His paternal grandfather, also named Robert Menzies, was born in Renfrewshire, Scotland, and arrived in Melbourne in 1854.
At the 1891 census, the settlement had a population of just 55 people.
Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, (; 20 December 189415 May 1978), was an Australian politician who twice served as Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1939 to 1941 and again from 1949 to 1966.
He began his formal education in 1899 at the Jeparit State School, a single-teacher one-room school.
Australian Prime Ministers 1901–1972'', (Melbourne: Oxford University Press) Chs.
His uncle Hugh was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly in 1902, followed by his father in 1911, while another uncle, Sydney Sampson, was elected to the federal House of Representatives in 1906.
He was the second of only two Australian prime ministers to be knighted during their term of office (the first prime minister, Edmund Barton, was knighted during his term in 1902). On 29 April 1964 Menzies was awarded the honorary degree of a Doctor of Letters (DLitt) by the University of Western Australia.
==External links== Papers of Robert Menzies, 1905–1978, National Library of Australia, approximately 82.30 m.
His uncle Hugh was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly in 1902, followed by his father in 1911, while another uncle, Sydney Sampson, was elected to the federal House of Representatives in 1906.
In 1906, Menzies began attending the Humffray Street State School in Bakery Hill.
In 1908 and 1909, Menzies attended Grenville College, a small private school in Ballarat Central.
In 1908 and 1909, Menzies attended Grenville College, a small private school in Ballarat Central.
He and his family moved to Melbourne in 1910, where he enrolled in Wesley College.
His uncle Hugh was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly in 1902, followed by his father in 1911, while another uncle, Sydney Sampson, was elected to the federal House of Representatives in 1906.
In his third and final year at Wesley he won a £40 exhibition for university study, one of 25 awarded by the state government. ===University=== In 1913, Menzies entered the Melbourne Law School.
Pattie Leckie was the eldest daughter of John Leckie, a Deakinite Commonwealth Liberal who was elected the member for Benambra in the Victorian Legislative Assembly in 1913.
His fellow law student and future parliamentary colleague Percy Joske noted Menzies as a student "did not suffer fools gladly [...] the trouble was that his opponents frequently were not fools and that he tended to say things that were not only cutting and unkind but that were unjustified". During World War I, Menzies served his compulsory militia service in the Melbourne University Rifles (a part-time militia unit) from 1915 to 1919.
He was commissioned a second lieutenant on 6 January 1915.
He won a variety of prizes, exhibitions, and scholarships during his time as a student, graduating as a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) in 1916 and a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in 1918.
In 1916, Menzies was elected president of the Student Representatives' Council and editor of the Melbourne University Magazine.
Promoted to lieutenant, he resigned his commission with effect from 16 February 1921. == Legal career == After graduating from the University of Melbourne in 1916 with first-class honours in Law, Menzies was admitted to the Victorian Bar and to the High Court of Australia in 1918.
He won a variety of prizes, exhibitions, and scholarships during his time as a student, graduating as a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) in 1916 and a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in 1918.
Promoted to lieutenant, he resigned his commission with effect from 16 February 1921. == Legal career == After graduating from the University of Melbourne in 1916 with first-class honours in Law, Menzies was admitted to the Victorian Bar and to the High Court of Australia in 1918.
His fellow law student and future parliamentary colleague Percy Joske noted Menzies as a student "did not suffer fools gladly [...] the trouble was that his opponents frequently were not fools and that he tended to say things that were not only cutting and unkind but that were unjustified". During World War I, Menzies served his compulsory militia service in the Melbourne University Rifles (a part-time militia unit) from 1915 to 1919.
In 1920, Menzies served as an advocate for the Amalgamated Society of Engineers which eventually took its appeal to the High Court of Australia.
Promoted to lieutenant, he resigned his commission with effect from 16 February 1921. == Legal career == After graduating from the University of Melbourne in 1916 with first-class honours in Law, Menzies was admitted to the Victorian Bar and to the High Court of Australia in 1918.
Another child died at birth. Kenneth was born in Hawthorn on 14 January 1922.
They had three surviving children: Kenneth (1922–1993), Robert Jr (known by his middle name, Ian; 1923–1974) and a daughter, Margery (known by her middle name, Heather; born 1928).
Ian and Heather were both born in Kew, on 12 October 1923 and 3 August 1928, respectively.
