Earle Page

Earle Page was born on 8 August 1880 in Grafton, New South Wales, Australia. He was the fifth of 11 children of Charles Page, a blacksmith and coach builder, and Annie Cox. He attended a government primary school in Grafton and won a scholarship to Sydney High School. He matriculated after a year and entered the University of Sydney at the age of 15. He studied medicine and graduated with first-class honours at the age of 21. He worked as a house surgeon at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and then returned to Grafton in 1903, where he opened a private hospital. He married Ethel Blunt in 1906 and they had five children. He also became involved in various business ventures, such as timber milling, dairy farming and newspaper publishing. He was elected as the mayor of South Grafton in 1915 and founded the Northern NSW Separation League, which campaigned for a separate state for the north-eastern region of NSW. He enlisted as a surgeon with the Army Medical Corps in 1916 and served in Egypt, England and France during World War I. He returned to Australia via Canada and the USA to inspect hydro-electricity projects. In 1918, he set up the Nymboida hydro-electric scheme, which supplied power to Grafton and surrounding areas. He was elected to the federal parliament as the member for Cowper in 1919 as an independent candidate supported by the Farmers and Settlers Association. In 1920, he joined with 10 other rural MPs to form the Country Party (later renamed the National Party). He became the leader of the party in 1921 and held that position until 1939. He was also the deputy prime minister under Stanley Bruce (1923–1929) and Joseph Lyons (1934–1939). He served as the treasurer from 1923 to 1929 and introduced several reforms, such as income tax cuts, tariff reductions, child endowment payments and old-age pensions. He also advocated for regional development and decentralisation, and supported immigration schemes and closer ties with Britain. He briefly became the prime minister after Lyons' death in April 1939, but his term lasted only 19 days until Robert Menzies took over as the leader of the United Australia Party (UAP). Page made a bitter personal attack on Menzies in parliament, accusing him of cowardice and disloyalty during World War I. This caused a rift between the UAP and the Country Party, which led to Page being replaced as party leader by Archie Cameron later that year. Page remained in parliament as a backbencher until 1940, when he returned to cabinet as the minister for commerce under Menzies and Arthur Fadden. He lost his portfolio when John Curtin's Labor Party came to power in 1941. He regained his position as the leader of the Country Party in 1944 after Cameron's death. He was also appointed as the minister for health in Menzies' second government from 1949 to 1956. He introduced free hospital treatment for pensioners and oversaw improvements in medical research, public health and pharmaceutical benefits. He retired from politics in 1961 after serving for a record 42 years as an MP. He died of lung cancer on 20 December 1961 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He was buried at St Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney. He was widely regarded as a visionary and energetic leader who made significant contributions to the development of rural and regional Australia¹.