Curtin government

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Not to be confused with
Second Curtin Ministry
.

Curtin government
In office
7 October 1941 – 5 July 1945
MonarchGeorge VI
Prime MinisterJohn Curtin
DeputyFrank Forde
PartyLabor
StatusMinority (1941–1943)
Majority (1943–1945)
OriginPredecessor lost confidence motion
DemiseCurtin's death
PredecessorFadden government
SuccessorForde government
This article is part of
a series about
John Curtin

Prime Minister of Australia

Term of government (1941–1945)

Ministries

  • First
  • Second

Elections

Government of Australia

The Curtin government was the federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister

Australian Parliament
from 1941 to 1945.

Background

Main articles:
Menzies government (1939-1941) and Fadden government

John Curtin was first elected leader of the Australian Labor Party and became leader of the opposition in 1935. Defence issues were becoming increasingly dominant in public affairs with the rise of Fascism in Europe and militant Japan in Asia. Curtin led Labor to the 1937 election against Joseph Lyons' United Australia Party which resulted in a comfortable victory to the UAP. Lyons died in office in April 1939 and the UAP selected Robert Menzies to succeed him as Prime Minister.[1]

On 3 September 1939, Prime Minister Menzies announced Australia's declaration of war on

Menzies government relied upon the support of two Independents, Alex Wilson and Arthur Coles to continue in office.[2]

Curtin took a seat on the newly created Advisory War Council in October 1940 and agreed to a plan by Menzies to travel to Washington and London.

Greek and Crete campaigns, Menzies re-approached the Labor Party to form a War Cabinet. Menzies had planned a further trip to Britain to influence the conduct of the Allied campaign. Unable to secure Curtin's support, and with an unworkable parliamentary majority, Menzies resigned as Prime Minister. The UAP-Coalition held office for another month with Arthur Fadden of the Country Party as its leader, before the independents switched allegiance and John Curtin was sworn in as Prime Minister on 7 October 1941.[3] Eight weeks later, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor
.

In Office

14th Prime Minister of Australia.[4] Labor under Curtin formed a minority government in 1941 after independents crossed the floor, bringing down the Coalition minority United Australia Party-Country Party Coalition government which resulted from the 1940 election. Curtin went on to lead federal Labor to its greatest win with two-thirds of seats in the lower house and over 58 percent of the two-party preferred vote at the 1943 election. Labor won 49 seats to 12 United Australia Party, 7 Country Party, 3 Country National Party (Queensland), 1 Queensland Country Party, 1 Liberal Country Party (Victoria) and 1 Independent in the Australian House of Representatives. The Labor Party also won all 19 of the seats contested for the Australian Senate.[5]

Curtin led Australia when the Australian mainland came under direct military threat during the Japanese advance in World War II. He is widely regarded as one of the country's greatest Prime Ministers.[6] General Douglas MacArthur said that Curtin was "one of the greatest of the wartime statesmen".[7]

With most of Australia's best forces committed to fight against Hitler in the Middle East, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the US naval base in Hawaii, on 8 December 1941 (eastern Australia time). The British battleship HMS Prince of Wales and battlecruiser HMS Repulse sent to defend Singapore were sunk soon afterwards. Australia was ill-prepared for an attack, lacking armaments, modern fighter aircraft, heavy bombers, and aircraft carriers. While demanding reinforcements from Churchill, on 27 December 1941 Curtin published an historic announcement:[8]

"The Australian Government...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 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."[9]

PoWs of the Japanese at Tarsau, in Thailand in 1943. The Fall of Singapore followed soon after Curtin became Prime Minister of Australia
.

British Malaya quickly collapsed, shocking the Australian nation. British, Indian and Australian troops made a disorganised

Australia was attacked from the air
almost 100 times.

Two battle-hardened Australian divisions were already steaming from the Mid-East for Singapore. Churchill wanted them diverted to Burma, but Curtin refused, and anxiously awaited their return to Australia. US President

Franklin Roosevelt ordered his commander in the Philippines, General Douglas MacArthur, to formulate a Pacific defence plan with Australia in March 1942. Curtin agreed to place Australian forces under the command of General MacArthur, who became "Supreme Commander of the South West Pacific". Curtin had thus presided over a fundamental shift in Australia's foreign policy. MacArthur moved his headquarters to Melbourne in March 1942 and American troops began massing in Australia. In late May 1942, Japanese midget submarines sank an accommodation vessel in a daring raid on Sydney Harbour. On 8 June 1942, two Japanese submarines briefly shelled Sydney's eastern suburbs and the city of Newcastle.[10]

US General Douglas MacArthur, Commander of Allied forces in the Pacific, with Prime Minister Curtin
Curtin, sitting right, at the 1944 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference

In an effort to isolate Australia, the Japanese planned a seaborne invasion of Port Moresby, in the Australian Territory of New Guinea. In May 1942, the US Navy engaged the Japanese in the Battle of the Coral Sea and halted the attack. The Battle of Midway in June effectively defeated the Japanese navy and the Japanese army launched a land assault on Moresby from the north.[8] Between July and November 1942, Australian forces repulsed Japanese attempts on the city by way of the Kokoda Track, in the highlands of New Guinea. The Battle of Milne Bay in August 1942 was the first Allied defeat of Japanese land forces.

Concerned to maintain British commitment to the defence of Australia, Prime Minister Curtin announced in November 1943 that

Crown to the Australian nation at that time.[11]

The

Borneo
.

As the end of the war approached, Curtin sought to firm up Australian influence in the South Pacific following the war but also sought to ensure a continuing role for the

1944 referendum to extend federal government power over employment, monopolies, Aboriginal people, health and railway gauges.[8]

In April 1945, Curtin despatched an Australian delegation which included attorney-general and minister for external affairs

U.N. Charter. Evatt was elected president of the third session of the United Nations General Assembly (September 1948 to May 1949).[12]

Death of Curtin

Prime Minister Curtin suffered from ill health from the strains of office. He suffered a major heart attack in November 1944. Facing the newly formed

end of the war in Europe on 9 May 1945.[8]

When Curtin died towards the end of the

Second World War
ended with the defeat of Japan in the Pacific just four weeks later.

See also

References

  1. ^ http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/lyons/after-office.aspx [bare URL]
  2. ^ a b c "Before office - John Curtin - Australia's PMS - Australia's Prime Ministers". Archived from the original on 13 July 2017. Retrieved 24 April 2011.
  3. ^ http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/fadden/in-office.aspx Archived 24 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine [bare URL]
  4. ^ "Curtin, John (1885–1945)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.
  5. ^ http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/curtin/elections.aspx [bare URL]
  6. ^ "John Curtin". Australia's Prime Ministers. National Archives of Australia. Archived from the original on 26 July 2010. Retrieved 29 June 2010.
  7. ^ General Douglas MacArthur, Reminiscences, Heinemann, London, 1967. Page 258.
  8. ^ a b c d "In office - John Curtin - Australia's PMS - Australia's Prime Ministers". Archived from the original on 17 January 2012. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  9. ^ Cited in Frank Crowley (1973) Vol 2, p.51
  10. ^ "Midget Submarines history at". Home.st.net.au. Archived from the original on 13 April 2010. Retrieved 29 April 2010.
  11. ^ "Gloucester, first Duke of (1900–1974)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.
  12. ^ "Evatt, Herbert Vere (Bert) (1894–1965)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.
  13. ^ "Francis Forde – Australia's PMs – Australia's Prime Ministers". Archived from the original on 26 July 2010. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  14. ^ Chifley, Joseph Benedict (Ben) (1885–1951) Biographical Entry – Australian Dictionary of Biography Online

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