The High Court's verdict raised Menzies's profile as a skilled advocate, and eventually he was appointed a King's Counsel in 1929. ==Career in Victorian state politics, 1928–1934== In 1928, Menzies entered state parliament as a member of the Victorian Legislative Council from East Yarra Province, representing the Nationalist Party of Australia.
They had three surviving children: Kenneth (1922–1993), Robert Jr (known by his middle name, Ian; 1923–1974) and a daughter, Margery (known by her middle name, Heather; born 1928).
Ian and Heather were both born in Kew, on 12 October 1923 and 3 August 1928, respectively.
In a 1972 interview, his brother Frank Gladstone (crown solicitor for Victoria during the 1929 Hogan government) recalled that a "family conference" had determined that Robert should not enlist.
The High Court's verdict raised Menzies's profile as a skilled advocate, and eventually he was appointed a King's Counsel in 1929. ==Career in Victorian state politics, 1928–1934== In 1928, Menzies entered state parliament as a member of the Victorian Legislative Council from East Yarra Province, representing the Nationalist Party of Australia.
In 1929, he founded the Young Nationalists as his party's youth wing and served as its first president.
He was Deputy Premier of Victoria from 1932 to 1934, and then transferred to federal parliament, subsequently becoming Attorney-General and Minister for Industry in the government of Joseph Lyons.
Holding the portfolios of Attorney-General and Minister for the Railways, Menzies served as Deputy Premier of Victoria from May 1932 until July 1934. == Early career in federal politics, 1934–1939 == In August 1934, Menzies resigned from state parliament to contest the federal seat of Kooyong in the upcoming general election for the United Australia Party (UAP—the Nationalists had merged with other non-Labor groups to form the UAP during his tenure as a state parliamentarian).
He condemned Nazi antisemitism, in 1933 writing to the organisers of an anti-Nazi protest at the Melbourne Town Hall that "I hope that I may be associated with the protest of the meeting tonight against the barbaric and medieval persecution to which their fellow Jews in Europe are apparently being subjected".
He was Deputy Premier of Victoria from 1932 to 1934, and then transferred to federal parliament, subsequently becoming Attorney-General and Minister for Industry in the government of Joseph Lyons.
Holding the portfolios of Attorney-General and Minister for the Railways, Menzies served as Deputy Premier of Victoria from May 1932 until July 1934. == Early career in federal politics, 1934–1939 == In August 1934, Menzies resigned from state parliament to contest the federal seat of Kooyong in the upcoming general election for the United Australia Party (UAP—the Nationalists had merged with other non-Labor groups to form the UAP during his tenure as a state parliamentarian).
In 1937 he was appointed a Privy Counsellor. In late 1934 and early 1935 Menzies, then attorney-general, unsuccessfully prosecuted the government's highly controversial case for the attempted exclusion from Australia of Egon Kisch, a Czech Jewish communist.
In 1937 he was appointed a Privy Counsellor. In late 1934 and early 1935 Menzies, then attorney-general, unsuccessfully prosecuted the government's highly controversial case for the attempted exclusion from Australia of Egon Kisch, a Czech Jewish communist.
The initial prohibition on Kisch's entry to Australia, however, had not been imposed by Menzies but by the Country Party minister for the interior, Thomas Paterson. Menzies had extended discussions with British experts on Germany in 1935, but could not make up his mind whether Adolf Hitler was a "real German patriot" or a "mad swash-buckler".
In published essays in 1936, he called for a "live and let-live" attitude.
In 1937 he was appointed a Privy Counsellor. In late 1934 and early 1935 Menzies, then attorney-general, unsuccessfully prosecuted the government's highly controversial case for the attempted exclusion from Australia of Egon Kisch, a Czech Jewish communist.
In 1939, Menzies described that "history will label Hitler as one of the great men of the century". In August 1938, while Attorney-General of Australia, Menzies spent several weeks on an official visit to Nazi Germany.
after the visit to Germany in 1938, Menzies wrote that the "abandonment by the Germans of individual liberty ...
However, in a letter written by Menzies on 11 September 1939, he privately urged for peace negotiations and the continuation of appeasement with Hitler. Meanwhile, on the domestic front, animosity developed between Sir Earle Page and Menzies which was aggravated when Page became Acting Prime Minister during Lyons's illness after October 1938.
His supporters began promoting him as Lyons's natural successor; his critics accused Menzies of wanting to push Lyons out, a charge he denied. In 1938, as part of the Dalfram dispute, he was ridiculed as Pig Iron Bob, the result of an industrial conflict with the Waterside Workers' Federation whose members had refused to load Australian pig iron being sold to an arms manufacturer in the Empire of Japan, for that country's war against China.
