Dame Enid Lyons Famous Australian Mother and Widow

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 May 1939, Page 3 (Supplement)

Dame Enid Lyons Famous Australian Mother and Widow

Few women in Australia or New Zealand have helped theii husbands so much in public life as did Dame Enid Lyons, widow of the late Prime Minister of Australia and mother of his eleven children. Mrs Lyons combined the work of wife sb admirably with that of mother. Her life was always a full one, sharing her husband’s and her family’s burdens at all times quietly and lovingly.

'THIS sharing of her husband's work involved burdens and sacrifices that will probably never be fully known. Constant railway, motor and air travelling on political tours is wearying to anyone, but appallingly so to those who must necessarily be the focus of public attention, with constant speeches, public receptions and deputations. In a very real way Dame Enid shared this work with her husband, and there is no doubt that the political party with which Mi - Lyons was associated benefited remarkably by her activities. The Lyons home at DevonpOrt was the especial retreat of the Lyons family, but, after Mr Lyons had entered the. Federal Parliament this retreat became less and less practicable. During holidays, however, they retired there, and their privacy was complete. The ( Prime Minister’s personal staff stayed in the city of Devonport, and they could always be telephoned for when wanted; oi’ make a daily journey up the hill with anything that was urgent. Most of their time, however, Mr and Mrs Lyons were compelled to spend at the Prime Minister’s Lodge at Canberra.

And it was a very desolate Lodge that the Prime Minister found when his wife had decided that she must go th Tasmania to see the children at school there. HOME LIFE. During Parliamentary sessions the Lodge was made a real home. There in the drawing-room, where the Government of . a past day had installed a grand piano, Dame Enid would sing to her husband; or in the quiet library they would read aloud to each other their favourite books. Neither was interested in cards, or in social life in the more superficial use of the term, but, when their intimate friends came to the Lodge, there was always the billiardroom, where Mr Lyons would play with the rest of the family around him. Such was the quiet background of the Prime Minister’s life, a life that, away from his office, revolved entirely around his wife. When they took over, the Prime Minister’s Lodge, upon Mr Lyons assuming office, it was necessary, of course, to engage a staff. Al| the small staff were always given Sunday off. With the staff away they felt thpmselves- to be together as in the old Tasmanian days. And on Sundays, for supper, everyone took a hand in the task of preparation and clearing-up, so i_.at the staff should not return on Sunday night to piled-up work. FINANCIAL WORRY. The idyllic background of this domestice life was not, however, without its clouded side. The expenses of a Prime Minister are heavy—heavier than most people believe, and, though no doubt it is difficult for a man on a small wage to believe it, hardly adequate, after meeting all the expenses incidental to the office, for the raising of such a large .family as that of Mr and Mrs Lyons. Thus, at any rate, before the Prime Minister’s salary was raised by Act of Parliament, there was financial worry. Two homes had to be kept up. there was constant travelling, some of the children were at school, others went through the usual sicknesses of childhood, and there were the bills for school, clothes, doctors and dentists, and so on, for a family of eleven children, none of whom was at an age to provide for himself. These factors always provided a background of personal worry for Mr Lyons, apart from the worries associated with his office. And the two sets of worries must have been a very real strain. Dame Enid Lyons always appeared to be a fatalist when these family troubles were at their blackest, and she would be the one to shrug her shoulders in a belief that somehow or other they would all find the means to live. She had a most lively sense of humour, and this never failed as a relief from the most depressing situation.