{"id":"C1939A00004","name":"Special Annuities Act 1939","slug":"special-annuities-act-1939","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"repealed","isInForce":false,"actNumber":"4 of 1939","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":4036,"registerId":"commonwealth-C1939A00004-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-03-30","status":"Repealed","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Special Annuities Act 1939","content":"SPECIAL ANNUITIES.\n\nNo. 4 of 1939.\n\nAn Act to provide for the payment of Annuities to the Widow and Children of the late the Right Honorable Joseph Aloysius Lyons.\n\n\\[Assented to 20th May, 1939.\\]\n\nPreamble.\n\nBE it enacted by the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, the Senate, and the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Australia, for the purpose of appropriating the grant originated in the House of Representatives, as follows:—\n\nShort title.\n\n1. This Act may be cited as the Special Annuities Act 1939.\n\nCommencement.\n\n2. This Act shall be deemed to have come into operation on the eighth day of April, One thousand nine hundred and thirty-nine.\n\n  \n\nAnnuity to the widow of the late Rt. Hon. J. A. Lyons.\n\n3.—(1.) There shall be payable out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund, which is hereby appropriated accordingly, to the widow of the late the Right Honorable Joseph Aloysius Lyons an annuity at the rate of Five hundred pounds per annum.\n\n(2.) The annuity provided by this section shall cease to be payable in the event of the re-marriage of the annuitant.\n\nAnnuity for the children of the late Rt. Hon. J. A. Lyons.\n\n4.—(1.) There shall be payable, for a period of ten years, out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund, which is hereby appropriated accordingly, an annuity at the rate of Five hundred pounds per annum for the maintenance, education, benefit and advancement of the children of the late the Right Honorable Joseph Aloysius Lyons.\n\n(2.) The annuity shall be payable to the trustee for the time being by virtue of or under this section, and shall be applied, in the discretion of the trustee, for the maintenance, education, benefit or advancement of the children.\n\n(3.) Dame Enid Lyons shall be the first trustee of the annuity.\n\n(4.) In the event of the office of trustee of the annuity becoming vacant, the Governor-General may appoint a person to fill the vacancy.\n\n(5.) The person so appointed as trustee of the annuity shall hold office during the pleasure of the Governor-General.\n\n(6.) Where, in the opinion of the Governor-General, a trustee of the annuity is unable through illness or absence to exercise the powers and functions of the trustee of the annuity, the Governor-General may appoint a person to act as trustee, and the person so appointed shall, during the period of the appointment, be the trustee for the time being under this section, and, during that period, shall have and may exercise all the powers and functions of the trustee.\n\n(7.) In exercising the powers and functions of the trustee of the annuity under this section, the trustee or person appointed to act as trustee shall not be subject to the laws of any State relating to trusts or trustees, but shall exercise those powers and functions in accordance with regulations (if any) made under this Act.\n\nAnnuities payable monthly.\n\n5. The annuities payable under sections three and four of this Act shall be paid in monthly instalments.\n\nRegulations.\n\n6. The Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with this Act, prescribing all matters which by this Act are required or permitted to be prescribed, or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed, for carrying out or giving effect to this Act and in particular for prescribing matters providing for and in relation to the regulation of the exercise of the powers and functions of the trustee of the annuity payable under section four of this Act.","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":1,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This is a private Act providing annuities to the widow and children of a former Prime Minister. It has not been amended and its operative provisions expired decades ago."},"complexity_factors":["Personal Act for named individuals","Historical instrument with fully spent provisions","No ongoing legal or financial effect"],"plain_english_summary":"This 1939 one‑off private Act awarded two annuities from Commonwealth funds to the family of the late Prime Minister Joseph Lyons: £500 yearly for life to his widow (stoppable on remarriage) and £500 yearly for ten years for his children, paid via a trustee. Both payments have long since expired; the Act survives only as a historical statute with no current financial effect or ongoing entitlements."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/special-annuities-act-1939","history":"/api/acts/special-annuities-act-1939/history","analysis":"/api/acts/special-annuities-act-1939/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/special-annuities-act-1939/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/special-annuities-act-1939/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/special-annuities-act-1939/documents"}}