Furthermore, as attorney-general and deputy prime minister, he had made an official visit to Germany in 1938, when the official policy of the Australian government, supported by the Opposition, was strong support for Neville Chamberlain's policy of Appeasement.
Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, (; 20 December 189415 May 1978), was an Australian politician who twice served as Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1939 to 1941 and again from 1949 to 1966.
In April 1939, following Lyons's death, Menzies was elected leader of the United Australia Party (UAP) and sworn in as prime minister.
He authorised Australia's entry into World War II in September 1939, and in 1941 spent four months in England to participate in meetings of Churchill's war cabinet.
Unlike many of his contemporaries, he did not volunteer for overseas service, something that would later be used against him by political opponents; in 1939 he described it as "a stream of mud through which I have waded at every campaign in which I have participated".
In 1939, Menzies described that "history will label Hitler as one of the great men of the century". In August 1938, while Attorney-General of Australia, Menzies spent several weeks on an official visit to Nazi Germany.
However, by September 1939 the unfolding crisis in Europe changed his public stance that the diplomatic efforts by Chamberlain and other leaders to broker a peace agreement had failed, and that war was now an inevitability.
In his Declaration of War broadcast on 3 September 1939, Menzies explained the dramatic turn of events over the past twelve months necessitating this change of course: In those past 12 months, what has happened? in cold-blooded breach of the solemn obligations implied in both the statements I have quoted, Hitler has annexed the whole of the Czechoslovak state.
However, in a letter written by Menzies on 11 September 1939, he privately urged for peace negotiations and the continuation of appeasement with Hitler. Meanwhile, on the domestic front, animosity developed between Sir Earle Page and Menzies which was aggravated when Page became Acting Prime Minister during Lyons's illness after October 1938.
In 1939, he resigned from the Cabinet in protest at postponement of the national insurance scheme and insufficient expenditure on defence. == First period as prime minister, 1939–1941 == With Lyons's sudden death on 7 April 1939, Page became caretaker prime minister until the UAP could elect a new leader.
On 18 April 1939, Menzies was elected party leader over three other candidates.
On 3 September 1939 Britain and France declared war on Germany due to its invasion of Poland on 1 September, leading to the start of World War II.[17] Menzies responded immediately by also declaring Australia to be at war in support of Britain, and delivered a radio broadcast to the nation on that same day, which began "Fellow Australians.
Menzies, then also holding the responsibility for the Department of Munitions created a couple of months earlier, led the Coalition into the 1940 election and suffered an eight-seat swing, losing the slender majority he had inherited from Lyons.
However, it can also be noted that while retaining government on each occasion, Menzies lost the two-party-preferred vote at three separate elections – in 1940, 1954 and 1961. He was the only Australian prime minister to recommend the appointment of four governors-general (Viscount Slim, and Lords Dunrossil, De L'Isle, and Casey).
Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, (; 20 December 189415 May 1978), was an Australian politician who twice served as Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1939 to 1941 and again from 1949 to 1966.
He authorised Australia's entry into World War II in September 1939, and in 1941 spent four months in England to participate in meetings of Churchill's war cabinet.
On his return to Australia in August 1941, Menzies found that he had lost the support of his party and consequently resigned as prime minister.
Menzies sent the bulk of the army to help the British in the Middle East and Singapore, and told Winston Churchill the Royal Navy needed to strengthen its Far Eastern forces. From 24 January 1941, Menzies spent four months in Britain discussing war strategy with Churchill and other Empire leaders, while his position at home deteriorated.
With his position now untenable, Menzies resigned the prime ministership on 27 August 1941. A joint UAP-Country Party conference chose Country Party leader Arthur Fadden as Coalition leader—and hence Prime Minister—even though the Country Party was the junior partner in the Coalition.
On 9 October 1941, Menzies resigned as leader of the UAP after failing to convince his colleagues that he should become Leader of the Opposition in preference to Fadden.
From November 1941, he began a series of weekly radio broadcasts reaching audiences across New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland.
Truman for "exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services 1941–1944 and December 1949 – July 1950". On 1 January 1951 he was appointed to the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) On 29 August 1952, the University of Sydney conferred the degree of Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) on Menzies.
A selection of these talks was edited into a book bearing the title of his most famous address, The Forgotten People, delivered on 22 May 1942.
