1918

Sir Robert Menzies

Posted in 1918

  • Robert Menzies: Admitted to the Victorian Bar on 13 May, 1918Admitted to the Victorian Bar and to the High Court of Australia in May. Menzies is the first of the few pupils accepted to read with the brilliant barrister Owen Dixon.

"It is the practice of a newly called barrister to 'read' in the chambers of some leading junior. He reads the briefs that come in; he is encouraged to discuss them with his chief. He is, of course, free to accept briefs of his own, and if he is lucky, as I was, gets a few. But his great advantage is that he sees a busy junior at work and at close quarters. The law comes alive for him. He begins to know how little he knows and what a world of difference there is between academic learning and the same learning when applied to the tangled facts of life."
Sir Robert Menzies The Measure of the Years, 1970 p 229.

Australian Events

Posted in 1918

  • Soldiers in front of their tentsNovember 11: World War I ends - more than 320,000 Australians enlisted and served overseas of whom over 60,000 were killed in action during Word War I.
  • Population 5 million.
  • The Magic Pudding written and illustrated by Norman Lindsay, and Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, written and illustrated by May Gibbs, are published.Museum Victoria, "Biggest Family Album" Collection

World Events

Posted in 1918

  • Kaiser Wilhelm II, German emperor and king of Prussia 1888-1918Treaty between Russia and Germany: Russia withdraws from the war.
  • Execution of ex-Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family.
  • Bolshevik government in Russia nationalizes large-scale industrial enterprises.
  • Revolution in Germany: Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicates and flees to Holland when defeated Germany declares itself a Republic.
  • World War I ends on November 11: Germany agrees to an Armistice which is signed by Germany and the Allies.
  • Civil war in Ireland.
  • Women over the age of 30 get the vote in Britain.