John Curtin Family Home

Curtin Family Home is a single storey brick and tile residence typical of the Inter-war California bungalow style. Constructed in 1923 in tuck-pointed brickwork on limestone foundations, the verandahs built on three sides were progressively filled-in with weatherboard and brick to allow for the changing needs of the family. Only the entry verandah remains. A weatherboard outdoor laundry, brick ‘dunny’ and timber framed garage also remain extant.The place is significant as the family home of John Curtin: journalist, political activist, Labor politician, leader of the Australian Labor Party, and Prime Minister of Australia; the first representative of a Western Australian electorate to be Prime Minister of Australia (from 1941 to his death in 1945). It was also the family home of John Curtin’s wife, Elsie Curtin CBE, a prominent figure in public life at local and state level in Western Australia, until her death in 1975; and remained as the family home of their daughter, Elsie Curtin, until 1998.