Regarded by many as one of Australia’s greatest Prime Ministers, John Curtin assumed office just six weeks before the bombing of Pearl Harbor and led Australia through the darkest hours of World War II. No prime minister has had a more profound effect on Australia and no man has given more in the service of his office. Curtin was born in the Victorian mining town of Creswick on January 8, 1885. His parents were Irish immigrants. His father worked first as a policeman, then as a publican, and the family moved frequently from town to town. His much interrupted education ended when he left school at 14 and began to supplement the family income–as a printer's apprentice, a labourer, a clerk, and a newspaper copyboy which as you can see lead him to champion rights of lower society.
Curtin’s interest in social issues and the plight of the working class led him to become actively involved in the labour movement and he joined the Victorian Socialist Party in 1906. He soon became known as an eloquent and inspiring speaker and this ability enabled him to unite the people of Australia in a way unprecedented then and unsurpassed since.
John Curtin was just beginning his working life as Australia became a Federated nation. Despite moving away from his Irish Catholic background, he was evidently influenced by it and by the poverty of his upbringing to realise that Australia was not an equal society, and that the major task of a national government was to govern for the good of all the people. In 1917 he moved to Perth as editor of the “Westralian Worker”. While living in Western Australia, he developed a realisation that Federation disadvantaged some states. He believed that some of these weaknesses occurred because the Constitution had not been followed closely enough. He never lost his faith in the spirit and intention of Federation
.He first entered politics in 1928 as the Member for Fremantle in the House of Representatives, but his term was cut short when Labor was defeated in 1931 and he lost his seat. However, one year after re-entering parliament in 1934, he was elected parliamentary leader and when the Fadden government collapsed, Curtin became Prime Minister in October, 1941
He had a remarkable grasp of economics, and in four years his government overhauled the national economy, creating full employment in the process. He and his cabinet made a number of other revolutionary changes in the fabric of Australian life, particularly in the liberalisation of social welfare and immigration policies .
On September 3, 1939 Prime Minister, Robert Gordon Menzies, declared the commencement of Australia's involvement in the Second World War on every national and commercial radio station. From 1942 until early 1944, Australian forces, especially Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders played a key role in the Pacific War forming the majority of Allied strength throughout the South West Pacific. Aboriginal and Torres Strait islanders affected Australia’s World War Two efforts in their extended volunteering and willingness to fight and die in the war. Aboriginal people were a crucial part of defending the Australian home front, in which they had limited or no rights. Many experienced equal treatment to white Australians for the first time in their
John Curtin, Prime Minister of Australia from 1941 – 1945, significantly supported the movement towards an Australian-American relationship. In his speech the Task Ahead, he states “Without any inhibitions of any kind, I make it quite clear that Australia looks to America, free of any pangs as to our traditional links or kinship with the United Kingdom.” This speech was supported by newspapers around the country, possibly showing bias, but it is unlikely that Curtin's statement had a major influence on the US military strategy. A close alliance between the two countries was inevitable, as they both shared the same goal - to defeat the Japanese (John.curtin.edu.au, n.d.; Australian Geographic, 2012) and control the Pacific. However, the effect of this statement on the Australian people can be seen in the newspapers from the time period. H.R Knickerbocker, states “It is the bounden duty of the U.S. to strain every nerve and every effort to ship to Australia today and tomorrow, every available fighter bomber and masses of army marines and navy” (Fall of Singapore: What it Means to Us, 1942, from nla.gov.au). This statement is a clear example of Australia’s new found reliance on the United States, showing how Australia has become dependent on the U.S providing it with resources and
John Diefenbaker was able to accomplish his main goal while he was in the Prime Minister’s chair. He was able to enact the Bill of rights “under which freedom of religion, of speech, of association…freedom from capricious arrest and freedom under the rule of law”. [2] He made it into an official document that would prevent the continuous abuse of the rights of many of the minority groups. He had seen the discrimination with his own eyes during his earlier years with the aboriginals, “[he] was distressed by their conditions, the unbelievable poverty and the injustice done them.”[3]
Prime Minister Robert Menzies was a believer in the need for ‘great and powerful friends’ and the idea of ‘forward defence’. Before the 1949 federal election, Menzies campaigned on the representation of the Labor Party as out of touch with Australia’s postwar ambitions. He was aided by Chifley’s willpower to cover union wage stresses and control increase. Predominantly injuring for Labor was a Communist-led coal strike in New South Wales, and the government’s practice of troops to
middle of paper ... ... The willingness of the Australian people to volunteer and help out in the war effort was outstanding. Australians also showed great pride and allegiance to England. One of the problems with people being so ready and willing to volunteer is they didn’t fully understand the realities of war.
