Stanley Melbourne Bruce, born in St Kilda, was Australia's eighth Prime Minister from 1923 to 1929.
Bruce was born in April 1883 at his parents’ house ‘Stradbroke’ 71 Grey Street St Kilda. In the 1870s the Bruce family lived across the road at ‘Marathon’, 82 Grey Street where several of their children were born but by 1882, they were at Stradbroke. They didn’t stay long in Grey Street. By 1885 the family had moved to their 30-room Toorak mansion ‘Wombalano’.
Stanley Bruce’s father John Munro Bruce was a wealthy businessman and partner in the trading partnership of Patterson Laing and Bruce. Young Bruce attended Melbourne Grammar School and followed up with studies at Cambridge University. Following his father’s death, he took over management of the trading partnership.
He served at Gallipoli in World War 1 for which he received an MC for bravery. Upon returning to Australia, he entered the House of Representatives in 1918 representing the seat of Flinders. In 1921 he was appointed Treasurer before replacing Billy Hughes as Prime Minister in 1923, leading a coalition government with the Country Party.
He implemented reforms to strengthen the role of the Commonwealth Government; initiated agencies which eventually became the Australian Federal Police and the CSIRO; and promoted massive government investment and closer ties with Great Britain to foster Australia’s economic growth. On the downside he negotiated poorly with the labour movement. He lost power in the 1929 election and became the first Prime Minister to lose his own seat.
He subsequently became High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and strongly supported the League of Nations, forerunner to the United Nations. He was the first chairman of the International Food and Agriculture Organisation, a body dedicated to improving global nutrition. He was the first Australian to sit in the House of Lords as the 1st Viscount Melbourne and the first Chancellor of the Australian National University in Canberra.
He died in 1967. He is commemorated with a Canberra suburb and with the Federal electorate of Bruce.
A small curiosity – soon after Bruce was born at Stradbroke in 1883, his mother advertised for a smart respectable girl to help with the housework. Only Protestants could apply. Mrs Bruce senior would surely be horrified to learn that for many years, until recently, her home – Stradbroke - was owned by the Catholic Church and the Presentation Sisters.
Sources:
Trove Newspapers, National Library of Australia
Australian Dictionary of Biography
Sands and McDougall Directories, State Library of Victoria
Updated:
Liz Kelly August 2022