PRIME MINISTER
TRANSCRIPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER, THE HON P. J. KEATING MP
SPEECH AT MORNING TEA, VICTORIA BARRACKS, MELBOURNE,
4 JULY 1995
E& OE PROOF COPY
Thank you Kim ( Beazley), members of the Curtin family, very distinguished
guests, members of the Cabinet and Ministry and ladies and gentlemen.
It is a very fitting occasion, I think, for us to meet in this the 50th anniversary
of the end of the War and the 50th. anniversary of John Curtin's death.
Althoughi John Curtin's life was a life dedicated'to working-Australians in the
Labor movement, in the trade unions, in the Labor Party and in the Federal
Parliament, he found that his ministerial life, ' his Prime Ministerial life was
dedicated, of course, to the prosecution of the war. On this 50th anniversary
of the cessation of hostilities, of Victory in Europe and Victory in the Pacific
for the democracies over the fascists in Europe, in Japan and in the Pacific,
on this occasion, I think, it is important for all of us to remember those who
prosecuted that war, directed it and fought it and those who died in the
course of it and those who suffered and those who were left behind. Because
to have such a conflagration as the Second World War was and to have this
country under threat of occupation, to rest control of the region from an
enemy at great personal sacrifice has to be remembered. It must mean
something. It has to mean something and it has to keep on meaning
something. We always, be it Anzac Day or other times, remember these times, but this
anniversary has, perhdos, broken away from the stylised remembrance or
commemoration of the people and the events to something far more heartfelt.
It is because we know that we can identify in our lives with what half a
century means. It is not so long ago to know that these events were taking
place and, in a sense, coming here as we are today, we can somewhat
recreate them. If only by the reminiscences of the people who were involved
as we have heard from Jim ( Maher) this morning and the recollections of our
great leader at the time, John Curtin, as we have heard from his grandson.
I think that there is these constant linkages that the country seems to make
and certainly the Labor Party makes. Ki m Beazley is my Deputy and Deputy
Prime Minister. Of course, his father won the seat that John Curtin's death
caused the vacation and he came here very praisewprthy of John Curtin and
kept that linkage going to pass it on to his son who has kept it going and, of
course, being both natives of Perth they have had that linkage with the Curtin
family over these years.
We have all appreciated those contacts and those linkages so that the
continuity is there. We feel that sense of continuity and it makes us stronger.
Today, when the Cabinet meets in the War Room, in peace 50 years later, I
think, there will be as there is already, a moving quality about it and we
appreciate the peace and we appreciate what we have been given and we
appreciate what Curtin and his Cabinet and his government and the people of
this country were able to do in those desperate times with much less to do it
with than we have today.
So, I think, it is an occasion for reflection on that and also on John Curtin. I
think it might have been John who said that not much is written of him and
that is pretty true. But, again, in this sort of society, what is written doesn't
necessarily matter. It is what is thought and what is felt. There is no doubt
that the great affection for Curtin has remained right through the post-war
generation and because they were the ones who taught it to us, that
generation my parents generations taught it to us, and it has come to us.
And, it may not be in the biographies or autobiographies or the histories, but
it is there. Maybe someone will write more of it down and pick up some of
Jim's Manuka reflections and the rest which are important to gauge the
personality of John Curtin.
I think the thing about him was he did feel for his fellow Australians. You can
see by the references we have and the knowledge we have of him, how much
of a burden the war was on him and how he felt responsible for the Australian
forces which were deployed at his direction. He felt a singular responsibility
for them. I think, that in such a desperate situation with a large continent with
a very small population under an assault from an implacable and
indefatigable enemy there is the singular loneliness of that leadership
position which must have borne very heavily on him. We know that he was
haunted by the knowledge of the suffering in battle and the deprivation and
captivity of Australian forces.
I think what we appreciate about him most was he was not only passionate,
but pragmatic and resolute. Pragmatism came in the 1970s and 1980s to be
a word which has been used in other respects in more derogatory terms, a
derogatory reference, but pragmatism if one denotes from that learning the
lessons of history and doing what is honourable and practical at the time,
John Curtin made the opportunities, took the opportunities to do things in the
best interest of Australia and he made new alliances the one with the United
States is the most famous and he did things which he thought were
calculated to best serve this country and the allied interests.
So, he was practical ( inaudible) is all sweetness and light, it never was. He
had many critics and he had critics when the stress on him was the greatest,
which was more the pity. But, he was resolute, he was decisive and that is
what the country needed. It needed somebody who believed in Australia and
Australians and who was resolute, decisive, inventive and pragmatic. They
were all things that he was. That is, I think at its core why we appreciate him
most. He was genuinely a leader and he took decisions and he stuck with
them despite the criticism.
For a generation of people he became the embodiment of what it is to be a
good Australian. What it means to be a good Australian. If you say to
anyone ' who do you think was a good Australian?' Many people would say
John Curtin. They would think of him, perhaps, first because of the plainness
of his life, the simplicity, yet the strength of purpose, the passion, the love of
his country, his commitment to it, all of these things, I think, come to make
him perhaps the idealised view of what a good Australian is and that has
been a real guiding light for the rest of us, particularly the post-war
generation, who had to try to take some lessons from the ruins of the Second
World War.
Today, let's remember his courage and his faith and his virtue and the fact
that, I think, as most agree and even those most close to him agree, that the
burden of the war probably led to his untimely death and the great pity was
that we never saw his skills employed in peace time. That he never had the
opportunity to do the things in peace that his life was really prepared for and
that while we had the benefit of his leadership and his skills in war, we never
had them when he would have most liked to employ them. That is, I think,
sad but we were then, again, fortunate that the mantle was passed to another
great leader in Ben Chifley who took up the job of post-war reconstruction.
I hope that by holding this Cabinet meeting here today, will not only dually
honour John Curtin, but rekindle the memory of his leadership and that of his
government and the commitment of all those Australians to the war effort.
Some things have been said here today, Jim mentioned the reference to no
matter whether one was a messenger or Prime Minster, it was a national
effort and, I think, the commitment by people and Mr and Mrs Salisbury
amongst them here today who have served here, that sort of general
commitment to people in the war effort was a national commitment by all
Australians. He led that commitment and he died just as the war was
finishing and where his successful prosecution had been complete.
This is an opportunity to remember John Curtin, perhaps without the written
histories, but to remember and appreciate him and say for those of us in the
Labor family, in this government, that we are very proud to be here as the
Labor government of Australia in the War Rooms where the Labor
government of the 1940s won the peace for this country. To be here with the
members of the family of John Curtin and with those who worked with him
and were close to him. Thank you.
ends