Joe and Enid Lyons Miandetta, Tasmania, Australia
By 2y'stassies on 05-Jul-18. Waypoint GA12501

In the history of Australian and Tasmanian politics, the husband and wife team of Joe and Enid Lyons stand "head and shoulders" above the majority.

Joseph Aloysius Lyons (15 September 1879 – 7 April 1939), better known as Joe Lyons, was the tenth Prime Minister of Australia, serving from January 1932 until his death. He had earlier served as Premier of Tasmania from 1923 to 1928, and was the first, and to date only, prime minister from Tasmania. He was born in Stanley, Tasmania, and was a schoolteacher and trade unionist before entering politics. He was elected to the Tasmanian House of Assembly in 1909, representing the Labor Party, and became a government minister in 1914. He was elected party leader after the Labor government's defeat at the 1916 state election. He became premier in October 1923 and served until being defeated at the 1928 state election. He afterward entered federal politics. Elected to the Division of Wilmot at the 1929 federal election, Lyons was immediately made a minister in the new government formed by James Scullin. However, he resigned from cabinet in January 1931 over a policy dispute, and two months later left the party altogether. He and several other Labor defectors subsequently helped to form the new United Australia Party (UAP), which elected Lyons as its leader. The UAP won government at the 1931 federal election, and was re-elected in 1934 and 1937. Lyons died of a heart attack in April 1939, becoming the first prime minister to die in office.

Dame Enid Muriel Lyons (née Burnell; 9 July 1897 – 2 September 1981) was born in Smithton, Tasmania. She grew up in various small towns in northern Tasmania, and trained as a schoolteacher. At the age of 17, she married politician Joseph Lyons, who was almost 18 years her senior. They had twelve children together, all but one of whom lived to adulthood. As her husband's career progressed, Enid began assisting him in campaigning and developed a reputation as a talented public speaker. In 1925, she became one of the first two women to stand for the Labor Party at a Tasmanian state election. She followed her husband into the new United Australia Party (UAP) following the Labor split of 1931. After her husband became prime minister in 1932, Enid began living at The Lodge in Canberra. She was one of the best-known prime minister's wives, writing newspaper articles, making radio broadcasts, and giving open-air speeches. Her husband's sudden death in office in 1939 came as a great shock, and she withdrew from public life for a time. At the 1943 federal election, Lyons successfully stood for the UAP in the Division of Darwin (now Braddon). She became the first woman elected to the House of Representatives. Lyons joined the new Liberal Party in 1945, and served as Vice-President of the Executive Council in the Menzies Government from 1949 to 1951 – the first woman in cabinet. She retired from parliament after three terms, but remained involved in public life as a board member of the Australian Broadcasting Commission (1951–1962) and as a social commentator.

The following links provide more detail about Joe Lyons and Enid Lyons.

Joe and Enid Lyons built their home in Devonport in 1916 and named it "Home Hill". When not in Canberra, the family lived at Home Hill. Dame Enid remained in the family home until her death in 1981. Following his death in 1939, Joe Lyons was interred in an elaborate grave and memorial in the grounds of Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Devonport and Dame Enid said on a number of occasions that she wanted to remain at Home Hill because she could look out her front windows each day and, over the houses in the foreground, could see Joe (about 1.5km away). However as she grew older and more frail, she agreed to Joe's body being exhumed and relocated to the Mersey Vale Lawn Cemetery where she, in turn, was interred following her death.

This Augmented Reality cache will take you to three locations in Devonport closely associated with the life of Joe and Enid Lyons.

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We trust that you will enjoyour first Augmented Reality cache, Joe and Enid Lyons.

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