Much earlier, in 1942, he had received the first honorary degree of Doctor of Laws of Melbourne University.
Labor won a crushing victory at the 1943 election, taking 49 of 74 seats and 58.2 percent of the two-party-preferred vote as well as a Senate majority.
He managed to live down the failures of his first period in office and to rebuild the conservative side of politics from the nadir it hit at the 1943 election.
Menzies called a conference of anti-Labor parties with meetings in Canberra on 13 October 1944 and again in Albury (NSW) in December 1944.
He subsequently helped to create the new Liberal Party, and was elected its inaugural leader in August 1945. At the 1949 federal election, Menzies led the Liberal–Country coalition to victory and returned as prime minister.
The organisational structure and constitutional framework of the new party was formulated at the Albury Conference. Officially launched at the Sydney Town Hall on 31 August 1945, the Menzies-led Liberal Party of Australia inherited the UAP's role as senior partner in the Coalition.
Curtin died in office in 1945 and was succeeded by Ben Chifley. The reconfigured Coalition faced its first national test in the 1946 election.
Only two other prime ministers have ever chosen more than one governor-general. The Menzies era saw Australia become an increasingly affluent society, with average weekly earnings in 1965 50% higher in real terms than in 1945.
Curtin died in office in 1945 and was succeeded by Ben Chifley. The reconfigured Coalition faced its first national test in the 1946 election.
In 1947, Chifley announced that he intended to nationalise Australia's private banks, arousing intense middle-class opposition which Menzies successfully exploited.
In addition to campaigning against Chifley's bank nationalization proposal, Menzies successfully led the 'No' case for a referendum by the Chifley government in 1948 to extend commonwealth wartime powers to control rents and prices.
The Menzies government responded to successive communist insurgencies by committing Australian troops to the Korean War of 1950–51, the Malayan Emergency from 1948 to 1960, the Borneo Confrontation of 1963 and to the escalating conflict in Vietnam in 1965.
Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, (; 20 December 189415 May 1978), was an Australian politician who twice served as Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1939 to 1941 and again from 1949 to 1966.
He subsequently helped to create the new Liberal Party, and was elected its inaugural leader in August 1945. At the 1949 federal election, Menzies led the Liberal–Country coalition to victory and returned as prime minister.
In the election campaign of 1949, Menzies and his party were resolved to stamp out the communist movement and to fight in the interests of free enterprise against what they termed as Labor's 'socialistic measures'.
With the lower house enlarged from 74 to 121 seats, the Menzies Liberal/Country Coalition won the 1949 election with 74 House seats and 51.0 percent of the two-party vote but remained in minority in the Senate.
With the Menzies government expanding Australia's diplomatic footprint in the region during its second term, a further six new high commissions and embassies were established in South East Asia from 1949 to 1966.
from 1955 until the mid-1980s the top marginal tax rate was 67 per cent. === Social reform === In 1949, Parliament legislated to ensure that all Aboriginal ex-servicemen should have the right to vote.
Beginning in 1949, Immigration Minister Harold Holt decided to allow 800 non-European war refugees to remain in Australia, and Japanese war brides to be admitted to Australia.
He married Marjorie Cook on 16 September 1949, and had six children; Alec, Lindsay, Robert III, Diana, Donald, and Geoffrey.
Truman for "exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services 1941–1944 and December 1949 – July 1950". On 1 January 1951 he was appointed to the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) On 29 August 1952, the University of Sydney conferred the degree of Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) on Menzies.
Menzies introduced legislation in 1950 to ban the Communist Party, hoping that the Senate would reject it and give him a trigger for a double dissolution election, but Labor let the bill pass.
Menzies sent Australian troops to the Korean War. Economic conditions deteriorated in the early 1950s and Labor was confident of winning the 1954 election.
The Menzies government responded to successive communist insurgencies by committing Australian troops to the Korean War of 1950–51, the Malayan Emergency from 1948 to 1960, the Borneo Confrontation of 1963 and to the escalating conflict in Vietnam in 1965.
In 1950 External Affairs Minister Percy Spender instigated the Colombo Plan, under which students from Asian countries were admitted to study at Australian universities, then in 1957 non-Europeans with 15 years' residence in Australia were allowed to become citizens.
Truman for "exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services 1941–1944 and December 1949 – July 1950". On 1 January 1951 he was appointed to the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) On 29 August 1952, the University of Sydney conferred the degree of Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) on Menzies.
