Curtin, Elsie (1890-1975)

Field of activity
Community worker
NLA Persistent Identifier
http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-722085

Biographies

Elsie Curtin was appointed Commander to the Order of the British Empire for services to the community on 1 January 1970. The youngest daughter of Abraham and Annie Needham, Curtin was educated at Miss Taplin’s, MacKay’s and Saint Mary’s Church of England in South Africa, where her family lived between 1898 and 1910. At the age of 17 she joined the Social Democratic Federation in Cape Town. The family returned to Australia the following year, settling in Hobart. She met John Curtin (Prime Minister of Australia 1941–1945) when he was in Hobart working on Labor’s State election campaign. They married in Perth on 21 April 1917 and had two children. Elsie Curtin always maintained her active membership of the Labor women’s organisation. As soon as they moved to Perth in 1917, she had joined the Perth branch. She transferred to the Fremantle branch in 1925 when her husband made his first bid for the seat. After he was elected in the by-election in 1928, Elsie Curtin dealt with the stream of constituents calling at their Cottesloe house. During John Curtin's prime ministership, she spent time at the Lodge in Canberra as well as maintaining the family home in Cottesloe and assisting with the electorate work in her husband's absence. She supported her husband in all aspects of his prime ministership and together they set an example of war-time austerity for Australians to follow. For almost four years, Elsie Curtin managed her duties in Canberra and the States, electorate work in Fremantle, and two households on opposite sides of the continent, with the capable assistance of her daughter in Perth and Lodge housekeeper Mrs Pincombe in Canberra. Each year she lived for several months at The Lodge, scheduling as many official events as possible into these months. John Curtin died in office aged 60, on 5 July 1945. Elsie Curtin took part in public ceremonies in both Canberra and in Perth, aware of the widespread national mourning of the wartime leader. Elsie Curtin’s official role did not end with her husband’s death. In October 1949, she was a guest of the Chifleys at The Lodge when she was in Canberra for the ceremonial founding of the John Curtin School of Medical Research. She went to New Zealand as the guest of the government and, on her return to Canberra, was again a guest at The Lodge, but this time with Pattie and Robert Menzies in residence. Elsie Curtin’s Labor Party work continued for some twenty years, including campaigning for HV Evatt, and serving as State president of the Labor Women’s Organisation. In 1955 Elsie Curtin became a Justice of the Peace, and in 1970. Elsie Curtin died aged 84, at Cottesloe, on 24 June 1975.

View the full record at Australian Women's Register

Resources for Elsie Curtin

Selected resources (16)

Australian Women's Register

  1. Civil Engineering Branch. Miss E. Curtin farewelled.Western Australian railway and tramway magazine XXXIX No 2 (Dec. 1942) 22 : Civil Engineering Branch. Miss E. Curtin farewelled.
  2. John Curtin/Elsie CurtinAustralia's Prime Ministers National Archives of Australia : John Curtin/Elsie Curtin
    National Archives of Australia
    [2002]
    Published: National Archives of Australia
    Series: http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/meetpm.asp?pmId=14&pageName=wife
  3. What's in the John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library on John Curtin, Elsie Curtin and Hazel Hawke?Australia's Prime Ministers John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library : What's in the John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library on John Curtin, Elsie Curtin and Hazel Hawke?
    John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library
    Published: John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library
    Series: http://john.curtin.edu.au/pmportal/index.html
  4. Faith, Hope and Charity Australian Women and Imperial Honours: 1901-1989
    Australian Women's Archives Project
    [2003]
    Published: Australian Women's Archives Project
    Series: http://www.womenaustralia.info/exhib/honours/honours.html
  5. Reflections : profiles of 150 women who helped make Western Australia's history; Project of the Womens Committee for the 150th Anniversary Celebrations of Western Australia
    Popham, Daphne; Stokes, K.A.; Lewis, Julie
    [1979]
    Published: Carrolls
  6. Who's who in Australia, 1971
    Legge, J S
    [1971]
    Published: The Herald and Weekly Times
  7. Prime Ministers' Wives
    Langmore, Diane
    [1992]
    Published: McPhee Gribble
  8. Monash Biographical Dictionary of 20th Century Australia
    Arnold, John and Morris, Deirdre
    [1994]
    Published: Reed Reference Publishing
  9. The matriarchs: twelve Australian women talk about their lives to Susan Mitchell.
    Mitchell, Susan
    [1987]
    Published: Penguin Books
  10. National Library of Australia Newspaper Microcopy Reading Room: [Biographical cuttings on Elsie Curtin, wife of the former Prime Minister, Mr John Curtin]
  11. JS Battye Library of West Australian History, State Library of Western Australia: Women's Service Guild Silver Jubilee dinner (1945)
    Guests seated at table. L to R: Mrs King, Ross McDonald, Mrs Elsie Curtin, Amelia MacDonald, Sir James Mitchell. 1 photoprint : b&w ; 8 x 11 cm.
    007406D
  12. JS Battye Library of West Australian History, State Library of Western Australia: Sir Frederick Samson [videorecording] : personal film
    [State Film Archives collection] 1 videocassette (VHS) (11 min., 3 sec.) : si., col. ; 1/2 in.
    E1100
  13. National Archives of Australia, National Office: [Personal Papers of Prime Minister Gorton] (17 September 1969 - 1970)
    [Personal Papers of Prime Minister Gorton] Correspondence with the Hon L H E Bury (Treasurer) [re overseas investment, Commonwealth-State financial relations, pensions payable to former Prime Ministers wives (Dame Enid Lyons, Mrs Elsie Curtin), nuclear development, Commonwealth expenditure etc]
    4029449
  14. National Archives of Australia, National Office: [Personal Papers of Prime Minister Curtin] Mrs Elsie Curtin's Personal File [includes letters sent and received, drafts of telegrams, list of callers at The Lodge, Dec 1941] (31 October 1941 - 24 September 1943)
    530334
  15. National Archives of Australia, National Office: [Personal Papers of Prime Minister Curtin] Correspondence 'G' [Mrs F R Gale - Gordon Branch Australian Labor Party, includes poem sent to Mrs Elsie Curtin by Dame Mary Gilmore] (30 September 1941 - 30 April 1942)
    1516079
  16. National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection: Papers of Hector Harrison (1915 - 1978)
    Consists of personal and business correspondence, circulars, journal articles, brochures, leaflets, newscuttings, newsletters, notes, pamphlets, sermons and service sheets. They record Harrison's long and distinguished career as a minister of the Presbyterian church. Correspondents include Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, Viscount and Viscountess Slim, Sir Robert and Dame Pattie Menzies and Elsie Curtin, wife of John Curtin.
    MS 6277

