General]] [[Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie|Lord Gowrie]] was reluctant to call an election for a Parliament barely a year old, especially given the international situation. He summoned Coles and Wilson and made them promise that if he named Curtin prime minister, they would support him for the remainder of the Parliament to end the instability in government. The independents agreed, and Curtin was sworn in as prime minister on 7 October, aged 56.{{sfn|Edwards|2017|pp=264–267}} He became the first and only prime minister to come from Western Australia.<ref>{{cite web |title=John Curtin |publisher=Western Australian government |url=http://www.slwa.wa.gov.au/federation/sec/069_curt.htm |access-date=25 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402001647/http://slwa.wa.gov.au/federation/sec/069_curt.htm |archive-date=2 April 2019 |url-status=live  }}</ref>

=== War in the Pacific ===
[[File:John and Elsie Curtin.jpg|thumb|upright|John Curtin and his wife Elsie (née Needham)]]
On 8 December 1941, the [[Pacific War]] broke out when Japan [[attack on Pearl Harbor|bombed Pearl Harbor]]. Curtin addressed the nation on the radio, saying, "Men and women of Australia...we are at war with Japan. This is the gravest hour of our history. We Australians have imperishable traditions. We shall maintain them. We shall vindicate them. We shall hold this country and keep it as a citadel for the British-speaking race and as a place where civilisation will persist."<ref name="John Curtin declares Australia is at war with Japan on australianscreen online">{{cite web|url=http://aso.gov.au/titles/radio/curtin-japan-second-world-war/clip1/|title=Curtin Speech: Japan Enters Second World War|website=australianscreen|access-date=20 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110402084044/http://aso.gov.au/titles/radio/curtin-japan-second-world-war/clip1/|archive-date=2 April 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> On 10 December, {{HMS|Prince of Wales|53|6}} and {{HMS|Repulse|1916|6}} were both sunk by Japanese bombers off the Malayan coast.{{sfn|Hasluck|1970|p=2}} Curtin cabled the [[President of the United States]], [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], and Churchill on 23 December, saying, "The fall of Singapore would mean the isolation of the Philippines, the fall of the Netherlands East Indies and attempts to smother all other bases. It is in your power to meet the situation... we would gladly accept United States commanders in the Pacific area. Please consider this as a matter of urgency."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article50038655 |title=The Hinge of Fate |newspaper=[[The Courier-Mail]] |issue=4332 |location=Brisbane |date=14 October 1950 |access-date=24 March 2019 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia |archive-date=20 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240220132014/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/50038655 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Curtin made crucial decisions linking Australia to the United States. On 28 December, the Sydney ''[[Daily Telegraph (Sydney)|Daily Telegraph]]'' published a public statement of his government's new attitude:

{{blockquote|We look for a solid and impregnable barrier of the Democracies against the three Axis powers, and we refuse to accept the dictum that the Pacific struggle must be treated as a subordinate segment of the general conflict. By that it is not meant that any one of the other theatres of war is of less importance than the Pacific, but that Australia asks for a concerted plan evoking the greatest strength at the Democracies' disposal, determined upon hurling Japan back. The Australian Government, therefore regards the Pacific struggle as primarily one in which the United States and Australia must have the fullest say in the direction of the Democracies' fighting plan. Without any inhibitions of any kind, I make it clear that Australia looks to America, free of any pangs as to our traditional links or kinship with the United Kingdom. We know the problems that the United Kingdom faces. We know the dangers of dispersal of strength, but we know too, that Australia can go and Britain can still hold on. We are, therefore, determined that Australia shall not go, and we shall exert all our energies towards the shaping of a plan, with the United States as its keystone, which will give to our country some confidence of being able to hold out until the tide of battle swings against the enemy.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article248715857 |title=Australia Looks First to U.S. |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|location=Sydney |volume=III |issue=7 |date=28 December 1941 |access-date=24 March 2019 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia |archive-date=20 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240220132539/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/248715857 |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

[[File:Official Portrait of John Curtin by Antonio Dattilo Rubbo.jpg|thumb|upright|Parliament House portrait of Curtin by [[Antonio Dattilo Rubbo|Anthony Dattilo Rubbo]], 1947]]

This speech was one of the most important in Australia's history, marking a turning point in Australia's relationship with its founding country, the United Kingdom. Many felt that Prime Minister Curtin was abandoning Australia's traditional ties to the British Isles without any solid partnership in place with the United States. This speech also received criticism at high levels of government in Australia, Britain and the US; it angered Churchill, and Roosevelt said that it "smacked of panic".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.awm.gov.au/events/conference/2002/edwards.htm |last=Edwards|first=Peter |title=Another look at Curtin and MacArthur|website=2002 History Conference – Remembering 1942|publisher=Australian War Memorial|access-date=20 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071117163315/http://www.awm.gov.au/events/conference/2002/edwards.htm |archive-date=17 November 2007 |url-status=dead  }}</ref> The speech nevertheless achieved the effect of drawing attention to the possibility that [[Proposed Japanese invasion of Australia during World War II|Australia would be invaded by Japan]]. Before this speech, the Australian response to the war effort had been troubled by attitudes swinging from "she'll be right" to gossip-driven panic. By 1943, when the threat of Japanese invasion had passed, Curtin increasingly returned to a commitment to the British Empire. Downplaying nationalism, he said that Australia comprised "seven million Britishers". He saw the United States as a predatory economic and military power that would threaten Australia's own ambitions in the Pacific. Australia moved closer to New Zealand, and suggested a lesser role for the United States after the war. Washington was annoyed.{{sfn|Day|1999|pp =522–523, 528, 537; quote on page 540}}

Concurrently, the Curtin government enacted the [[Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942]], under which Australia accepted the [[dominion]] status which Britain had conferred in 1930, but which the Australian federal government had not accepted until then. The Adoption Act took effect retroactively as of 3 September 1939, the outbreak of World War II. Although politically a product of the government's policy of re-orientation towards the United States, constitutionally, this marked the moment that Australia became [[Commonwealth realm|an independent nation with a separate Crown]], no longer subject to the supremacy of British law and the British Crown.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aph.gov.au/library/handbook/constitution/westminster-act.htm |title=Parliamentary Handbook: Constitution – Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942 |publisher=[[Parliament of Australia]] |access-date=6 May 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080520090259/http://www.aph.gov.au/library/handbook/constitution/westminster-act.htm |archive-date=20 May 2008 |url-status=dead  }}</ref>

