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| John Curtin was a man of strong principles. He was the Prime Minister who led Australia through World War 2. On 7 October 1941, John Curtin became Australia's 18th Prime Minister. He died in office, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory on 5 July 1945. Over 50,000 people lined the streets of Perth for his funeral. He was laid to rest in the Presbyterian section of Karrakatta Cemetery, Western Australia. |
| John Curtin was born on January 8th, 1885 near the town of Creswick, Victoria, Australia and baptised John Joseph Ambrose Curtin at St Augustine's Roman Catholic Church, Creswick. His siblings were George, Mary and Hannah. Their parents were John Curtin and Catherine, nee Bourke who married in St Patrick's Church, Melbourne, Victoria on 19 June 1883. John, senior, was in the Police Force, but retired early because of illness. He died in Brunswick, Melbourne in 1919, and is buried in Coburg Cemetery. |
| Young John left school at 13 to find work to help with the family's tight finances. Life was hard and tough but John educated himself by reading. He worked for a time as a Newspaper copy boy in Melbourne. In 1905 John played football for the Brunswick Football Club. He married Elsie Needham in April 1917 in Perth, Western Australia and in time had a daughter and a son. |
| At age 32, John became the Editor of the Westralian Worker, the official journal of the then Labor Party. In 1928 he entered politics by winning the seat of Freemantle and moving to Canberra, ACT. After 3 years he lost the seat, and returned to Perth to work as a Journalist. By 1935 he was back in politics. |
| The modest Curtin home in Cottesloe, Western Australia was always accessible to friends, constituents, party works, and colleagues. John liked to use public transport, and loved walking the family dog. He was a member of many local sporting clubs. In 1999 the family home was sold to the Western Australian and Federal Governments. |
| Photo of Elsie & John taken 1929 |
| A short stroll from this Cottesloe home is the John Curtin Centre at Cottesloe Civil Centre, which was launched in September 1992. The Centre is Australia's official project to make the 50th Anniversary of the Australian-American Alliance. It honours a man of very little formal education, a man of vision, a devout pacifist and a skilled war strategist. |
| John Curtin's early ancestry is Irish. His father, also a John Curtin, was born in 1853 at, Kilpadder, near Dromohane, Mallow, in the Parish of Kilshanig, Co Cork. He emigrated to South Australia in January 1874 on board the "Earl Dalhousie" with his brothers Michael and Denis. He served in the Artillery Corps and transferred to the Victorian Police in 1878. He retired from the Force in 1890. |
| John's brother Denis was born in 1843. He married Bridget Conway in Adelaide, South Australia in 1876 and together they moved to Melbourne, Victoria. Their son John Michael Curtin was born in 1879. Sadly Bridget died, and in 1882 Denis and his young son went back to Ireland. Denis is buried in the family plot at Newberry Cemetery, and John is buried in Drishane Cemetery, Millstreet, Co Cork. Michael Curtin who also emigrated was born in November 1850 & baptised in Glantane, Parish of Mallow. He married Margaret Kain in 1882 and together they raised a large family in South Australia, Australia. |
| Denis Curtin and his son John in the 1890's |
| Denis, Michael,and John Curtin along with siblings Mary Fleming, Cornelius Curtin *, Johannah O'Regan, & Bridget O'Riordan were all born in this house (right) to parents John Cornelius Curtin and Mary O'Hanlon between 1837 and 1855. It is said that Mary died of heartbreak during 1874 after the 3 sons emigrated. On the Griffiths Evaluation records, it shows the family farmed 46 acres 1 rood 6 perches. This Kilpadder farm is still in Curtin family hands today. |
| The old Curtin home in Kilpadder photographed in August 1977. It was burnt down in the 1980's and now only a shell remains. |
| * Cornelius Curtin born July 1840, died 1931 got the farm from his father John. He raised his family of 9 children here and today his great grandson Denis Curtin farms the land which passed to him via his mother Sheila Curtin who married Timothy Curtin. |
| John Cornelius Curtin (who married Mary OHanlon) was born somewhere around 1800 era, only child of Cornelius Curtin and Mary McKerig. A headstone in Newberry Cemetery shows that Mary McKerig Curtin died 24 June 1817 aged 40 years, late of Dirry, beloved wife of Cornelius Curtin. Con Curtin probably never envisaged that his great-grandson John Curtin would become a much-admired war-time leader, or even that his grandsons would emigrate so far away from their "home place", to Australia. |
| This particular Curtin dynasty has been done quite fully, as a genealogy work, from roughly 1770 era in Ireland, to quite modern times and is available to any proven descendants who might be interested. |