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In the early years of WWII, Opposition Leader Curtin was quite content to allow Prime Minister Menzies handle the war with Hitler, Mussolini, and the Japanese without Curtins' interference. He supported Menzies in every way he could making sure not to politically undermine any and all of Menzies' wartime announcements. All with the exception of conscription.

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A WWII poster urging children to help in any way               they can.

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One of Australia's greatest domestic issues was the safety of the children still at home.  With many fathers called to war, mothers were forced to both raise children and help with the war efforts by working in factories and workshops.  In September of 1941, Curtin addressed the children of Australia by saying:
"My Dear Children,
You, the children of today are passing through a terrible period in the world’s history…We, the people of Australia, have cheerfully taken up our part in this struggle to secure for you a way of life more peaceful and happy than is ours today…Now I want you to do your bit for the safety of this wonderful country in which we live."
Schools began to teacher children air raid precautions and children 6 and younger were commonly left in locked houses while mothers worked the factories. Communities were brought closer together when neighbours called upon each other to watch their children while parents worked in factories and workshops.

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-john.curtin.edu.au/legacyex/women.html

-primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/curtin/

-john.curtin.edu.au/resources/biography/details.html

-www.nma.gov.au/primeministers/john_curtin
-john.curtin.edu.au/legacyex/families.html

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Curtin speaking with                servicewomen, c.1943.

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Not only was John Curtin one of Australia’s most well-known wartime    Prime Ministers, he was also an early forerunner in terms of women’s rights in the 1940’s.  in 1943, Curtin was quoted in saying:

“Woman has… assert[ed] a degree of economic independence never previously attained. The home remains her citadel, but factor[ies] and workshop[s] have become her arena... I see no reason why a woman should be paid less than a man for the same work.”
Although now this idea seems as though it is simple enough, during the 1940's the categorical 'Virgin Mary/Mary Magdalene' view of women was still heavily prominent in society.  Women were either the Mother or the Whore, there was not in-between during this time.  Curtin defied this idea by saying that women could both work and be a mother and that they should be greatly praised for it.

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Curtin in his office on a Sunday morning                  during the wartimes

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It was as of 1941 that John Curtin became the Prime Minister of Australia.  Following in the footsteps of the much loved Robert Menzies, Curtin had to live up to a great wartime legacy.  Menzies had successfully guided Australians through the first half of the Second World War.  People all over the nation wondered.  They wondered if Curtin could do the same with the latter half.  Curtin tried his best to make sure that what he did was for the betterment of the Australian people and Australia herself.

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Growing up in Melbourne, John Curtin was only in school until his 14th year.  His highest educational qualification is his graduation of St. Ambrose Primary in Brunswick, Melbourne.  At the age of 14, Curtin was forced to become his families source of income, though it wouldn't be until 4 years later that he would gain permanent occupation as a tally clerk in a factory in South Melbourne.

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For his entire political career, Curtin held the views that any and all forced military application was a terrible path for any country to take.  In fact, it was his extreme attitudes against this that lead to his imprisonment during WWI.  Curtins true hatred of conscription is what made his introduction of it so controversial.  When he introduced conscription during WWII Curtin made sure that these men would only serve in Australian Territories, which, at the time, also included New Guinea, the setting of the 1942 New Guinea Campaign in which the Japanese forces lost approximately 128,000 men.  By sending the conscripts to Australian Territories, Curtin believed that he was keeping these men out for the way of harm seen in Western Europe.  However, this was not the case. This is clearly evident in the fact that during this period, 625 men were killed and roughly a further 1,000 wounded.

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In 1905. Curtin became a member of the new Victorian Socialist Party (VSP). The VSP was founded on the principles of Marxism.  It was after he left the VSP and moved to Perth that he truly found his way into politics.  On many occasions, he won the seat of Fremantle before, in 1929, being whisked off to Canberra after a fourth, and finally successful, bid for a federal seat in the House of Representatives.  By the early years of the Second World War, Curtin had already gained the position of Opposition Leader of Robert Menzies

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The 14th Prime Minister    of Australia