===Military policies===
[[File:Aust-ww2-japan.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Governor-General of Australia|Governor-General]] [[Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie|The Earl Gowrie]] signs the declaration of war against Japan, with Curtin looking on.]]
The Curtin government agreed that the Australian Army's [[I Corps (Australia)|I Corps]] – centred on the [[6th Division (Australia)|6th]] and [[7th Division (Australia)|7th Divisions]] – would be transferred from North Africa to the [[American-British-Dutch-Australian Command]] in the [[Netherlands East Indies]] for the defence of [[Java]] and [[Sumatra]].{{sfn|Hasluck|1970|pp=32–33}} Before they could arrive, [[Battle of Singapore|Singapore fell]] on 15 February 1942. Most of the [[8th Division (Australia)|8th Division]] was taken into captivity,{{sfn|Hasluck|1970|pp=70–71}} although a small number, including its commander, Major General [[Gordon Bennett (general)|Gordon Bennett]], managed to escape.{{sfn|Wigmore|1957|pp=383–385}} "The fall of Singapore", Curtin announced in a radio address to the nation on 16 February, "can only be described as Australia's Dunkirk. It will be recalled that the [[Battle of Dunkirk|fall of Dunkirk]] initiated the Battle for Britain. The fall of Singapore opens the Battle for Australia. On its issue depends not merely the fate of this Commonwealth but the frontier of the United States of America and, indeed, all the Americas and, therefore, in a large measure the fate of the British-speaking world."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2564512 |title=Singapore was Dunkirk of Australia |newspaper=The Canberra Times |volume=16 |issue=4347 |date=17 February 1942 |access-date=24 March 2019 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia |archive-date=20 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240220132642/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/2564512 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Japanese threat was further underlined on 19 February, when Japan [[Bombing of Darwin|bombed Darwin]], the first of many [[Japanese air attacks on Australia, 1942–43|air raids on northern Australia]].{{sfn|Hasluck|1970|pp=70–71}} Churchill attempted to divert I Corps to reinforce British troops in Burma, without Australian approval. Curtin insisted that it return to Australia.{{sfn|Hasluck|1970|pp=77–87}} Roosevelt supported Churchill, offering to send an American division to Australia instead, while the [[Chief of Army (Australia)|Chief of the Australian General Staff]], [[Lieutenant general (Australia)|Lieutenant General]] [[Vernon Sturdee]], threatened to resign if his advice was ignored and the troops were diverted to Burma.{{sfn|Day|1999|pp=453–454}} Curtin prevailed, although he agreed that the main body of the 6th Division could garrison [[Ceylon]].{{sfn|Hasluck|1970|pp=77–87}}

In the [[1943 Australian federal election]] campaign the following year, Curtin was forced to publicly defend his decision. "Had we held [[Rangoon]], or had we even held the district, of [[Akyab]]", media magnate [[Keith Murdoch]] wrote in an editorial on 13 August 1943, "we would have held the door to the vast manpower of China and the jumping-off fields for the devastation of Japanese cities. Multitudes of the finest lives of Australia, Britain, and America would have been saved; the long years of toil, death, and separation, which assuredly stretch ahead, would have been shortened."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article247792140 |title=Curtin adopts the A.I.F. |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|location=Sydney |volume=VIII |issue=124 |date=13 August 1943 |access-date=24 March 2019 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia |archive-date=20 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240220132659/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/247792140 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Curtin formed a close working relationship with the Allied Supreme Commander in the [[South West Pacific Area]], [[General (United States)|General]] [[Douglas MacArthur]]. Curtin realised that Australia would be ignored unless it had a strong voice in Washington, D.C., and he wanted that voice to be MacArthur's. He gave over control of Australian forces to MacArthur, directing Australian commanders to treat MacArthur's orders as if they came from the Australian Government.{{sfn|Edwards|2018|p=18}} Biographer John Edwards wrote:

{{blockquote|A lesser Australian leader might have grated against MacArthur's vanity, cavilled at his assumption of command, contradicted his grandiloquent claims, satirised his manner. Curtin did not. He seized the chance to share authority with MacArthur, refused to offend his vanity, drew him as close as he could. Of Curtin's military decisions, it was the cleverest, most fruitful, most abidingly successful.{{sfn|Edwards|2018|p=18}} }}

[[File:curtinmacarthur.jpg|thumb|Curtin with [[Douglas MacArthur]] ]]

By mid-1942, the results of the battles of [[battle of the Coral Sea|the Coral Sea]] and [[Battle of Midway|Midway]] had averted the perceived threat of invasion. Despite the "beat Germany first" policy, 346,000 Americans were fighting in the Pacific in 1942.{{sfn|Edwards|2018|pp=77–83}} Curtin had previously opposed conscription for overseas service during World War I, and again in 1940 when it was introduced by Menzies, although he had supported softening it to allow conscripts to serve in Australian territories.{{sfn|Edwards|2018|p=131}}

Curtin recognised that the restriction of the Australian conscripts to Australia and its territories was morally indefensible and politically unviable. To remove what was now a major obstacle to the government's re-election prospects, he moved to remove the restriction. While there was support from the [[Communist Party of Australia]] and its sympathisers, there was trenchant opposition from the Catholic Church, represented by [[B. A. Santamaria]] and [[Arthur Calwell]].{{sfn|Edwards|2018|pp=137–140}} Ultimately, the ''Defence Act'' was amended so that conscripts could be deployed outside of Australia to "such other territories in the South-West Pacific Area as the Governor-General proclaims as being territories associated with the defence of Australia".<ref name=naawah>{{cite web |title=John Curtin, The war at home |url=http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/curtin/in-office.aspx#section9 |website=Australia's Prime Ministers |publisher=[[National Archives of Australia]] |access-date=29 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120117203302/http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/curtin/in-office.aspx#section9 |archive-date=17 January 2012 |url-status=live  }}</ref>

The stress of the war and especially this bitter internal battle within Labor took a great toll on Curtin's health, which had never been robust even at the best of times. He had suffered all of his life from stress-related illnesses, and depression;<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jun/29/julia-gillard-the-stigma-around-mental-health-nearly-cost-australia-its-greatest-leader |access-date=5 July 2017 |first1=Julia |last1=Gillard |title=Julia Gillard: the stigma around mental health nearly cost Australia its greatest leader |author-link=Julia Gillard |newspaper=The Guardian |date=28 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170704011306/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jun/29/julia-gillard-the-stigma-around-mental-health-nearly-cost-australia-its-greatest-leader |archive-date=4 July 2017 |url-status=live  }}</ref> he was also a heavy smoker.{{sfn|Day|1999|pp=456–58, 468, 480, 520, 538}}