Resources about Elsie Curtin (5)

  1. Prime Minister John Curtin and Elsie Curtin with General Blamey, leaving Sydney for the United States on board 'Lurline', 1944
    [ Photograph : 1944 ]
    View online
    At National Library
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 5.661)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 5.661)

  2. Home portrait [of John and Elsie Curtin in Cottesloe, Perth, 1938] Haray
    Haray
    [ Photograph : 1938 ]
    View online
    At National Library
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 5.658)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 5.658)

  3. Papers
    Harrison, Hector, 1902-1978
    [ Unpublished : 1915-1978 ]
    At National Library
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 5.35)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 5.35)

  4. Her Royal Highness, Mrs Curtin, Mr Curtin and his Royal highness at Parliament House, Canberra, 1945 / L.J. Dwyer
    Dwyer, L. J. photographer, 1924-1959
    [ Photograph : 1945 ]
    Languages: No linguistic content
    View online
    At National Library
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 3.972)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 3.972)

  5. John Curtin and Mrs Curtin with Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King, examining Book of Remembrance in Memorial Chamber, Peace Tower, in Parliament House, Ottawa, 1944
    Public Archives of Canada
    [ Photograph : 1944 ]
    View online
    At National Library
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 3.962)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 3.962)

No Comments for this person

 

Add a comment



Possibly related

Digitised newspapers and more

Searching...

Minimise

Diaries, letters, archives

Searching...

Minimise

Archived websites (1996 – now)

Searching...

Minimise

Pictures, photos, objects

Searching...

Minimise

Books

Searching...

Minimise

Music, sound and video

Searching...

Minimise

People and organisations

Searching...

Minimise

Journals, articles and data sets

Searching...

Minimise

Maps

Searching...

Minimise

Lists

Searching...

Minimise
  1. CURTIN
    Created by MBates, 23 items.

  2. Curtin
    Created by AnneMB, 4 items.

  3. Elsie Croft
    Created by wendygayecroft, 1 item.

  1. Curtin, Elsie (1890-1975)
    ... Elsie Curtin was appointed Commander to the Order of the British Empire for services to the ...
    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.12)

    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.12)

  1. Website: Australian Women in War
    www.womenaustralia.info
    Matching pages:
    View 26 matching archived pages
    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.063)

    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.063)

  2. Website: Australian Women's Archives Project
    www.womenaustralia.info
    Matching pages:
    View 34 matching archived pages
    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.059)

    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.059)

  3. Website: Putting skirts on the sacred benches : women candidates for the New South Wales Parliament
    www.womenaustralia.info
    Matching pages:
    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.052)

    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.052)

  1. Elsie Curtin
    Langmore, Diane
    Prime Ministers' Wives: The Public and Private Lives of Ten Australian Women
    [ Article : 1992 ]
    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.26)