Later in 1951 Menzies decided to hold a referendum on the question of changing the Constitution to permit the parliament to make laws in respect of Communists and Communism where he said this was necessary for the security of the Commonwealth.
Chifley died a few months after the 1951 election.
In response to these geopolitical developments, the Menzies government maintained strong ties with Australia's traditional allies such as Britain and the United States while also reorienting Australia's foreign policy focus towards the Asia Pacific. With his first Minister for External Affairs, Percy Spender, the Menzies government signed the ANZUS treaty in San Francisco on 1 September 1951.
Established in 1951, the scheme ended in 1960 but was reintroduced in 1964 in the form of the National Service Lottery. === Economic policy === Throughout his second period in office, Menzies practised classical liberal economics with an emphasis on private enterprise and self-sufficiency in contrast to Labor's 'socialist objective'.
This policy was a part (some argue the foundation) of what became known as the "Australian settlement" which promoted high wages, industrial development, government intervention in industry (Australian governments traditionally owned banks and insurance companies and the railways and through policies designed to assist particular industries) and decentralisation. In 1951, the top marginal tax rate for incomes above £10,000 what is equivalent to $425,000 today, was 75 per cent under Menzies.
Truman for "exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services 1941–1944 and December 1949 – July 1950". On 1 January 1951 he was appointed to the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) On 29 August 1952, the University of Sydney conferred the degree of Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) on Menzies.
Truman for "exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services 1941–1944 and December 1949 – July 1950". On 1 January 1951 he was appointed to the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) On 29 August 1952, the University of Sydney conferred the degree of Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) on Menzies.
Menzies publicly supported the Anglo-French invasion of Egypt during the Suez Crisis. Elsewhere, Menzies publicly professed continued admiration for links with Britain, exemplified by his admiration for Queen Elizabeth II (whose 1953 Coronation he attended), and famously described himself as "British to the bootstraps".
Menzies sent Australian troops to the Korean War. Economic conditions deteriorated in the early 1950s and Labor was confident of winning the 1954 election.
The aftermath of the 1954 election caused a split in the Labor Party, with several anti-Communist members from Victoria defecting to form the Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist).
FRACP), elected him to Honorary Fellowships, and the Australian Academy of Science, for which he supported its establishment in 1954, made him a fellow (FAAS) in 1958. On 7 October 1965, Menzies was installed as the ceremonial office of Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and Constable of Dover Castle as appointed by the Queen, which included an official residence at Walmer Castle during his annual visits to Britain.
However, it can also be noted that while retaining government on each occasion, Menzies lost the two-party-preferred vote at three separate elections – in 1940, 1954 and 1961. He was the only Australian prime minister to recommend the appointment of four governors-general (Viscount Slim, and Lords Dunrossil, De L'Isle, and Casey).
Similarly, He was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws by the Universities of Bristol, Belfast, Melbourne, British Columbia, McGill, Montreal, Malta, Laval, Quebec, Tasmania, Cambridge, Harvard, Leeds, Adelaide, Queensland, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Drury and California. In 1954, the portrait painting Rt.
After 1955, his government also received support from the Democratic Labour Party, a breakaway group from the Labor Party.
The new party directed its preferences to the Liberals, with the Menzies government re-elected with an increased majority at the 1955 election.
from 1955 until the mid-1980s the top marginal tax rate was 67 per cent. === Social reform === In 1949, Parliament legislated to ensure that all Aboriginal ex-servicemen should have the right to vote.
Restrictions continued to be relaxed through the 1960s in the lead up to the Holt Government's watershed Migration Act, 1966. This was despite when in a discussion with radio 2UE's Stewart Lamb in 1955 he was a defender of the White Australia policy.
Heather married Peter Henderson, a diplomat and public servant (working at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia at the time of their marriage, and serving as the Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs from 1979 to 1984), on 1 May 1955.
Complementing Australia's growing diplomatic engagement in Asia, the Menzies government delivered a comprehensive aid programme to the region which comprised 0.65 per cent of Australia's Gross National Income by 1966. While engaging Australia more closely with its neighbours in the Asia Pacific, the Menzies government maintained a strong interest in British and European affairs, especially the unfolding Suez Crisis of 1956.
With the Egyptian leader Colonel Nasser's nationalization of the Suez Canal Company on 26 July 1956, Britain and France reacted angrily to Egypt's restriction on the free use of this waterway for international trade and commerce.
