Earle Page
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The Right Honourable Sir Earle Christmas Page GCMG, CH |
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|---|---|
 |
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| 11th Prime Minister of Australia | |
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In office 7 April – 26 April 1939 |
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| Monarch | George VI |
| Governor-General | Lord Gowrie |
| Deputy | Robert Menzies |
| Preceded by | Joseph Lyons |
| Succeeded by | Robert Menzies |
| Minister for Health | |
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In office 19 December 1949 – 11 January 1956 |
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| Prime Minister | Robert Menzies |
| Preceded by | Nick McKenna |
| Succeeded by | Donald Cameron |
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In office 29 November 1937 – 7 November 1938 |
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| Prime Minister | Joseph Lyons |
| Preceded by | Billy Hughes |
| Succeeded by | Harry Foll |
| Minister for Commerce | |
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In office 28 October 1940 – 7 October 1941 |
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| Prime Minister | Robert Menzies |
| Preceded by | Archie Cameron |
| Succeeded by | William Scully |
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In office 9 November 1932 – 26 April 1939 |
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| Prime Minister |
Joseph Lyons Earle Page |
| Preceded by | Frederick Stewart |
| Succeeded by | George McLeay |
| Treasurer of Australia | |
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In office 9 February 1923 – 21 October 1929 |
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| Prime Minister | Stanley Bruce |
| Preceded by | Stanley Bruce |
| Succeeded by | Ted Theodore |
| Leader of the Country Party | |
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In office 5 April 1921 – 13 September 1939 |
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| Deputy |
Edmund Jowett Henry Gregory William Fleming William Gibson Thomas Paterson Harold Thorby |
| Preceded by | William McWilliams |
| Succeeded by | Archie Cameron |
| Member of the Australian Parliament for Cowper | |
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In office 13 December 1919 – 9 December 1961 |
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| Preceded by | John Thompson |
| Succeeded by | Frank McGuren |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
8 August 1880 Grafton, New South Wales, Australia |
| Died | 20 December 1961 (aged 81) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Political party | Country Party |
| Spouse(s) | Ethel Page Jean Page |
| Children | 5 |
| Alma mater | University of Sydney |
Sir Earle Christmas Grafton Page, GCMG, CH (8 August 1880 – 20 December 1961) was an Australian politician who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Australia in 1939. With 41 years, 361 days in Parliament, he is the third-longest serving federal parliamentarian in Australian history, behind only Billy Hughes and Philip Ruddock.
Born in Grafton, New South Wales, Page was educated at Sydney Boys High School and the University of Sydney, where he initially enrolled in an arts degree, aged 14, before winning a scholarship at the end of the year and transferring to medicine. Page graduated in medicine at the top of his year in 1900.
After graduating from university, Page worked at Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital as a house surgeon in 1901–1902 and a pathologist thereafter. At Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, he met Ethel Blunt, a nurse, whom he married in 1906.
In 1903, Page joined a private practice in Grafton; and, in 1904, he became one of the first people in the country to own a car. He practised in Sydney and Grafton before joining the Australian Army as a medical officer in the First World War, serving in Egypt.
After the war, Page went into farming and was elected Mayor of Grafton.
In 1919 Page was elected to the House of Representatives from Cowper in northeastern New South Wales. He ran as a candidate of the Farmers and Settlers Association of New South Wales, one of several farmers' groups that won seats in that election. Shortly before parliament opened in 1920, the Farmers and Settlers Association merged with several other rural-based parties to form the Country Party. He became the party's leader in 1921, ousting William McWilliams. The young party found itself with the balance of power in the House after the 1922 election. The Nationalist government of Billy Hughes lost its majority, and could not govern without Country Party support. However, the Country Party had been formed partly due to discontent with Hughes' rural policy, and Page's animosity toward Hughes was such that he would not even consider supporting him. He demanded Hughes' resignation as the price for beginning negotiations with the Nationalists. As the Country Party was the Nationalists' only politically realistic coalition partner, Hughes stood down.
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