Australian History: Joseph Lyons
Born at Stanley, Tasmania, in 1879, his Irish Catholic background was similar to Scullin's. His parents ran a small farm but, when he was nine, his father's illness forced him to leave school and seek odd jobs to help support the family. After three years, a spinster aunt salvaged him and paid for his education.
At 17, he qualified as a teacher and taught for a number of years in country schools. His Irish fervour for justice was roused as he observed the domination of Protestant landowners in northern Tasmania. Membership of the Worker’s Political League brought a sharp reproof from the Education Department. He responded by resigning and standing for State Parliament.
He canvassed his electorate by bicycle, speaking so vigorously for the Labor cause that his adventures included a horsewhipping by an outraged landowner followed by a successful suit for damages. At 30, he began his 19 years in State Parliament which included five as Premier. His ministry was the first to have a clear Labor majority in Tasmania and to show a surplus in the State's shaky finances. In 1915 he married a Protestant woman who embraced Catholicism, presented him with 11 children and, despite the cares of a large family, always gave him vital support in his private and political life.
In 1928 he left State Parliament for federal politics and won a seat in the 1929 Labor government. He did not warm to Canberra-style politics and tended to keep a low profile. But he showed his financial acumen, as Acting Treasurer, by floating a 25 million pound conversion loan despite the Depression. Labor in-fighting over Depression finances dismayed him and he was deeply offended by Scullin's re-appointment of ‘Red Ted’ Theodore as Treasurer. With his faith in Labor fading, he sought an alternative.
He began discussions with four other dissatisfied Labor members and with a body of supporters known as ‘The Group' - which comprised Melbourne businessmen, the National Union and some civic leaders and Opposition politicians. With this backing, Lyons and his four followers first broke away from the Labor Party and then supported the vote of no confidence in Scullin's government.
During the last few months of Scullin's administration, 'The Group' allied with the National Party to form the United Australia Party which won a clear majority in December 1931. A 1934 coalition with the Country Party helped Lyons to win two more elections.
Lyons came to power while Australia was still in the grip of the Depression, and he held power during those fateful years of the 1930s when the world economies slowly recovered but the democracies had to face the emerging threat of the German, Italian and Japanese military dictatorships.
Lyons, as an Irish Catholic, had been an anti-conscription activist during the First World War and but it fell to him, as Prime Minister, to prepare Australia for another war with severely depleted armed forces. His government began to build up the Army, double voluntary recruitment and strengthen the RAAF and the RAN as well as opening the first Commonwealth Aircraft Factory and planning munitions works and shipyards.
The stress of trying to hold together a coalition party and as the shadows of impending war loomed, he became more decisive and determined, but letters to his wife during his final year in government reveal the unhappiness of a man under many conflicting pressures. No doubt they contributed to his fatal heart attack in April 1939.
His wife, Dame Enid Lyons, soon followed him into politics. She had gained a fine reputation in Tasmania as a civic leader and social worker and, in 1943, she won the seat of Darwin, Tasmania. She was the first woman member of the House of Representatives in the Commonwealth Parliament, where she served for eight years until ill health forced her from the political scene