=== Homefront policies ===
Curtin made very heavy use of newspapers and broadcast media, especially through press conferences, speeches, and newsreels. Australians gained a sense it was a people's war in which they were full participants.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Caryn |last=Coatney |title=John Curtin's Forgotten Media Legacy: The Impact of a Wartime Prime Minister on News Management Techniques, 1941–45 |journal=Labour History |issn=0023-6942 |date=November 2013 |issue=105 |pages=63–78 |doi=10.5263/labourhistory.105.0063 |url=https://search-informit-com-au.virtual.anu.edu.au/documentSummary;dn=797959549681629;res=IELBUS |access-date=24 March 2019 |url-access=subscription |archive-date=20 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240220132659/https://login.microsoftonline.com/e37d725c-ab5c-4624-9ae5-f0533e486437/saml2?SAMLRequest=fVLJbtswEP0VgneJMrWasGy4MYoaSBojUnLIpaCkUUSAIh2SStq%2FL71lufhCYMCZt8ybxervKNEbGCu0KvEsjDAC1epOqJcSP9Y%2FgwKvlgvLR0n3bD25QT3A6wTWIT%2BoLDv9lHgyimluhWWKj2CZa1m1vrtlNIzY3minWy0xWlsLxnmqG63sNIKpwLyJFh4fbks8OLe3jBDR7WnI1RRCN4V8OtTEQ%2FRCAjkqIAdkSnb3VU2q6h6jjdcjFHdHDxcYqV%2BECkfRGm1177SSQkHY6pFAnHc5TduAN%2F5JMpoEcw5p0EdpHENSZEmck6Ox1ftgyk8pGG03Jf5TzLNZlNK%2ByHgBeUYbiJqGFvMk7fqiT3LfZu0EW2UdV67ENPIMEQ1oVM9iRjOWZmFGi2eMdufN%2FBDqtPFra2xOTZb9qutdcHCP0dMlOd%2BAzzmxI7v5GtB1YH5JBS%2BvZWAH0TRaghsW5CvRx3n89sjbzU5L0f5Dayn1%2B40B7qDEzkyAyfI89%2F2Qlv8B&RelayState=e1s2&whr=anu.edu.au&sso_reload=true |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Mackenzie King with Mr and Mrs John Curtin.jpg|thumb|left|[[Mackenzie King]], the [[Prime Minister of Canada]], hosting Prime Minister John Curtin of Australia and his wife Elsie at the [[Peace Tower]] in [[Ottawa]]. ]]
In terms of social policy, the Curtin government enacted a wide range of progressive social reforms during its time in office. Pensions were introduced for deserted wives and widows, while the establishment of the Women's Employment Board led to increased wages for some women during the war. [[Aboriginal Australians]] were provided with significantly increased entitlement to welfare benefits, while maternity allowances were extended. In addition, pensions for the elderly and infirm were increased.{{sfn|Hasluck|1970|pp=313–314}}

In 1942, temporary public employees became eligible to apply to join the Commonwealth superannuation scheme if they had been employed for no less than five years and were certified as having indefinite future employment, while the Commonwealth Employees' Furlough Act of 1943 provided long service leave for all temporary Commonwealth employees.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.finance.gov.au/comcover/claims/cornwell.html|title=Information Regarding Cornwell-Type Claims|publisher=Australian Government – Department of Finance|access-date=20 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140820215258/http://www.finance.gov.au/comcover/claims/cornwell.html|archive-date=20 August 2014|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2754550 |title=Labour Viewpoint |newspaper=The Canberra Times |date=25 November 1949 |access-date=20 August 2014 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> In 1943, the Universities Commission was established to exempt students from war service to undertake or continue university studies and to assist those students by exempting them from fees and, subject to a means test, by providing them with living allowances.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article61840856 |title=UNIVERSITIES COMMISSION |newspaper=[[Townsville Daily Bulletin]] |volume=LXV |issue=36 |location=Queensland |date=11 February 1943 |access-date=24 March 2019 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia |archive-date=20 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240220132540/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/61840856 |url-status=live }}</ref>

"Asiatics" who were subjects of Australia became eligible for a pension in 1941, and eligibility was extended the following year to Pacific Islanders known as "Kanakas", and from that July that year "Aboriginal natives" of Australia became eligible for pensions if they were not subject to a state law "relating to the control of Aboriginal natives" or if they lived in a state where they could not be exempt from such laws but were of eligible for pension on the grounds of "character, standard of intelligence and development". That same year, pension became exempt from income tax. In 1943, funeral benefits were introduced, together with a Wife's Allowance for wives of incapacitated age pensioners "where she lived with him, was his legal wife and did not receive a pension in her own right".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/online/aged1.htm |last=Daniels |first=Dale |archive-url=https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20040913140000/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/31911/20040914-0000/www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/online/aged1.htm |archive-date=13 September 2004| title=Social Security Payments for the Aged, People with Disabilities and Carers 1909 to 2003 – part 1 |publisher=Parliament of Australia – Parliamentary Library |date=18 June 2004 |access-date=20 August 2014}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

[[File:Eleanor Roosevelt and John Curtin.jpg|thumb|[[Eleanor Roosevelt]], [[First Lady of the United States]], with Curtin at a state luncheon in her honour at [[Old Parliament House, Canberra]], in September 1943]]

From June 1942, Widows' Pension Class B was paid to widows without dependent children who were aged 50 and over. The term "widow" included de facto widows who had lived with the deceased spouse for at least three years prior to his death and had been maintained by him. Eligibility was also extended to deserted de jure wives who had been deserted for at least six months, divorced women who had not remarried and women whose husbands were in hospitals for those considered to be insane. From July that year, Widows' Pension Class B was exempted from income tax.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/online/special_parta.htm |last=Daniels |first=Dale |date=8 November 2004 |archive-url=https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20050312130000/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/31911/20050313-0000/www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/online/special_parta.htm |archive-date=12 March 2005 |title=Social Security Payments for the Unemployed, the Sick and those in Special Circumstances, 1942 to 2004 |publisher=Parliament of Australia – Parliamentary Library |access-date=20 August 2014}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

