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Fast facts: Joseph Lyons

Personal profile

Joseph Aloysius (Joe) LYONS

Born:

15 September 1879, Stanley, Tasmania

Education:

Stanley state school, Tasmania (1891–97); Hobart Teacher Training College (1907)

Employment:

teacher

Memberships:

Roman Catholic Church; Hobart United Irish League

Marriage:

28 April 1915, Wynyard, Tasmania

Children:

Desmond (1916); Sheila (1918); Enid (1919); Kathleen (1920); Moira (1922); Kevin (1923); Garnet (1924); Brendan (1926); Barry (1927); Rosemary (1929); Peter (1931); Janice (1933)

Died:

7 April 1939, Darlinghurst, Sydney

Buried:

Devonport, Tasmania

Honours:

Privy Councillor (1932); Companion of Honour (1936)

Enid Muriel LYONS (née BURNELL)

Born:

9 July 1897, Duck River (Smithton), Tasmania

Memberships:

Methodist Church (1897–1915); Roman Catholic Church (1915–81); Australian Labor Party; Victoria League (1913–81; United Australia Party (1931–44); Australian Women’s National League; Liberal Party (1944–81); Housewives Association; Country Women’s League

Died:

2 September 1981, Ulverstone, Tasmania (buried Devonport, Tasmania)

Honours:

DBE (1937); Honorary Fellow, Australian College of Nursing; Dame of the Order of Australia (1980)

Political profile

Terms as PM:

6 January 1932 – 7 April 1939

Terms as MP:

Tasmanian Legislative Assembly: 1909 – 1928 (Wilmot Tasmania) Premier October 1923 – June 1928
House of Representatives: 20 November 1929 – 7 April 1939 (Wilmot)

Portfolios:

Postmaster-General: 22 October 1929 – 4 February 1931
Works and Railways: 22 October 1929 – 4 February 1931
Treasurer: 6 January 1932 – 3 October 1935
Commerce: 3–13 October 1932
Repatriation: 8 November 1935 – 6 February 193
Health: 8 November 1935 – 26 February 1936
Defence: 20 – 29 November 1937

Political memberships:

Workers Political League and Australian Labor Party (1907 – March 1931); United Australia Party (March 1931 – April 1939)

After:

died in office

Quiz facts

  • first PM to win three successive elections
  • one of only two Prime Ministers who had been premiers (the other was George Reid, in 1904)
  • only Tasmanian to become Prime Minister
  • second Australian to receive the Companion of Honour (SM Bruce was the first)
  • nicknamed ‘Honest Joe’
  • in the first year of their marriage, Enid Lyons was ‘Queen of the Public Service’ in a Hobart carnival, with nine-year-old Errol Flynn her pageboy
  • Dame Enid Lyons became the first woman in the House of Representatives, and the first woman member of federal Cabinet

Plus

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