    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.26)

  2. John Curtin - a Tasmanian connection
    MacFie, Peter
    40 [degrees] South
    [ Article : 2009 ]
    View online (conditions apply)
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.107)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.107)

  3. Pharmacology in nursing / by Elsie E. Krug and Hugh Alister McGuigan
    Bergersen, Betty S
    [ Periodical : 1955-1982 ]
    At 4 libraries
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.105)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.105)

  4. McCance and Widdowson's The composition of foods
    Holland, B
    [ Book, Article : 1978-1993 ]
    At 50 libraries
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.051)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.051)

Maps

No results

Minimise
  1. John Curtin : guide to archives of Australia's prime ministers / David Black and Lesley Wallace
    Black, David, 1936-
    [ Book : 2004 ]
    Possibly online
    At 48 libraries
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.412)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.412)

  2. Killed in action and other verse / by Elsie Curtin
    Curtin, Elsie
    [ Book : 1944 ]
    At 4 libraries
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.307)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.307)

  3. An aboriginal mother tells of the old and the new / Labumore : Elsie Roughsey ; edited by Paul Memmott and Robyn Horsman
    Roughsey, Elsie
    [ Book : 1984 ]
    At 92 libraries
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.269)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.269)

  4. Elsie Carew : Australian primitive poet: a selection from her verse and prose, with a commentary / by Nancy Keesing
    Keesing, Nancy, 1923-1993
    [ Book : 1965 ]
    At 31 libraries
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.252)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.252)

  1. [Interview with Elsie MacLeod] [interviewed by Ronda Jamieson]
    MacLeod, Elsie Milda, 1917-
    [ Sound : 1994-1995 ]
    At WA State Library
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.219)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.219)

  2. Complete guide to English spelling : a new approach / Elsie Smelt
    Smelt, Elsie D
    [ Book, Audio book : 1983-1984 ]
    At 32 libraries
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.128)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.128)

  3. The third day, the frost / John Marsden
    Marsden, John, 1950-
    [ Book, Audio book : 1995-2010 ]
    Languages: English, Swedish, German, [2 others]
    read online at Open Library/Internet Archive
    View online
    At 132 libraries
    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.054)

    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.054)

  4. Jesu, joy of man's desiring : the chorale from cantata no. 147 / by J.S. Bach ; arranged for piano by Myra Hess
    Bach, Johann Sebastian, 1685-1750
    [ Sheet music : 1900-2011 ]
    Languages: English, No linguistic content, N/A, [2 others]
    View online
    At 21 libraries
    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.034)

    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.034)

  1. [Biographical cuttings on Elsie Curtin, wife of the former Prime Minister, Mr John Curtin, containing one or more cuttings from newspapers or journals]
    [ Published : 1900-1990 ]
    At National Library
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.325)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.325)

  2. Papers
    Ross, Lloyd (Lloyd Maxwell), 1901-1987
    [ Unpublished : 1854-1986 ]
    At National Library
    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.01)

    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.01)

  3. Records of the Australian Labor Party WA Branch
    Australian Labor Party, WA Branch
    [ Unpublished : 1885-1997 ]
    View online
    At John Curtin PM Lib
    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.004)

    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.004)

  1. ELSIE CURTIN'S BOOK OF VERSE FOR RED CROSS
    Sunday Times (Perth, WA : 1902 - 1954) Sunday 28 January 1945 p 5 Article Illustrated
    ... ELSIE CURTIN'S BOOK OF VERSE FOR RED CROSS CANBERRA, Sat: Under the title "Killed In Action/' the Prime Minister's daughter, Elsie Curtin (Mrs. J. W. Cole) has written a book of verse which is now on sale, the proceeds going to the WA. branch of the Australian Red Cross. It is dedicated "To the ... 275 words
    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.959)

    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.959)

  2. PRIME MINISTER IN PERTH
    Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954) Thursday 29 January 1942 p 4 Article Illustrated
    ... PRIME MINISTER IN PERTH Mr. Curtin reading over his "Australia Day" speech. Just after his arrival at the Perth Railway Station. The family group: John and Elsie Curtin, Mr. Curtin and Mrs. Curtin. Congratulating Corporal S. Gray and his wife after their marriage at the Fremantle Wesley Church, on ... 51 words
    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.016)

    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.016)

  3. PRIME MINISTER AT HOME
    The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954) Thursday 29 January 1942 p 2 Article Illustrated
    ... j PRIME MINISTER AT HOME ¡ I The Prime Minister and Mrs. Curtin, photographed at their home, Cottesloe, W.A., with members of their family-Miss Elsie Curtin and John Curtin, who is a member of the R.A.A.F. ... 36 words
    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.014)

    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.014)