1879-1939
schoolteacher, premier and prime minister
born on 15 September 1879 at Stanley in Tasmania
He was of medium height, plump and he had blue eyes, a thin, long nose, a high forehead
and messy blond hair. He had a high-pitched voice. In later life he walked with a limp
because of an injury he suffered in a car accident.
My name is Joe Lyons and I represent ‘Young and free’ because I was
Australia’s prime minister from 1931 to 1939, during the difficult years of economic
depression.
IDEA
FOR SCENE: Lyons believed in paying off Australia’s debt and keeping inflation as low
as possible. In one of his letters, Lyons wrote to his wife Dame Enid: ‘Neither you
nor I can put everything right and we saved Australia from ruin. Think of the homes that
are happy because of what we did and realise that no-one is unhappy because of what we
did’.
