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A STUDYGUIDE by ROBERT LEWIS Www Curtin A STUDYGUIDE B Y R O B E R T L E W I S www.metromagazine.com.au www.theeducationshop.com.au Curtin OVERVIEW The Japanese are working their way John Curtin is generally considered down through Asia with alarming to be one of Australia’s greatest ferocity. Australia is completely Prime Ministers. unprepared. But what’s behind the history Blow by blow, we follow Curtin books? What were the realities that through a chilling and tumultuous he faced at the time? What qualities ride over six months behind the did he show? What failings? walls of power. Curtin (Jessica Hobbs, 2007) Curtin lives and breathes his can help your students explore work and is forced to endure the these questions while developing pressures alone, while his wife, a greater knowledge and Elsie, attends to her ailing mother understanding of and empathy with back home. Australia’s World War 2 situation. Then, Darwin is bombed. Australian The 92-minute film takes its defences are crushed. Curtin viewers behind the political scenes battles via cables with the Empire’s in wartime Australia. heavyweight, Churchill, to re- route Australian troops to defend We first see John Curtin walking home soil. It quickly becomes a the beach at his home suburb of monumental battle of wills with Cottesloe, Perth, expounding on his Curtin fighting both Churchill and political destiny, ruminating on the members of his own government. state of the war. We also see him He looks to America, but as the family man, and as the friend Churchill is actively undermining of the Japanese Ambassador to Roosevelt’s understanding of Australia, Tatsuo Kawai. Australia’s position, and will not As Leader of the Opposition, support Australia’s vision of an Curtin could be poised to American-directed Pacific war from reach out and claim the Prime Washington and Australia, rather Ministership of Australia, but he than from London. refuses to make a grab for power. Curtin’s health deteriorates rapidly Is it out of fear, or out of a sense of as he desperately seeks support, all statesmanship and leadership? the time conscious of thousands of The government self-destructs. Australian troops on unprotected With the war against Hitler ships sailing to Australia through intensifying, the last thing the public Japanese-dominated waters. Will wants is a weak and bickering Curtin be saviour of Australia, or government. Curtin is the only the cause of its destruction? man deemed fit for the job. Power This is a raw and intimate story of becomes his. Does he have it in him a driven and inspirational leader to be a warlord? – a man who struggles to battle Curtin no sooner takes office than his own personal demons while the Pacific erupts. Pearl Harbor serving and protecting a country is bombed. For the first time, at war. Australia lives in fear of invasion. SCREEN EDUCATION 2 CURRICULUM APPLICABILITY Curtin Curtin is a 92-minute drama that recreates the vital months at the start of the Battle for Australia. It is suitable for Year 10-12 secondary students in: • History – Australia at war: The home front • Politics – Political power • English – Biography BEFORE WATCHING THE FILM Would you be a good wartime Prime Minister? Here are some situations facing the Prime Minister in 1941 and 1942. Make your decision about each, and compare your responses with those of Curtin at the time. 1 You are the Opposition leader. The Government is weak and Do you: divided. They ask you to join a new Government that will A Join the Government and hope that you include both Labor and Liberal Ministers. You disagree with will be able to influence its decisions? many of the policies and decisions of the Government, but B Keep your party in Opposition, oppose the if you join you will not be able to criticise them. There is no Government where necessary, offer better election due, so if you do not join you may not have a chance alternative policies, and just wait until you to come into power and implement your ideas for years. can come into power and implement your However, the Government depends on the support of two ideas? Independents, and their allegiance might change. 2 You are Prime Minister, but your health is a problem. You Do you: occasionally need time in hospital when the stress becomes A Take time to make yourself well, even too great. though it means you are occasionally unable to make decisions? B Keep going, make the difficult decisions required, and risk the failure of your health taking you out of action for a long period of time rather than occasional short periods? 3 The way the media reports the war news can influence Do you: people’s morale and affect the war effort. You know that A Impose strict censorship so that the media Australia is facing defeat, the war is not going well, there is cannot tell the people what is happening? plenty of bad and depressing news about. The media will soon B Give the media all the information, explain find out. the seriousness of the situation to them, and ask them not to report on it? 4 Australia has a long-standing relationship with Britain, and a Do you: new one with the emerging power, USA. We entered the war A Stick with the British, keep our with Britain, have sent our troops off to fight with the British, commitment to them, help them win the and have based our wartime strategy on co-operating with war in Europe, and wait until they come the British war in Europe. A new enemy has entered the war, and help us in the Pacific? and the British seem unable to help us in our own area of the B Look to the new power, the United States, Pacific. and weaken our ties to and commitment to our old ally? SCREEN EDUCATION 3 Curtin 5 Australia is under threat. Its best troops are in northern Africa. Do you: You want to bring them back to defend Australia. The British A Bring them back to Australia? Government wants them to go to Burma, and help defeat the B Let them go to Burma where they may be Japanese there. Then they can come back to Australia. able to influence the war against Japan, then bring them back later? 6 You have a close friendship with the Japanese Ambassador to Do you: Australia. He has often given you good advice and insight into A Maintain a relationship with him and the Japanese Government. He does not agree with the Japanese benefit from his advice? policies that have led to war, but is loyal to the Japanese B Stop all contact with him, even though this Government. will threaten your friendship and cut you off from his information? As you watch Curtin you will see each of these situations being faced. At the end, discuss what Curtin did, and whether it was a good decision in each case. SCREEN EDUCATION 4 BACKGROUND INFORMATION Curtin Curtin is a detailed period piece. The following information about wartime people and events will help you understand the historical context in which it is set. PEOPLE The Labor Party John Curtin Prime Minister. Curtin had brought together the various factions of the Labor Party, which had fractured after the loss of power in 1929 and the problems of the Depression. Don Rodgers Curtin’s Press Secretary. Responsible for helping Curtin deal with the press and the electorate. Ben Chifley Treasurer under Curtin. He became Prime Minister after Curtin’s death in 1945. Bert Evatt A brilliant but erratic lawyer. Attorney General and Minister for External Affairs in the Curtin Government. Evatt became leader of the Labor Party after Chifley’s death, but was destroyed politically when he opposed the outlawing of the Communist Party by Menzies in the 1950s. Jack Beasley Minister for Supply and Development in the Curtin Government. A New South Wales ALP member and a leader of one of the factions within the party that made unity difficult to achieve. Eddie Ward Another New South Wales member of the Labor Party and factional leader who pursued his own preferred policies even when they conflicted with those of the majority. The United Australia Party Robert Menzies Prime Minister from 1939 to 1941, and then again from 1949 to 1966. An able politician, Menzies was believed by many to be too close to the British to be a good nationalist leader. Served on the Advisory War Council, an all party body that advised the Government on war matters. Artie Fadden Leader of the Country Party. He became Prime Minister for a short time after Menzies was sacked by the UAP, but then lost that position when two Independents chose to support the ALP, meaning that Labor then had a majority in the House of Representatives and could form government with Curtin as Prime Minister. Served on the Advisory War Council. SCREEN EDUCATION 5 Curtin Other figures Frederick Shedden The public servant who was Secretary of the Department of Defence, Shedden played a crucial role in organizing the administration and defence of Australia during World War Two. General Sturdee A gifted officer, General Vernon Sturdee was well qualified by education and experience for his role as principal military adviser to the government. He had opposed sending Australian forces to Singapore. Tatsuo Kawai Japanese Ambassador to Australia, who developed a lasting friendship with Curtin and his family. Kawai came to Australia in March 1941 as a strident pioneer exponent of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.
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