In 1956, a committee headed by Sir Keith Murray was established to inquire into the financial plight of Australia's universities, and Menzies's pumped funds into the sector under conditions which preserved the autonomy of universities.
A daughter, Roberta, named after Menzies, was born in 1956.
Recognising the economic potential of a burgeoning postwar Japan, Menzies, together with Trade Minister Jack McEwan and his new minister for External Affairs, Richard Casey, negotiated the Commerce Agreement with Japan in 1957.
In 1950 External Affairs Minister Percy Spender instigated the Colombo Plan, under which students from Asian countries were admitted to study at Australian universities, then in 1957 non-Europeans with 15 years' residence in Australia were allowed to become citizens.
In 1957, the Menzies government established the National Capital Development Commission as independent statutory authority charged with overseeing the planning and development of Canberra.
Menzies was re-elected almost as easily at the 1958 election, again with the help of preferences from what had become the Democratic Labor Party.
This trade agreement was followed by bilateral agreements with Malaya in 1958 and Indonesia in 1959.
In a watershed legal reform, a 1958 revision of the Migration Act introduced a simpler system for entry and abolished the "dictation test" which had permitted the exclusion of migrants on the basis of their ability to take down a dictation offered in any European language.
FRACP), elected him to Honorary Fellowships, and the Australian Academy of Science, for which he supported its establishment in 1954, made him a fellow (FAAS) in 1958. On 7 October 1965, Menzies was installed as the ceremonial office of Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and Constable of Dover Castle as appointed by the Queen, which included an official residence at Walmer Castle during his annual visits to Britain.
This trade agreement was followed by bilateral agreements with Malaya in 1958 and Indonesia in 1959.
The Menzies government responded to successive communist insurgencies by committing Australian troops to the Korean War of 1950–51, the Malayan Emergency from 1948 to 1960, the Borneo Confrontation of 1963 and to the escalating conflict in Vietnam in 1965.
Established in 1951, the scheme ended in 1960 but was reintroduced in 1964 in the form of the National Service Lottery. === Economic policy === Throughout his second period in office, Menzies practised classical liberal economics with an emphasis on private enterprise and self-sufficiency in contrast to Labor's 'socialist objective'.
In 1961 a Parliamentary Committee was established to investigate and report to the Parliament on Aboriginal voting rights and in 1962, Menzies's Commonwealth Electoral Act provided that all Indigenous Australians should have the right to enrol and vote at federal elections. In 1960, the Menzies Government introduced a new pharmaceutical benefits scheme, which expanded the range of prescribed medicines subsidised by the government.
Restrictions continued to be relaxed through the 1960s in the lead up to the Holt Government's watershed Migration Act, 1966. This was despite when in a discussion with radio 2UE's Stewart Lamb in 1955 he was a defender of the White Australia policy.
Menzies, PC, CH, QC, MP by Sir Ivor Hele won the Archibald Prize On 4 April 1960, a portrait of Menzies by Sir William Dargie was the front cover of Time magazine.
In 1961 a Parliamentary Committee was established to investigate and report to the Parliament on Aboriginal voting rights and in 1962, Menzies's Commonwealth Electoral Act provided that all Indigenous Australians should have the right to enrol and vote at federal elections. In 1960, the Menzies Government introduced a new pharmaceutical benefits scheme, which expanded the range of prescribed medicines subsidised by the government.
In 1961, the Matrimonial Causes Act introduced a uniform divorce law across Australia, provided funding for marriage counselling services and made allowances for a specified period of separation as sufficient grounds for a divorce. In response to the decision by the Catholic Diocese of Goulburn in July 1962 to close its schools in protest at the lack of government assistance, the Menzies Government announced a new package of state aid for independent and Catholic schools.
In its support for higher education, the Menzies government tripled Federal government funding and provided emergency grants, significant increases in academic salaries, extra funding for buildings, and the establishment of a permanent committee, from 1961, to oversee and make recommendations concerning higher education. === Development of Canberra as a national capital === The Menzies government developed the city of Canberra as the national capital.
However, it can also be noted that while retaining government on each occasion, Menzies lost the two-party-preferred vote at three separate elections – in 1940, 1954 and 1961. He was the only Australian prime minister to recommend the appointment of four governors-general (Viscount Slim, and Lords Dunrossil, De L'Isle, and Casey).