In 1942, eligibility for maternity allowances was extended to Aboriginal women who were exempted from State laws relating to the control of Aboriginal natives and who were considered suitable to receive the benefits. From 1943, the income test for maternity allowances was abolished and the rate of the allowance was increased to 15 pounds where there were no other children under the age of 14 years, 16 pounds where there were one or two other children, and 17 pounds 10 shillings in cases of three or more children. These amounts included an additional allowance of 25 shillings per week in respect of the period four weeks before and four weeks after the birth, to be paid after the birth of the child.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/online/children_parta.htm#maternity.htm |archive-url=https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20050312130000/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/31911/20050313-0000/www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/online/children_parta.htm |archive-date=12 March 2005 |title=Maternity Allowance 1912 to 1978, and 1996 to 2004, Maternity Immunisation Allowance from 1998, Maternity Payment from 2004 |last=Daniels |first=Dale |publisher=Parliament of Australia – Parliamentary Library |date=15 October 2004 |access-date=20 August 2014}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> That same year, eligibility for Child Endowment was extended to children in Government institutions, to Aboriginal children who lived for six months per year on a mission station, and to children who were maintained from a deceased estate.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/online/children_partb.htm#childendowment.htm |archive-url=https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20050312130000/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/31911/20050313-0000/www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/online/children_partb.htm |archive-date=12 March 2005 |title=Child Endowment 1941 to 1976, Family Allowance 1976 to 1992, Basic Family Payment 1993 to 1995, Family Payment 1996 to 1998, Family Allowance 1998 to 2000 and Family Tax Benefit Part A from 2000 |last=Daniels |first=Dale |publisher=Parliament of Australia – Parliamentary Library |date=15 October 2004 |access-date=20 August 2014}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

The Child's Allowance was introduced in 1943, payable at the rate of five shillings per week for a first for an unendowed child under 16 years dependent on an invalid or permanently incapacitated old-age pensioner. From July 1945 onwards, Additional Benefit for Children of five shillings per week became payable in respect of the first child to any person qualified to receive unemployment or sickness benefit having the custody, care and control of one or more children under the age of 16.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/online/children_partb.htm#childsallowance.htm |archive-url=https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20050312130000/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/31911/20050313-0000/www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/online/children_partb.htm |archive-date=12 March 2005 |title=Child's Allowance/Additional Pension or Benefit for Children 1943 to 1993 |last=Daniels |first=Dale |publisher=Parliament of Australia – Parliamentary Library |date=15 October 2004 |access-date=20 August 2014}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

In 1945, Curtin ordered the preparation of the [[White Paper on Full Employment in Australia]]. The White Paper was the defining document of the official economic policy in Australia until the 1970s. For the first time, the Australian government accepted an obligation to guarantee full employment and to intervene as necessary to implement that guarantee.

===1943 re-election===
[[File:JCurtin lay in state.jpg|thumb|right|John Curtin's coffin [[lying in state]] in Parliament House, July 1945]]

Curtin went into the [[1943 Australian federal election|1943 election]] in a very strong position. Even allowing for the advantages that an incumbent government has in wartime, Fadden and Hughes had been unable to get the better of Curtin, and the Coalition had become almost moribund. In the election, Curtin led Labor to its greatest-ever victory, winning two-thirds of the seats in the [[Australian House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] on a two-party preferred vote of 58.2% and a 17-seat swing. The Coalition was reduced to only 19 seats nationwide, including only one west of [[Broken Hill]]. Fadden's Country Party took a particularly severe beating, winning only seven seats. Labor also won the primary vote in all states in the Senate, and thus all 19 seats, to hold a majority of 22 out of 36 seats.{{sfn|Hasluck|1970|pp=365–370}}

Buoyed by this success, Curtin called a referendum which would give the government control of the economy and resources for five years after the war was over. The [[1944 Australian referendum|1944 Australian Referendum]] contained one referendum question: "Do you approve of the proposed law for the alteration of the Constitution entitled 'Constitution Alteration (Post-War Reconstruction and Democratic Rights) 1944'?" Constitution Alteration (Post-War Reconstruction and Democratic Rights) 1944 was known as the 14 powers, or 14 points referendum. It sought to give the government power, over a period of five years, to legislate on monopolies, corporations, [[Trust law|trust]]s, national health, family allowances, [[freedom of speech]], religion, ex-servicemen rehabilitation, the ability to legislate for [[Indigenous Australians]], and safeguards against the abuse of legislative power. The referendum was defeated, receiving a majority only in Western Australia and South Australia. Nationally overall, 54 percent voted against the question in the referendum.{{sfn|Hasluck|1970|pp=535–540}}

==Death==
[[File:John Curtin grave.JPG|thumb|upright|John and [[Elsie Curtin]]'s grave at [[Karrakatta Cemetery]]]]

By 1944—a time when he was travelling to and from [[London]] and [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]] for meetings with Churchill, Roosevelt and other Allied leaders—Curtin had already developed [[Cardiovascular disease|heart disease]].{{sfn|Edwards|2018|pp=333–334}} He had a heart attack in November 1944, and did not return to work until January 1945. With the end of the war in sight, his health began to deteriorate seriously and at a rapid pace.{{sfn|Edwards|2018|pp=350–351}}

