Summary heading
Person registration completed as part of the Prime
Ministers Papers’ Project (April 2002).
Career within Commonwealth
Elsie Curtin (nee Needham) was born in Ballarat, Victoria
in 1890. The youngest of three children (and only daughter) of political
activist and former Methodist preacher, Abraham Needham and his wife Annie (nee
Hosking), Elsie spent part of her happy childhood in South Africa. In 1907, at
the age of 17, she joined the Social Democratic Federation. The following year
the Needham family returned to Australia and lived in Hobart where, in 1912,
Elsie first met John Curtin. He was then secretary to the Timber Workers’
Union. They were married at a civil ceremony in Leederville (WA) five years
later, when he was editor of the Australian Workers’ Union weekly ‘Westralian
Worker’. The Curtins made their home in Cottesloe and had two children (a son
and a daughter).
The 1920s was a difficult period, although Curtin was
emerging as leader of the labor movement in WA. Elsie took a close interest in
his political activities but essentially remained in the background. Her calm
resilience supported Curtin through two unsuccessful attempts to enter federal
politics and again in 1931 when he lost his seat. When Curtin returned to
federal Parliament three years later and was elected Leader of the Opposition
in October 1935, Elsie became more prominent. She visited Canberra regularly
but continued to live mainly in Perth, assisting with her husband’s electoral
business. She became Prime Minister’s wife a few days after her 51st
birthday and, over the next three years was widely respected for her
unpretentious and friendly nature and lively sense of humour. She launched
ships in Sydney and Queensland and advocated austerity by example. In 1944, she
accompanied Curtin to the United States and Canada, where she gave her first
major press conference and established a friendship with Mrs F D Roosevelt,
wife of the US President.
After Curtin’s death in 1945, Elsie continued to live in
Perth and was active in local community affairs. She became state president of
the Labor Women’s Organisation (of which she had been a member since the early
years of her marriage), sat on the Married Women’s Court and was a visitor to
Fremantle Gaol. She was granted life membership of the Fremantle LWO, the Royal
Association of Justices, the Women’s Justices Association and the Association of
Civilian Widows (Perth Branch). She was made a Justice of the Peace in 1955,
and awarded a CBE in 1970 in recognition of her services to the community and
support to her husband during the war years. Elsie died in 1975 and is buried
beside Curtin in the Karrakatta Cemetery, Perth.
Links to other Commonwealth Persons
21 Apr 1917 – 5 Jul 1945: CP 258, The Rt Hon John
Joseph Ambrose CURTIN PC
Publications
End notes
Sources
Langmore, Diane, Prime Ministers’ Wives (McPhee
Gribble, 1992), pp 115-145