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John Curtin was born in the Victorian mining town of Creswick on January 8, 1885 to Irish immigrants, Kate and John Curtin. It was an era where the beginnings of social unrest were stirring in Australia. In 1884 a Royal Commission on Working Class Conditions reported on the employment of children in factories working 12 hour days, women working 14 to 16 hour days as seamstresses, and in general workers were employed under conditions of physical and moral degradation. State Labor Councils were being formed and the strength of trade unions was growing through amalgamations - the shearers' strikes of the late 1880s flared into guerrilla war between police and shearers and the great maritime strike of 1890 was fought and lost. John Curtin Snr worked first as a policeman but was forced to retire due to ill health. He then worked as a publican, and the family moved frequently from town to town. Kate Curtin was a strong woman with an abiding interest in politics. Curtin was the oldest of a family of four - two boys and two girls. With his father, Curtin attended meetings during the Commonwealth federation campaigns. The federation of the Australian colonies was by no means a foregone conclusion in the 1890s and there was much discussion by republicans, socialists, nationalists, anarchists and others as to the value of the federation and the new constitution. Curtin's much interrupted education ended when he left school at 14 and began to supplement the family incomes a printer's apprentice, a labourer, a clerk, and a newspaper copyboy. In 1903 Curtin began work as an estimates clerk with Titan Manufacturing Company. Work began at 7.45 am and his wage was around 35 shillings for a 48 hour week. He once wrote about his years with the company: " for seven years I calculated, measured, and otherwise evolved the precise cost to a gentleman profiteer of importing iron from Germany, running it through an abominably noisy machine, and passing it on to a nicely organized trust, preparatory to its consumption by the building contractors of Australia. I can assure all and sundry that very few astronomical mathematicians have had the training vouchsafed me in this school of profound computations." During the early years of the 20th century, Curtin developed friendships with Tom Mann, a socialist and agitator, and with Frank Anstey, another notable socialist and proponent for the working class. Anstey was Curtin's mentor and played a significant role in his life. Curtin was to say, " of all the men who have influenced me, he influenced me the most. He introduced me to the Labor movement." Curtin had always been an avid reader and was a diligent member of the Victorian Public Library, and in 1906 his interest turned to writing as well. His first article was published in the "Socialist", the new journal of the Victorian Socialist Party. It was the start of a long career in journalism.
Approximate Word count = 1938
Approximate Pages = 7.8
(250 words per page double spaced)
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