In 1961 a Parliamentary Committee was established to investigate and report to the Parliament on Aboriginal voting rights and in 1962, Menzies's Commonwealth Electoral Act provided that all Indigenous Australians should have the right to enrol and vote at federal elections. In 1960, the Menzies Government introduced a new pharmaceutical benefits scheme, which expanded the range of prescribed medicines subsidised by the government.
In 1961, the Matrimonial Causes Act introduced a uniform divorce law across Australia, provided funding for marriage counselling services and made allowances for a specified period of separation as sufficient grounds for a divorce. In response to the decision by the Catholic Diocese of Goulburn in July 1962 to close its schools in protest at the lack of government assistance, the Menzies Government announced a new package of state aid for independent and Catholic schools.
At a function attended by the Queen at Parliament House, Canberra, in 1963, Menzies quoted the Elizabethan poet Thomas Ford, "I did but see her passing by, and yet I love her till I die". === Defence policy === Confronting the challenges of the Cold War, the Menzies government shifted Australia to a policy of 'forward defence' as the most effective means of dealing with the threat of communism abroad.
The Menzies government responded to successive communist insurgencies by committing Australian troops to the Korean War of 1950–51, the Malayan Emergency from 1948 to 1960, the Borneo Confrontation of 1963 and to the escalating conflict in Vietnam in 1965.
This portrait is held by the Art Gallery of New South Wales In 1963, Menzies was appointed a Knight of the Order of the Thistle (KT), the order being chosen in recognition of his Scottish heritage.
Established in 1951, the scheme ended in 1960 but was reintroduced in 1964 in the form of the National Service Lottery. === Economic policy === Throughout his second period in office, Menzies practised classical liberal economics with an emphasis on private enterprise and self-sufficiency in contrast to Labor's 'socialist objective'.
Indeed, his cooperation with Australian Catholics on the contentious state aid issue was recognised when he was invited as guest of honour to the annual Cardinal's Dinner in Sydney 1964, presided over by Cardinal Norman Gilroy. ==Legacy and assessment== Menzies was by far the longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia, in office for a combined total of 18 years, five months and 12 days.
He was the second of only two Australian prime ministers to be knighted during their term of office (the first prime minister, Edmund Barton, was knighted during his term in 1902). On 29 April 1964 Menzies was awarded the honorary degree of a Doctor of Letters (DLitt) by the University of Western Australia.
The Menzies government responded to successive communist insurgencies by committing Australian troops to the Korean War of 1950–51, the Malayan Emergency from 1948 to 1960, the Borneo Confrontation of 1963 and to the escalating conflict in Vietnam in 1965.
During Menzies time in office, the great bulk of the federal public service moved from the state capitals to Canberra. ==After politics== Menzies turned 71 in December 1965 and began telling others of his intention to retire in the new year.
FRACP), elected him to Honorary Fellowships, and the Australian Academy of Science, for which he supported its establishment in 1954, made him a fellow (FAAS) in 1958. On 7 October 1965, Menzies was installed as the ceremonial office of Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and Constable of Dover Castle as appointed by the Queen, which included an official residence at Walmer Castle during his annual visits to Britain.
Only two other prime ministers have ever chosen more than one governor-general. The Menzies era saw Australia become an increasingly affluent society, with average weekly earnings in 1965 50% higher in real terms than in 1945.
Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, (; 20 December 189415 May 1978), was an Australian politician who twice served as Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1939 to 1941 and again from 1949 to 1966.
Menzies won seven consecutive elections during his second term, eventually retiring as prime minister in January 1966.
With the Menzies government expanding Australia's diplomatic footprint in the region during its second term, a further six new high commissions and embassies were established in South East Asia from 1949 to 1966.
Complementing Australia's growing diplomatic engagement in Asia, the Menzies government delivered a comprehensive aid programme to the region which comprised 0.65 per cent of Australia's Gross National Income by 1966. While engaging Australia more closely with its neighbours in the Asia Pacific, the Menzies government maintained a strong interest in British and European affairs, especially the unfolding Suez Crisis of 1956.
Restrictions continued to be relaxed through the 1960s in the lead up to the Holt Government's watershed Migration Act, 1966. This was despite when in a discussion with radio 2UE's Stewart Lamb in 1955 he was a defender of the White Australia policy.
He informed cabinet of his decision on 19 January 1966 and resigned as leader of the Liberal Party the following day; Harold Holt was elected unopposed as his successor.
At the end of 1966 Menzies took up a scholar-in-residence position at the University of Virginia.