At 4:00{{nbsp}}am on 5 July 1945, as Australia's 7th Division began its last operation against Japanese forces in the [[Battle of Balikpapan (1945)|Battle of Balikpapan]], John Curtin died at The Lodge at the age of 60.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Balikpapan |url=https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/PL1913 |access-date=15 November 2022 |website=awm.gov.au |language=en |archive-date=15 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221115021904/https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/PL1913 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=5 July 1945 |title=JOHN CURTIN DIES |work=Daily News |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article78786599 |access-date=15 November 2022 |archive-date=20 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240220132701/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/78786599 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=5 July 1945 |title=JOHN CURTIN DEAD IN AUSTRALIA AT 60; War Leader, Prime Minister Since October, 1941, Turned to U. S. in Hour of Need JOHN CURTIN DEAD IN AUSTRALIA AT 60 Became an M. P. in 1928 Looked to United States for Aid Praised General MacArthur Denied Drift From Empire Worked in Print Shop at 12 |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1945/07/05/archives/john-curtin-dead-in-australia-at-60-war-leader-prime-minister-since.html |access-date=15 November 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=15 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221115023028/https://www.nytimes.com/1945/07/05/archives/john-curtin-dead-in-australia-at-60-war-leader-prime-minister-since.html |url-status=live }}</ref> He was the second Australian prime minister to die in office within six years,<ref>{{cite web |last=Crase |first=Simon |url=http://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2008/04/29/2230588.htm |title=Come and see the former heads of the national parliament...or bust! |publisher=ABC Ballarat |date=1 May 2008 |access-date=16 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100414104529/http://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2008/04/29/2230588.htm |archive-date=14 April 2010 |url-status=live  }}</ref> a fact even contemporary commentators ascribed to the extreme stressors such an office demanded.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEV1bqAcrxk |title=John Curtin Dies – A Great Australian (1945) |date=13 April 2014 |last=British Pathé |access-date=21 November 2024 |via=YouTube}}</ref> Upon his death he was described by beacons of the local press to be a self-sacrificial casualty of war, a sentiment echoed by Presbyterian minister Hector Harrison.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEV1bqAcrxk |title=John Curtin Dies – A Great Australian (1945) |date=13 April 2014 |last=British Pathé |access-date=21 November 2024 |via=YouTube}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> The next day, Curtin's body was laid in state at the King's Hall in [[Old Parliament House, Canberra|Parliament House]], where a memorial service was held, conducted by Harrison, who had been one of Curtin's friends. Ben Chifley and Enid Lyons were seen to weep openly.<ref>{{Cite web |title=John Curtin: after office |url=https://www.naa.gov.au/explore-collection/australias-prime-ministers/john-curtin/after-office |access-date=15 November 2022 |publisher=National Archives of Australia |archive-date=15 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221115033136/https://www.naa.gov.au/explore-collection/australias-prime-ministers/john-curtin/after-office |url-status=live }}</ref> Harrison seemed to include Curtin among the Australian servicemen who had made the ultimate sacrifice:<blockquote>"His Calvary was the anguish of a man of peace who loathed war with all his heart and soul. A one who spent his life in an attempt to promote human understanding, and journeyed oft in that attempt. And yet who, by a strange irony of fate, was chosen by destiny to lead the nation in her hour of direst peril... when the hosts of the North came down like a mighty flood, confident in strength and exalted in victory, he did not shrink from the hazards of the conflict but threw himself into his work with an utter devotion which at length laid him low and at last called for the supreme sacrifice. We pay him today the homage of a grateful people as one whose name will live forever more in the land he loved and among the free peoples of the world.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Memorial service for John Curtin, Parliament House Canberra, 6 July 1945. |url=https://catalogue.curtin.edu.au/view/delivery/61CUR_INST/12191642620001951 |access-date=2022-11-15 |website=catalogue.curtin.edu.au |archive-date=15 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221115031636/https://catalogue.curtin.edu.au/view/delivery/61CUR_INST/12191642620001951 |url-status=live }}</ref></blockquote>Bearing his coffin from the King's Hall were Opposition Leader [[Robert Menzies]], and former prime ministers [[Billy Hughes]], [[Earle Page]] and [[James Scullin]].<ref>{{Cite web |author=Staff Writers |date=5 July 2020 |title=From the Archives, 1945: Australia's war-time PM, John Curtin, laid to rest |url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/from-the-archives-1945-australia-s-war-time-pm-john-curtin-laid-to-rest-20200625-p55655.html |access-date=15 November 2022 |website=The Age |language=en |archive-date=15 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221115040400/https://www.theage.com.au/national/from-the-archives-1945-australia-s-war-time-pm-john-curtin-laid-to-rest-20200625-p55655.html |url-status=live }}</ref> His body was returned to Perth on a RAAF [[Douglas C-47 Skytrain|Dakota]] escorted by a flight of nine fighter aircraft. After lying in state, he was buried at [[Karrakatta Cemetery]] in Perth; the service was attended by over 30,000 at the cemetery, with many more lining the streets.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article78784261 |title=Huge Crowd Pays Homage |newspaper=[[Daily News (Perth, Western Australia)|The Daily News]] |location=Perth |date=9 July 1945 |access-date=21 August 2014 |page=8 |edition=City Final |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
Curtin was initially succeeded as prime minister by his deputy, [[Frank Forde]];{{sfn|Edwards|2018|pp=404–405}} seven days later, a party ballot installed [[Ben Chifley]] as Labor Leader and therefore prime minister.{{sfn|Edwards|2018|pp=410–411}} Many of Curtin's [[Department of Post-War Reconstruction|post-war reconstruction plans]] were implemented by his successor Chifley, who [[1946 Australian federal election|in 1946]] led the ALP to consecutive victories for the first time.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article35758698 |title=London View of Elections |newspaper=The Advertiser|location=Adelaide |date=30 September 1946 |access-date=25 March 2019 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia |archive-date=20 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240220132639/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/35758698 |url-status=live }}</ref> Curtin's 9 years and 277 days as leader of the federal ALP would remain a record until it was surpassed by [[Gough Whitlam]] in 1975.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131795570 |title=Untitled |newspaper=The Canberra Times |volume=51 |issue=14,532 |date=12 November 1976 |access-date=25 March 2019 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia |archive-date=20 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240220132640/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/131795570 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Personal life==
Curtin was introduced to [[Elsie Curtin|Elsie Needham]] on a visit to Tasmania in April 1912. [[Fred Katz]], an acquaintance from the Victorian Socialist Party, had taken Curtin to visit Elsie's father Abraham Needham, a candidate in the [[1912 Tasmanian state election]].{{sfn|Ross|1977|p=32}} Curtin proposed to her in Melbourne in 1915,{{sfn|Ross|1977|p=45}} and they were married in Perth on 21 April 1917.{{sfn|Ross|1977|p=58}} Their first child, a daughter also named Elsie, was born at the end of that year.{{sfn|Ross|1977|p=59}} Their second child, a son named John, was born in 1921.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/curtin/spouse.aspx|title=Elsie Curtin|work=Australia's Prime Ministers|publisher=National Archives of Australia|access-date=16 November 2019|archive-date=27 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200227035850/https://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/curtin/spouse.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Curtin had an ambivalent relationship with religion and has been described as agnostic.<ref>{{Cite web |date=25 June 2010 |title=Strange mix of politics and faith |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/strange-mix-of-politics-and-faith-20100625-z9ri.html |access-date=15 November 2022 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |language=en |archive-date=15 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221115032159/https://www.smh.com.au/national/strange-mix-of-politics-and-faith-20100625-z9ri.html |url-status=live }}</ref> A Catholic priest called at The Lodge as Curtin lay dying, but he was turned away. Curtin had refused to so much as set foot inside a Catholic church throughout his adult life, not even to attend the weddings of friends.<ref>{{cite web |last=Day |first=David |date=11 October 2008 |title=Buried treasures |url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/books/buried-treasures/2008/10/09/1223145538781.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140914140356/http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/books/buried-treasures/2008/10/09/1223145538781.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1 |archive-date=14 September 2014 |access-date=21 August 2014 |work=The Age}}</ref> However, he was known to ask his press secretary, Fred McLaughlin, to join him in prayer while prime minister.<ref name=":0" /> On the day that Singapore fell, Curtin made time to speak at the re-consecration of a church, because, "The fatherhood of God was closely related to the brotherhood of man."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Library |first=Act Heritage |date=15 February 2017 |title=Libraries ACT blog: The Brotherhood of Man – the Fall of Singapore and the re-dedication of St Ninian's Church |url=http://librariesact.blogspot.com/2017/02/the-brotherhood-of-man-fall-of.html |access-date=21 November 2022 |website=Libraries ACT blog |archive-date=21 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221121060514/http://librariesact.blogspot.com/2017/02/the-brotherhood-of-man-fall-of.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Near the end of his life, he asked his friend Hector Harrison, the Minister of the Presbyterian Church by Parliament, to conduct a Christian memorial service on his death.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |title=In God they Trust? The Religious Beliefs of Australia's Prime Ministers 1901–2013 |publisher=The Bible Society |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-647-51855-7 |pages=Location 1994 |language=English}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Black |first1=David |last2=Wallace |first2=Lesley |title=John Curtin: Guide to Archives of Australia's Prime Ministers |url=https://www.naa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-06/research-guide-john-curtin_0.pdf |access-date=20 November 2022 |publisher=National Archives of Australia |archive-date=21 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221121060511/https://www.naa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-06/research-guide-john-curtin_0.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Kim Beazley Sr.]], who succeeded Curtin as the Member for [[Division of Fremantle|Fremantle]], did not believe Curtin was agnostic at all, saying, "though Curtin never lost his distrust of religious institutions, faith grew within him."<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Beazley |first=Kim |title=Father of the House: The Memoirs of Kim E. Beazley |publisher=ReadHowYouWant.com |year=2010 |isbn=9781459609822 |pages=63}}</ref>

