Editing Joseph Lyons (section)

==Early life==
[[File:Joseph Lyons birthplace.jpg|thumb|left|Lyons in 1935 standing outside his birthplace and childhood home in Stanley, Tasmania]]

===Birth and family background===
Lyons was born in [[Stanley, Tasmania]], on 15 September 1879. He was the fifth of eight children born to Ellen (née Carroll) and Michael Henry Lyons, both of Irish descent.{{sfn|Henderson|2011|p=11}} His mother was born in [[County Kildare]] and arrived in Australia in 1857, aged eleven,{{sfn|Henderson|2011|p=13}} while his father was born in Tasmania to immigrants from [[County Galway]].{{sfn|Henderson|2011|p=14}} Lyons was the first prime minister to have an Australian-born parent.{{sfn|Henderson|2011|p=11}} His paternal grandfather, Michael Lyons Sr., had arrived in Tasmania in 1843 with his wife and an infant daughter. Initially an [[indentured servant|indentured labourer]], he became a [[tenant farmer]] after completing his term of service,{{sfn|Henderson|2011|p=14}} and eventually saved enough to purchase land at Stanley, on the [[North West Tasmania|north-west coast]]. He had a reputation as a shrewd businessman, frequently buying and selling tracts of land and also dabbling in the hotel trade for a period.{{sfn|Henderson|2011|p=15}} His sons followed him into farming, and the Lyons family was prominent in the small local community.{{sfn|Henderson|2011|p=16}}

===Childhood===
When Lyons was four years old, his father moved the family from Stanley to [[Ulverstone, Tasmania|Ulverstone]], where he opened a combined bakery and butcher's shop.{{sfn|Henderson|2011|p=18}} In 1887, he lost the family's savings betting on the [[Melbourne Cup]], driving them into poverty.{{sfn|Henderson|2011|p=21}} He had to sell the shop and resort to working as an unskilled labourer; his oldest children took part-time jobs to support the family. Lyons began working at the age of nine, as a printer's messenger boy. By the age of twelve, he was "cutting scrub" (clearing land) for local farmers.{{sfn|Henderson|2011|p=22}} Lyons had begun his education at the Ulverstone State School in 1885, before switching to the local Catholic school in 1887.{{sfn|Henderson|2011|p=19}} His early years of schooling were interrupted by his family's financial difficulties, and his attendance was sometimes irregular, though this was not uncommon in small rural schools at the time. In 1891, he moved back to Stanley to live with his aunts, Etty and Mary Carroll, and was enrolled at the Stanley State School.{{sfn|Henderson|2011|p=22}}

===Teaching career===
In 1895, aged fifteen, Lyons began working as a [[pupil-teacher]] under the [[monitorial system]]. This allowed him to continue his own education while being paid to teach younger students, and eventually qualify as a full-time teacher himself.{{sfn|Henderson|2011|p=25}} Apart from a three-month stint as a relief teacher at [[Irishtown, Tasmania|Irishtown]], he remained at Stanley until early 1901, when he was given charge of two small "half-time" schools on the east coast, Apslawn and Apsley Meadows.{{sfn|Henderson|2011|p=30}} During that period, he lived at "Apsley House", the family estate of Sir [[William Lyne]], [[Premier of New South Wales]]. In March 1902, Lyons transferred to the Midlands, taking charge of the schools at [[Conara, Tasmania|Conara]] and [[Llewellyn, Tasmania|Llewellyn]].{{sfn|Henderson|2011|p=43}} He was transferred again in July 1905 to [[Tullah, Tasmania|Tullah]], then a few months later to [[Smithton, Tasmania|Smithton]],{{sfn|Henderson|2011|p=44}} and then in April 1906 to [[Pioneer, Tasmania|Pioneer]].{{sfn|Henderson|2011|p=46}} In 1907, Lyons moved to [[Hobart]] to attend the newly opened Hobart Teachers' College for a year.{{sfn|Henderson|2011|p=47}}<ref>[https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article30088720 Prime Minister in Premiership Football Team 28 Years Ago, ''The Mercury'', (Thursday, 30 May 1935), p.16.]</ref> He was then posted to [[Launceston, Tasmania|Launceston]], teaching at the Glen Dhu and Wellington Square State Schools, as well as briefly acting as headmaster at [[Perth, Tasmania|Perth]].{{sfn|Henderson|2011|p=50}} He came into conflict with the [[Department of Education (Tasmania)|Department of Education]] on a number of occasions, often complaining about poor working conditions. His superiors also disapproved of his political activities, which together with his complaints probably contributed to his frequent transfers and failure to win desirable postings.{{sfn|Henderson|2011|p=51}}