Although the coalition remained in power for almost another seven years (until the 1972 Federal election), it did so under four different prime ministers, largely due to his successor's death, only 22 months after taking office. On his retirement he became the thirteenth chancellor of the University of Melbourne and remained the head of the university from March 1967 until March 1972.
In March 1967 he was elected Chancellor of Melbourne University, serving a five-year term. In 1971, Menzies suffered a severe stroke and was permanently paralysed on one side of his body for the remainder of his life.
In March 1967 he was elected Chancellor of Melbourne University, serving a five-year term. In 1971, Menzies suffered a severe stroke and was permanently paralysed on one side of his body for the remainder of his life.
In a 1972 interview, his brother Frank Gladstone (crown solicitor for Victoria during the 1929 Hogan government) recalled that a "family conference" had determined that Robert should not enlist.
Although the coalition remained in power for almost another seven years (until the 1972 Federal election), it did so under four different prime ministers, largely due to his successor's death, only 22 months after taking office. On his retirement he became the thirteenth chancellor of the University of Melbourne and remained the head of the university from March 1967 until March 1972.
He suffered a second stroke in 1972.
Menzies was also awarded with an Honorary Doctor of Science by the University of New South Wales. In 1973 Menzies was awarded Japan's Order of the Rising Sun, Grand Cordon, First Class (other Australian prime ministers to be awarded this honour were Edmund Barton, John McEwen, Malcolm Fraser and Gough Whitlam). On 7 June 1976, he was appointed a Knight of the Order of Australia (AK).
He never married, nor had children, and died in 1974 in East Melbourne at the age of 50.
Menzies was also awarded with an Honorary Doctor of Science by the University of New South Wales. In 1973 Menzies was awarded Japan's Order of the Rising Sun, Grand Cordon, First Class (other Australian prime ministers to be awarded this honour were Edmund Barton, John McEwen, Malcolm Fraser and Gough Whitlam). On 7 June 1976, he was appointed a Knight of the Order of Australia (AK).
Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, (; 20 December 189415 May 1978), was an Australian politician who twice served as Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1939 to 1941 and again from 1949 to 1966.
That claim was subsequently disputed by Gerard Henderson and Menzies's own family. ==Death and funeral== Menzies died from a heart attack while reading in his study at his Haverbrack Avenue home in Malvern, Melbourne on 15 May 1978.
In July 1978, a memorial service was held for Menzies in the United Kingdom at Westminster Abbey.
Sir Robert and Dame Pattie Menzies's ashes are interred in the 'Prime Ministers Garden' within the grounds of Melbourne General Cemetery. Some of Menzies's detractors also commemorated his passing in 1978, with a screenprinted poster, Pig Iron Bob / Dead at last, designed by Chips Mackinolty from the Earthworks Poster Collective. == Religious views == Menzies was the son of a Presbyterian-turned-Methodist lay preacher and imbibed his father's Protestant faith and values.
Heather married Peter Henderson, a diplomat and public servant (working at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia at the time of their marriage, and serving as the Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs from 1979 to 1984), on 1 May 1955.
Heather married Peter Henderson, a diplomat and public servant (working at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia at the time of their marriage, and serving as the Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs from 1979 to 1984), on 1 May 1955.
Menzies' was the first appointment made after this. In 1984, the Australian Electoral Commission proclaimed at a redistribution on 14 September 1984, the Division of Menzies for representation in the Australian House of Representatives in honour of the former prime minister.
In 1991, the Menzies family appointed A.
He died in Kooyong on 8 September 1993.
Martin to write a biography, which appeared in two volumes, in 1993 and 1999.
The division neighbours Menzies's old division of Kooyong in metropolitan Melbourne, Victoria. In 1994, the year of the centenary of Menzies's birth, the Menzies Research Centre was created as an independent public policy think tank associated with the Liberal Party. In 2009, during the Australia Day celebrations, the R.G.
Martin to write a biography, which appeared in two volumes, in 1993 and 1999.
The division neighbours Menzies's old division of Kooyong in metropolitan Melbourne, Victoria. In 1994, the year of the centenary of Menzies's birth, the Menzies Research Centre was created as an independent public policy think tank associated with the Liberal Party. In 2009, during the Australia Day celebrations, the R.G.
The walk runs alongside the northern shore of Lake Burley Griffin in Australia's capital, Canberra. In 2012, a life-sized bronze statue of Menzies was erected on the R.G.
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