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Fast facts: James Scullin
Personal profile
Born:
18 September 1876, Trawalla, Victoria
Education:
Trawalla and Mount Rowan state schools, Victoria
Employment:
grocer, union organiser, journalist
Memberships:
Roman Catholic Church; Catholic Young Men’s Society; Ballarat South Street debating society
Marriage:
11 November 1907, Ballarat, Victoria
Children:
none
Died:
28 January 1953, Hawthorn, Melbourne
Buried:
Melbourne General Cemetery
Honours:
Privy Councillor (1930)
Born:
1880, Ballarat, Victoria
Memberships:
Australian Labor Party
Died:
31 May 1962, Kew, Melbourne (buried Melbourne General Cemetery)
Political profile
Terms as PM:
22 October 1929 – 6 January 1932
Terms as MP:
House of Representatives: 1 July 1910 – December 1913 (Corangamite); 29 June 1922 – December 1949 (Yarra)
Leader of the Opposition: April 1928 – October 1929; January 1932 – October 1935
Portfolios:
External Affairs: 22 October 1929 – 6 January 1932
Industry: 22 October 1929 – 6 January 1932
Treasurer: 9 July 1930 – 29 January 1931
Political memberships:
Australian Natives’ Association; Australian Workers’ Union (c.1906–10); Australian Labor Party (Victorian branch, 1903–53; Federal Parliamentary Party leader, 26 April 1928 – c.1 October 1935)
After:
Commonwealth Literary Fund Committee;
Chair, Press Advisory Committee on Censorship (April 1942–);
Committee on Uniform Taxation (1942)
Quiz facts
- unsuccessfully contested Ballaarat seat against Alfred Deakin in 1906
- first Roman Catholic Prime Minister
- only red-headed Prime Minister
- first Prime Minister to choose the Governor-General (the first Australian to hold the post, Sir Isaac Isaacs, in 1931)
- played the violin
- lifelong teetotaller and non-smoker
- a founder of Commonwealth literary grants in 1939