Joseph Aloysius (Joe) Lyons was Australia's 10th Prime Minister. He was in office for 7 years, only a few days short of matching the then record term of William Hughes. He was the first Australian Prime Minister to die in office.

Lyons was a very successful electoral campaigner, with wife Enid, a major factor in his winning popularity and appeal. His cautious and orthodox financial management transformed him from a dissident Labor minister to a conservative Prime Minister. His Cabinet also needed careful management. He reshuffled ministries several times and negotiated a coalition with the Country Party after the 1934 election.

Did you know?

Joseph Lyons:

• was the first prime minister to win 3 successive elections
• was one of only 2 prime ministers who had been premiers (the other was George Reid, in 1904)
• is the only Tasmanian to have become Prime Minister
• was the second Australian to receive the Companion of Honour (Stanley Bruce was the first)
• was nicknamed ‘Honest Joe’
• married Enid Lyons, who in the first year of their marriage was ‘Queen of the Public Service’ in a Hobart carnival, with 9-year-old Errol Flynn her pageboy
• had a politically active wife: Dame Enid Lyons became the first female member of the House of Representatives, and was the first female member of federal Cabinet