Earle christmas grafton page biography of albert murphy

Three of our prime ministers have held the position for only a short time. He took on the job for three weeks when Joe Lyons died in April He was the fifth of 11 children of Charles Page and Annie Cox, whose father was a blacksmith and coach builder. After attending a government primary school in Grafton, he won a scholarship to Sydney High School, matriculated after a year, and entered the University of Sydney at only He began studying arts, but changed to medicine, topping his final year.

After working as a house surgeon at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital he returned to Grafton in , where he built up an extensive country practice and opened a progressive private hospital. The X-ray equipment he ordered was among the first in NSW. He was also the first person in the district to own a car. Page married Ethel Blunt in , and they had five children.

Page moved into different areas of business, buying a timber mill and dairy farms, and part-owned the Grafton Daily Examiner. He became a well-known figure in the Farmers and Settlers Association. Earle Page enlisted as a surgeon with the Army Medical Corps in and spent 15 months working in military hospitals in Egypt, England and France.

This is a study of the ideas held by an intelligent, dedicated, somewhat eccentric visionary, and of his attempts to shape the young Australian nation.

In he was elected Mayor of South Grafton and set up the Nymboida hydro-electric scheme. Page was elected to federal parliament in the Cowper seat in the general election as an Independent, but with support from the Farmers and Settlers Association. He held the seat for the next 42 years through 15 general elections.