Macquarie University/The Lighthouse
Australia’s wartime leader John Curtin declared from his first days in office that everyone should read poetry, writes Macquarie University poetry scholar and Curtin’s great-grandson, Dr Toby Davidson, author of a new book about the PM’s passion for verse.
When he first became Prime Minister in October 1941, John Curtin informed the press that he held to a Sunday night poetry reading ritual and he declared that “every man should read poetry for the good of his soul”.
Well versed: As Prime Minister, John Curtin’s wartime speeches quoted Shakespeare, William Wordsworth, Lord Byron and others.