Country Party Leadership Elections Prime Minister of Australia Term of government (April 1939) Autobiography Sir Earle Christmas Grafton Page (8 August 1880 – 20 December 1961) was an Australian politician and surgeon who served as the 11th prime minister of Australia from 7 to 26 April 1939, in a caretaker capacity following the death of Joseph Lyons.

When Lyons died in office in April 1939, Page was commissioned as his successor in a caretaker capacity while the UAP elected a new leader, Robert Menzies.

He secured his party's independence by refusing overtures to merge with the Nationalists and the UAP, and the policies that he favoured – decentralisation, agrarianism, and government support of primary industry – have remained the basis of its platform up to the present day.

His father, born in London, was a successful businessman and a member of the Grafton City Council, serving a single term as mayor in 1908.

[9] In 1902, he took up a position as a resident at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, serving in a variety of roles including as house surgeon under Robert Scot Skirving.

[16] Although his active involvement in medicine declined as his political career progressed, he was frequently called upon to treat his fellow MPs or parliamentary staff.

He stood as an independent with the endorsement of the Farmers' and Settlers' Association, and after the election joined the new Country Party, along with 10 other MPs from rural seats.

Decentralisation also remained a pet project, with Page frequently arguing for New South Wales and Queensland to be divided into smaller states to aid regional development.

The movement for New England statehood waned in the 1920s, but re-emerged in the 1950s; a legally binding referendum on the subject was finally held in 1967, after Page's death, but was narrowly defeated in controversial circumstances.

Page was acting prime minister on several occasions, and in January 1924 chaired the first meeting of Federal Cabinet ever held in Canberra, at Yarralumla.

[26] He was a strong believer in orthodox finance and conservative policies, as well as a "high protectionist" supporting tariff barriers to protect Australian rural industries.

In 1924, he announced that the government would place the Commonwealth Bank under an independent board, comprising a governor, the Treasury secretary, and representatives of industry.

Page was one of the chief supporters of the National Insurance Bill 1928, which would have provided "sickness, old age, disability and maternity benefits", as well as payments to orphans and a limited form of child endowment.

[citation needed] Due to a shortage of surgeons in Canberra, in 1928 Page performed an appendectomy on fellow MP Parker Moloney.

[33] Page regarded time out of office as a period which "sharpened our wits and enabled us to prepare public opinion for the policies we hoped to implement when the next opportunity came".

[1] Page's oldest son Earle Jr. was killed by a lightning strike in January 1933; shortly after his wife Ethel suffered a stroke.

Page considered retiring from politics but was persuaded to instead take a leave of absence, with his deputy Thomas Paterson serving as acting leader of the Country Party for nine months.

[38] In his 1934 election policy he had envisioned the AAC as a "board of directors for Australian agriculture" that would "eliminate needless waste of public and private capital".

When Lyons died suddenly in 1939, the Governor-General of Australia Lord Gowrie appointed Page as caretaker prime minister pending the UAP choosing a new leader.

[43] When Menzies was elected UAP leader, Page refused to serve under him, and made an extraordinary personal attack on him in the House, accusing him not only of ministerial incompetence but of physical cowardice (for failing to enlist during World War I).

The new prime minister John Curtin nonetheless allowed Page to take up the position, declining his offer to return to Australia.

[45] The attack on Pearl Harbor in December changed the dynamic of Anglo-Australian relations, as the War in the Pacific became the primary concern of the Australian government.

He later recalled Winston Churchill's frustration in war cabinet meetings with Curtin's decision to withdraw troops from the Middle East and North Africa and return them to Australia.

He credited himself with helping negate the tensions between the two men, but in February 1942 mistakenly advised Churchill that the Australian government was amenable to diverting the 7th Division to Burma rather than return it directly to Australia.

[47] Field Marshal Alan Brooke, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, recalled that in war cabinet meetings he had "the mentality of a greengrocer".

[52] He served on the Advisory War Council and was a delegate to the constitutional convention in Canberra in late 1942, which included members of all major political parties.

However, he was frustrated by the government's failure to offer him any formal role in developing post-war policy, which he believed was due to him given his past work.

He played a key role in securing the support of the medical profession, which had strongly opposed the Chifley government's attempt to introduce universal health care.

[80] On the same date Page died, the election result in Cowper was declared and recorded his defeat by Labor challenger Frank McGuren, as part of a nationwide swing against the Coalition.

[84] On 20 July 1959 at St Paul's Cathedral, London, Page married for a second time, wedding his long-serving secretary Jean Thomas (32 years his junior).