John Curtin, who as prime minister led Australia through the most threatening phase of World War II, and his wife Elsie built this house in 1923. Four generations of their extended family lived here before it was purchased by the Australian and Western Australian governments in 1998.

This was Curtin's much-loved home, where he lived as his political stature grew. Curtin is the only representative of a Western Australian electorate to have served as prime minister. His home remained a refuge for him during rare wartime visits to Perth before his death in office in 1945 shortly before the war ended in the Pacific.