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Sir Robert Menzies

Posted in 1915

  • Robert Menzies, member of the SRCThe Students' Representative Council (SRC) late in 1915 recommended to the University Council that Robert Menzies should be the 1916 Editor of the Melbourne University Magazine. He wrote many articles for the magazine including the following verse:

In Memoriam
Lieut. J.R. Balfe
Killed in Action, Gallipoli, July 1915

His was the call that came from far away -
An Empire's message flashing o'er the sea -
The call to arms! The blood of chivalry
Pulsed quicker in his veins; he could not stay!
Let others wait; for him the glorious day
Of tyrants humbled and a world set free
Had dawned in clouds and thunder; with a glee
Born not of insensate madness for the fray,
But rather of a spirit noble, brave,
And kindled by a heart that wept at wrong,
He went. The storms of battle round him rave
And screaming fury o'er him chants its song,
Sleep, gallant soul! Though gone thy living breath,
Thou liv'st for aye, for thou has conquered death!"
By R G Menzies

This and other verses are published in
Sir Robert Menzies, 1894-1978 - a new, informal memoir,
Sir Percy Joske,1978 p 15.