John Cur)n’s Legacy to Australia
John Cur)n’s Legacy to Australia Social Programs S)ll in Place Today
John Cur)n working on a Sunday morning, The Lodge, Canberra, 1942. JCPML00376/6 John Cur)n reading at his home in CoJesloe, 1942. JCPML00381/33
John Cur)n’s Legacy to Australia Social Programs S)ll in Place Today
John Cur)n believed in helping everyone in society. He implemented lots of laws to help Australians. Even 70 years aQer his death, this part of his legacy s)ll lives on and benefits Australians every day. Many Australians today may not realise how John Cur)n’s ac)ons have improved and helped their lives. John Cur)n believed World War I led to bad social and economic results for Australians. In April 1923 he wrote in the Westralian Worker that “the war did not add one single good thing to civilisa4on, but drained it of the stuff of progress and security …… Unemployment! Class dis4nc4on! These are the outstanding features of the post-‐war era in every country. The war that fought for democracy has resulted in the accentua4on of the most undemocra4c condi4ons in life ….. Profits for some, misery for many …” Nearly twenty years aQer wri)ng this, he believed World War II could result in the same consequences. John Cur)n’s government introduced legisla)on to prevent this from happening again. He believed that society needed to be beJer at caring for people and he introduced many laws, such as child endowment, widows’ and old age pensions, sickness benefits, worker’s compensa)on, unemployment, funeral benefits for pensioners and money for university students. In June 1942 John Cur)n introduced the Uniform Taxa)on Bill, which meant the Commonwealth government would collect income taxes rather than the State governments, to fund the war and fund social programs. Then in January 1943 he introduced a Na)onal Welfare Fund which made payments for unemployment, family, health and welfare services. He also put in place payments to returned soldiers and the families of deceased soldiers. All these programs s)ll exist today and benefit many people. They are an important part of his legacy. If he were alive today, I think John Cur)n would be proud of the impact these social programs have had on Australian society.
John Cur)n’s Legacy to Australia
Our Rela)onship with America & Our Place in the World
Dominion Prime Ministers’ Conference, London, May 1944. JCPML00004/31 Prime Minister John Cur)n broadcas)ng live to Australia on arrival in England, 30th April 1944. JCPML00409/14
John Cur)n’s Legacy to Australia
Our Rela)onship with America & Our Place in the World John Cur)n’s ac)ons during World War II changed our rela)onship with England and America and made us a player on the world stage. He was very independent, and as Prime Minister made Australia’s own declara)on of war on Japan. John Cur)n also decided where Australian troops should go and he worked independently with America. Former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, in his John Cur)n Memorial Lecture in 1977, said: “Australian na4onalism was born, not with the ANZAC landing, but with the response of the Cur4n Labor Government to the external threat of our security in 1941 … It was also an embodiment of the aspira4ons of the people at the 4me.” Before World War II, Australia had always looked to England. This made sense because England had colonised Australia and many Australians were Bri)sh. AQer the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbour in December 1941 and Darwin in February 1942, Australia realised she needed to defend herself. In December 1941 John Cur)n wrote “The Australian Government … regards the Pacific struggle as primarily one in which the United States and Australia must have the fullest say in the direc4on of the democracies' figh4ng plan. Without any inhibi4ons of any kind, I make it quite clear that Australia looks to America, free of any pangs as to our tradi4onal links or kinship with the United Kingdom. We know the problems that the United Kingdom faces. We know the constant threat of invasion. We know the dangers of dispersal of strength, but we know too, that Australia can go and Britain can s4ll hold on …” John Cur)n and Winston Churchill had “cable fights” over the war and also the Australian troops. Cur)n wrote to his wife, Elsie, that “the war goes very badly and I have a cable fight with Churchill almost daily. He has been in Africa and India and they count before Australia and New Zealand. The truth is that Britain never thought Japan would fight and made no prepara4ons to meet that eventuality.” In a cable to English Prime Minister Winston Churchill in February 1942, Cur)n said “We feel a primary obliga4on to save Australia not only for itself but to preserve it as a base for the development of war against Japan.” That month, Cur)n recalled the Australian troops from the Middle East, despite Churchill being very upset about this. This was an important event in the rela)onship with England because Australia had never acted independently before.
John Cur)n’s Legacy to Australia
Our Rela)onship with America & Our Place in the World
John Cur)n with Lancaster Squadron airmen at RAF Waddington, UK, 1944. Australian War Memorial, SUK12192
Prime Minister John Cur)n, 1942. JCPML00376/138
John Cur)n’s Legacy to Australia
Our Rela)onship with America & Our Place in the World In March 1942 John Cur)n appealed on radio to the American people for help. He was the first Australian Prime Minister to talk to Americans via the radio. He said: “We fight with what we have and what we have is our all. We fight for the same free ins4tu4ons that you enjoy … But I give you this warning: Australia is the last bas4on between the West Coast of America and the Japanese. If Australia goes, the Americas are wide open … “ In March 1942, aQer the fall of Singapore, General Douglas MacArthur came to Australia as “Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces” and he brought 120,000 American troops with him. MacArthur’s job was to organise the defence of the Pacific and he took control of the American and Australian forces. Under MacArthur, the Allies had some victories, including the BaJle of the Coral Sea. Seventy years later, Australia s)ll has a strong military alliance with America. During this )me, Australia started planning for the world aQer the war. The Cur)n Government and John Cur)n was involved in the development of the World Bank, the Interna)onal Monetary Fund (IMF) and the United Na)ons. Australian Herbert “Doc” EvaJ was the first President of the United Na)ons. John Cur)n’s ac)ons during the war shaped Australia and made us an important country in the world.
The last photograph of John and Elsie Cur)n, taken at the Lodge, Canberra, 1945. JCPML00004/36
Bibliography Primary Sources – Published
Speeches and ar)cles by John Cur)n as located in: David Black (editor), In his own words: John Cur4n’s speeches and wri4ngs, Cur)n University, Perth, 1995. The Trove, www.trove.nla.gov.au Diary of A Labour Man www.john.cur)n.edu.au/diary/ Secondary Sources – Books
John Edwards, Cur4n’s Gi[, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2005. David Day, John Cur4n – A Life, HarperPerennial, Sydney, 1999. David Day, Michelle GraJan, Hazel Hawke, Geoffrey Serle and Gough Whitlam, John Cur4n’s Legacy: A Series of Public Lectures From the John Cur4n Prime Ministerial Library, John Cur)n Prime Ministerial Library, Perth, 2000. Leslie Carman-‐Brown and Geraldine Ditchburn, John Cur4n and Interna4onal Rela4ons during World War II, John Cur)n Prime Ministerial Library, Perth, 1999. Clem Lloyd and Richard Hall, Backroom Briefings: John Cur4n’s War, Na)onal Library of Australia, Canberra, 1997. Janet Merkur, John Cur4n – Australian History, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1999. Secondary Sources – Websites
John Cur)n Prime Ministerial Library (JCPML), www.john.cur)n.edu.au Australian War Memorial, www.awm.gov.au Na)onal Archives of Australia, www.naa.gov.au Australian Government, www.australia.gov.au