Maestro by Peter Goldsworthy provides an insight into 1960s/70s Australia and helps reinforce common conceptions about Australian culture. One common conception Goldsworthy reinforces in this text is Australia’s increasing acceptance of multiculturalism. Maestro, set in the 1960s to 1970s, shows Australians growing more accepting and tolerant of other cultures. This shift in perspective was occurring near the end of the White Australia/Assimilation Policy, which was phased out in the late 1970s/early 1980s. An example of this shifted perspective in Maestro is Paul’s father’s opinion about living in Darwin:
He made many great accomplishments during his time and probably his greatest was what he did for America in its hour of need. During the 1920's, the U.S. experienced a stock market crash of enormous proportions which crippled the economy for years. Keynes knew that to recover as soon as possible, the government had to intervene and put a decrease on taxes along with an increase in spending. By putting more money into the economy and allowing more Americans to keep what they earned, the economy soon recovered and once again became prosperous.
Achilles is more independent because he does not have a family and a wife, nor a city to protect the way that Hector does. Because Hector has a family he does not want to fight all the time the way that Achilles does. Though Hector gets all the love and respect from everyone else and Achilles is greatly hated, in the end Achilles survives the longest and survival means success and death means failure. Both Hector and Achilles were great warriors and showed their characteristics in different ways. Achilles was considered the more aggressive fighter while Hector was more of the peacemaker. Both warriors were highly favored for the achievements made in their countries and were equal matches when it came to
She followed her mother into the women's suffrage movement and soon became one of its leaders, becoming known both for her public speaking and as an editor of a magazine for pro-suffrage publications. Victoria was the last Australian state to implement equal voting rights and women not granted the right to vote until 1908.
House of Commons in 1874. There he rose rapidly to leadership. Although he was a
'The Australian Legend', in itself is an acurate portrayal and recount of one part of society, from a specific era, ie. the Australian bushman of the 1890s. Its exaggerations, however, such as the romanticism of the bush ethos by Australian writers, the unbalanced use of evidence, and the neglect to acknowledge the contribution to our national identity from certain sections of society, ie. aboriginal people, city-dwellers, women, and non-British immigrants, render this book to be flawed. For these reasons, it cannot be regarded as a complete and balanced account of Australian history.
Was it because of his part in the decline of the Liberal party? Or was
Threat of Substitute Product: It refers to products of different businesses or industry that can meet same customer needs. Example- the need of coffe sometime alternatively meet by the tea or soft drinks. So, tea or soft drinks companies can be threat for companies in cofee
After a while I realized that nothing between my mom and I would get better and I could not escape Dan while I was living in Ava so I decided to move to either Springfield or Columbia. Too many people from Ava were supposedly going to Springfield so I decided to come here and start a whole new life for myself. My mom is now divorced from Dan, I have no contact with him, and my mom and I have a decent relationship. I will call her every once in a while and when I see her I enjoy my time with her. Leaving helped me grow as a person and I feel
Evident in Achilles and Hector, heroes larger than the stories they inhabit, present an interesting contrasting in how these men live by the code. Hector, champion of Troy, demonstrates a more humane, or humble, idea of heroism. Hector does not fight for glory for the sake of having it but that he seeks it as a means to prolong his own, as well as the lives of his neighbors. Conversely, Achilles is motivated primarily by his own desire and status. Diverging from Hector, Achilles plunders only to glorify himself, even at the expense of those close to him until the end.