==Legacy==
[[File:John Curtin bust.jpg|thumb|right|Bust of Curtin by [[Wallace Anderson]] in the [[Prime Ministers Avenue]] in the [[Ballarat Botanical Gardens]]]]
In a combined survey of [[List of political scientists|political scientists]] and historians of [[List of prime ministers of Australia|all Australian prime ministers]], Curtin was ranked number one in both 2010 and 2020 surveys.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Strangio |first=Paul |date=2 August 2021 |title=Who was Australia's best prime minister? Experts rank the winners and dunces |url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/aug/02/who-was-australias-best-prime-minister-experts-rank-the-winners-and-dunces |access-date=21 November 2024 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

Jack Beadly said of Curtin that "he was one of the greatest of wartime statesmen, and the preservation of Australia from invasion will be his immemorial monument".{{sfn|MacArthur|1964|p=258}} Curtin is credited with leading the Labor Party to its best federal election success in history, with a record 55.1 percent of the primary half-senate vote, winning all seats, and a [[two party preferred|two-party-preferred]] lower house estimate of 58.2 percent at the 1943 election, winning two-thirds of seats.<ref>{{cite web |last=Goot |first=Murray |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/10/01/2047469.htm |title=Three strikes against the polls, or the Govt is out |publisher=ABC News|location=Australia |date=1 October 2007 |access-date=16 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071211053845/http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/10/01/2047469.htm |archive-date=11 December 2007 |url-status=dead  }}</ref> 

One legacy of Curtin was the significant expansion of social services under his leadership.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BN/2012-2013/SSPaymentsUnemployment |last=Ey |first=Carol |title=Social security payments for the unemployed, the sick and those in special circumstances, 1942 to 2012: a chronology |date=4 December 2012 |access-date=21 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140821102308/http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BN/2012-2013/SSPaymentsUnemployment |archive-date=21 August 2014 |url-status=live  }}</ref> In 1942, uniform taxation was imposed on the various states,<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/Reviews/Curtins-Gift/2005/03/03/1109700605488.html | last=Grattan | first=Michelle | location=Melbourne | work=The Age | title=Curtin's Gift | date=5 March 2005 | access-date=11 September 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105203756/http://www.theage.com.au/news/Reviews/Curtins-Gift/2005/03/03/1109700605488.html | archive-date=5 November 2012 | url-status=live }}</ref> which enabled the Curtin government to set up a far-reaching, federally administered range of social services.<ref name="john.curtin.edu.au">{{cite web |url=http://john.curtin.edu.au/aspirations/social.html |title=Social Services and Immigration |publisher=John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library |access-date=28 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120606212257/http://john.curtin.edu.au/aspirations/social.html |archive-date=6 June 2012 |url-status=live  |date=October 2004 }}</ref> These included a widows' pension (1942),<ref name="aifs.gov.au">{{cite journal |last1=Herscovitch |first1=Andrew |last2=Stanton |first2=David |date=2008 |title=History of social security in Australia |url=http://www.aifs.gov.au/institute/pubs/fm2008/fm80/hs.pdf |journal=Family Matters |publisher=Australian Institute of Family Studies |volume=80 |pages=51–60 |access-date=20 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140611065229/http://www.aifs.gov.au/institute/pubs/fm2008/fm80/hs.pdf |archive-date=11 June 2014 |url-status=live  }}</ref> maternity benefits for Indigenous Australians (1942),<ref>{{cite book |last=Alexander |first=Fred |title=Australia since federation : a narrative and critical analysis |year=1967 |publisher=Nelson |url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/9563360 |access-date=21 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140821160547/http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/9563360 |archive-date=21 August 2014 |url-status=live  }}</ref> funeral benefits (1943),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BN/1011/SSPayments1 |title=Social security payments for the aged, people with disabilities and carers 1901 to 2010 |last=Daniels |first=Dale |date=21 February 2011 |publisher=Parliament of Australia – Parliamentary Library |access-date=21 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140821110018/http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BN/1011/SSPayments1 |archive-date=21 August 2014 |url-status=live  }}</ref> a second form of maternity benefit (1943), a wife's allowance (1943), additional allowances for the children of pensioners (1943), unemployment, sickness and Special Benefits (1945),<ref name="aifs.gov.au"/> and pharmaceutical benefits (1945).<ref name="john.curtin.edu.au"/> Substantial improvements to pensions were made, with invalidity and old-age pensions increased, the qualifying period of residence for age pensions halved, and the means test liberalised.<ref name="john.curtin.edu.au"/> Other social security benefits were significantly increased, while child endowment was liberalised, a scheme of vocational training for invalid pensioners was set up, and pensions extended to cover Aborigines.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://john.curtin.edu.au/diary/primeminister/fulltext/fulltext%20prime%20minister_1943_9.html |title=Diary of a Labour Man |date=10 September 2008 |publisher=John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library |access-date=28 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120404120504/http://john.curtin.edu.au/diary/primeminister/fulltext/fulltext%20prime%20minister_1943_9.html |archive-date=4 April 2012 |url-status=live  }}</ref> The expansion of social security under John Curtin was of such significance that, as summed up by one historian: "Australia entered World War II with only a fragmentary welfare provision: by the end of the war it had constructed a 'welfare state'."<ref name="aifs.gov.au"/>
[[File:Statues of Prime Minister John Curtin and Treasurer Ben Chifley.jpg|thumb|Statues of Curtin (left) and his treasurer, [[Ben Chifley]], in Canberra]]

