1909

Sir Robert Menzies

Posted in 1909

  • Robert continues his schooling at Grenville College, Ballarat.

"By 1909 Les and Frank were in Melbourne in public service jobs, boarding there with a widowed aunt, Mary Moulton. Bob was about to take up his scholarship in one of Melbourne's public schools. Sometime in 1909 the parents decided that the family's changing circumstances required new arrangements: Kate would move to Melbourne and establish there a family home, while James would for the time being somehow keep his business interests going in Jeparit."
A W Martin, Robert Menzies:
A Life. Vol 1 1894-1943, 1993 p 16.

World Events

Posted in 1909

  • Peary's "Discovery of the North Pole", Hampton's magazineLouis Blériot successfully crosses the English Channel in a monoplane to win a prize of £1,000. His flight took 43 minutes at an average speed of 40 mph over a distance of 31 miles.
  • Robert Peary reaches the North Pole. Commander Peary and his party set out from Greenland and traversed 90 miles of mountain terrain before making the final 36-day trek to the Pole.
  • Britain's Lloyd George introduces his Peoples Budget - taxing the rich to pay for welfare amenities - which leads to a constitutional crisis in the House of Lords.
  • Guglielmo Marconi and Karl Braun share the Nobel Prize in Physics "in recognition of their contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy".
  • The self-governing Union of South Africa was created by royal proclamation. The Union brings together the colonies of the Cape of Good Hope, Natal, Transvaal and Orange River.