Curtin defended the [[White Australia policy]] in a speech in which he stated: "This country shall remain forever the home of the descendants of those people who came here in peace in order to establish in the South Seas an outpost of the British race."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/about/corporate/information/fact-sheets/08abolition |title=Fact sheet – Abolition of the 'White Australia' Policy |publisher=Australian Government Department of Home Affairs |access-date=11 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180112042703/https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/about/corporate/information/fact-sheets/08abolition |archive-date=12 January 2018 |url-status=dead  }}</ref> The Curtin government's October 1942 enactment of the [[Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942]], reversing the stance of four previous governments, marked Australian legal independence.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article206827644 |title=Bill to Ratify statute |newspaper=The Age |issue=27,294 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=10 October 1942 |access-date=24 March 2019 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia |archive-date=20 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240220132625/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/206827644 |url-status=live }}</ref> This law, along with the [[Constitution of Australia]] and the [[Australia Act 1986]], is one of the key components of Australia's modern constitutional framework.<ref>{{cite journal |first=David |last=Lee |title=States rights and AustraliaΓÇÖs adoption of the statute of Westminster, 1931–1942 |journal=History Australia |volume=13
|number=2 |pages=258–274 |year  = 2016 |doi=10.1080/14490854.2016.1186001 |s2cid=151922305 }}</ref>

His early death and the sentiments it aroused have given Curtin a unique place in Australian political history. Successive Labor leaders, particularly [[Bob Hawke]] and [[Kim Beazley]], have sought to build on the Curtin tradition of "patriotic Laborism". Even some political conservatives pay at least formal homage to the Curtin legend. Immediately after his death, the parliament agreed to pay John Curtin's wife Elsie a £1,000 per annum pension until legislation was passed and enacted to pay a pension to a past prime minister or their widow after their death.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article78788367 |title=Pension For PM? |newspaper=[[Daily News (Perth, Western Australia)|The Daily News]] |location=Perth |date=7 July 1945 |access-date=21 August 2014 |page=3 |edition=First |via=National Library of Australia |archive-date=16 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240516045216/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/78788367 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Commemorations===
Curtin is commemorated by the [[Division of Curtin|federal seat of Curtin]], the Canberra suburb of [[Curtin, Australian Capital Territory|Curtin]], [[Curtin University]] in Perth, [[John Curtin College of the Arts]] in [[Fremantle]], the [[John Curtin School of Medical Research]] in Canberra, the John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://john.curtin.edu.au/ |title=John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library |access-date=28 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131122164255/http://john.curtin.edu.au/ |archive-date=22 November 2013 |url-status=live  }}</ref> [[Curtin Springs]] in the [[Northern Territory]], [[RAAF Curtin|RAAF Base Curtin]] near [[Derby, Western Australia|Derby]], John Curtin House, the former headquarters of the [[Australian Labor Party]], [[Curtin House]] in [[Swanston Street]], Melbourne, and many other buildings, roads, parks and structures throughout Australia.<ref name="JCPL">{{cite web |title=Biography of John Curtin |first=David |last=Black |author-link=David Black (historian) |publisher=John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library |url=http://john.curtin.edu.au/resources/jcmemory.html |access-date=16 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170821172451/http://john.curtin.edu.au/resources/jcmemory.html |archive-date=21 August 2017 |url-status=live  |date=24 November 2017 }}</ref> 

In 1975 Curtin was honoured on a postage stamp bearing his portrait issued by [[Australia Post]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.australianstamp.com/images/large/0011170.jpg |title=John Curtin Stamp |publisher=Australian Stamp and Coin Company |access-date=16 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303191023/http://www.australianstamp.com/images/large/0011170.jpg |archive-date=3 March 2016 |url-status=live  }}</ref> 

On 14 August 2005, the 60th anniversary of [[Victory in the Pacific Day|V-P Day]], a bronze [[List of statues in Western Australia|statue]] of Curtin in front of [[Fremantle Town Hall]] was unveiled by [[Premier of Western Australia]] [[Geoff Gallop]].<ref>{{cite press release |title=State's tribute to one of the nation's great Prime Ministers |publisher=Western Australian government |url=https://www.mediastatements.wa.gov.au/Pages/Gallop/2005/08/State%27s-tribute-to-one-of-the-nation%27s-great-Prime-Ministers.aspx |access-date=24 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190324054847/https://www.mediastatements.wa.gov.au/Pages/Gallop/2005/08/State%27s-tribute-to-one-of-the-nation%27s-great-Prime-Ministers.aspx |archive-date=24 March 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[The John Curtin Hotel]] in [[Carlton, Victoria]], is named after Curtin.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Sakkal|first=Paul|date=15 February 2022 |title=Talks under way to save historic Carlton pub steeped in Labor history |url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/bid-to-save-historic-carlton-pub-steeped-in-labor-history-20220215-p59wr1.html |access-date=1 January 2025|newspaper=The Age}}</ref>

====John Curtin Medal====
<!---redirects target this section--->
In 1998 the John Curtin Medal was established by Curtin University, to be awarded to members of the community "who shared John Curtin's attributes of vision, leadership, and community service, and who have made a significant contribution in their chosen field". The medal was discontinued after 2023.<ref>{{cite web | title=John Curtin Medal | website=John Curtin Medal | date=11 November 2021 | url=https://www.curtin.edu.au/about/reputation-rankings/john-curtin-medal/ | access-date=28 May 2025}}</ref> Past winners include:<ref>{{cite web | title=John Curtin Medallists | website=[[Curtin University]]| date=7 December 2021 | url=https://www.curtin.edu.au/about/reputation-rankings/john-curtin-medal/john-curtin-medallists/ | access-date=28 May 2025}}</ref>
* 1998: Eric Tan, the first overseas student to graduate at the top of his class at any medical school in the nation
* 2003: John Fawcett, who established a mobile eye clinic in [[Bali]], to restore vision to those unable to get to the city 
* 2009: [[Pat Dodson]], the "father of [[Reconciliation in Australia|Australian reconciliation]]"
* 2015: C Kaye Brand, who established the Western Australian Fibromyalgia Network in 2007
* 2023: Joanne Beedie, who co-founded Helping Little Hands, a charity that supports families with premature and sick babies in WA

== In popular culture ==
* John Curtin appears as the leader of the Australian civilization in the [[Firaxis Games]] title ''[[Civilization VI]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://segmentnext.com/2017/02/22/australia-newest-civilization-6-faction-led-john-curtin/|title=Australia Is The Newest Civilization 6 Faction, Led By John Curtin|date=21 February 2017|website=SegmentNext|access-date=2 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402090554/https://segmentnext.com/2017/02/22/australia-newest-civilization-6-faction-led-john-curtin/|archive-date=2 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> His unique ability is to boost Australia's Production by 100% if in the past 20 turns (10 if the player has the Gathering Storm expansion), Australia has either liberated a city, or has had war declared on them by another player.
* [[Michael Blakemore]] portrayed Curtin in the television mini-series ''[[The Last Bastion]]'' (1984).
* [[Terence Donovan (actor)|Terence Donovan]] portrayed Curtin in the film ''[[Death of a Soldier]]'' (1986).
* [[William McInnes]] portrayed Curtin in the telemovie ''[[Curtin (2007 film)|Curtin]]'' (2007).

==See also==
* [[Curtin government]]
* [[First Curtin Ministry]]
* [[Second Curtin Ministry]]
* [[Military history of Australia during World War II]]
* [[Residence of John Curtin]]

== Explanatory footnotes ==
{{notelist}}

== Citations ==
{{Reflist}}

== General references ==
; Biographies
* {{cite book |last=Day |first=David |author-link=David Day (historian) |year=1999 |title=Curtin: A Life |publisher=[[HarperCollins]]|location=Pymble, New South Wales |isbn=0-207-19669-9 }}
* {{cite book |last=Dowsing |first=Irene| year=1969|title=Curtin of Australia|publisher=Acacia Press|isbn=91-30-00121-8}}
* {{cite book |last = Edwards |first=John |year=2017 |title=John Curtin's War – Volume I: The Coming of War in the Pacific, and Reinventing Australia |publisher=Viking |isbn=978-0-670-07347-4 |oclc=1081065848 }}
* {{cite book |last = Edwards |first = John |title = John Curtin's War: Volume II – Triumph and Decline  |year = 2018 |publisher = Viking |location = Melbourne, Victoria |isbn=978-0-14379-136-2 |oclc = 1043833675 }}
* {{cite book|last=Ross|first=Lloyd|year=1977|title=John Curtin|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=0-522-84734-X}}

; Other works
* {{cite book |last=Black |first=David |author-link=David Black (historian) |year=1995 |title=In His Own Words: John Curtin's Speeches and Writings |publisher=Paradigm Books, Curtin University |location=Perth |isbn=978-1-86342-422-6 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Butlin |first1=S.J. |last2=Schedvin |first2=C. B. |title=War Economy 1942-1945 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian War Memorial |year=1977 |url=https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1417322 |access-date=24 March 2018 }}
* Byrne, Liam. ''Becoming John Curtin and James Scullin: The Making of the Modern Labor Party'' (Melbourne University Publishing, 2020)
* {{cite book |last=Hasluck |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Hasluck |title=The Government and the People 1942–1945 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian War Memorial |year=1970 |url=https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1417320 |access-date=24 March 2019 }}
* {{cite book |last=MacArthur |first=Douglas |author-link=Douglas MacArthur |title=Reminiscences of General of the Army Douglas MacArthur|publisher=Bluejacket Books|location=Annapolis|year=1964|oclc=220661276 }}
* {{cite book |last=Wigmore |first=Lionel |title=The Japanese Thrust  |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian War Memorial |year=1957 |url=https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1417309  |access-date=25 March 2019 }}
* {{cite book| last=Wurth | first=Bob |year=2006| title = Saving Australia: Curtin's Secret Peace with Japan | publisher = Lothian Press | isbn = 0-7344-0904-4 }}

==External links==
{{Commons category|John Curtin}}
{{wikiquote}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130403091009/http://epress.anu.edu.au/anzsog/auspol/mobile_devices/ch07.html David Day, ''Chapter 7. John Curtin: Taking his Childhood Seriously'', Australian Political Lives: Chronicling political careers and administrative histories]
* {{cite web |title=John Curtin |url=http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/curtin/ |work=Australia's Prime Ministers |publisher=[[National Archives of Australia]] |access-date=29 June 2010 |archive-date=26 July 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100726084256/http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/curtin/ |url-status=dead }}
* [http://john.curtin.edu.au/ John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library] / Curtin University of Technology, Western Australia
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080720091328/http://dl.filmaust.com.au/module/1091/ John Curtin's Australian Journalists Association Badge – English and Media Literacy, Australian Biography] – Prime Ministers' Natural Treasures
* Listen to John Curtin declaring that [http://aso.gov.au/titles/radio/curtin-japan-second-world-war/clip1/ Australia is at war with Japan] in 1941 on [http://aso.gov.au/ australianscreen online]
* The recording 'Curtin Speech: Japan Enters Second World War, 1941' was added to the [[National Film and Sound Archive]]'s [[Sounds of Australia]] registry in 2010
* {{PM20|FID=pe/003601}}

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{{Prime Ministers of Australia}}
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