Sir Robert Menzies

Posted in 1932

  • Appointed Deputy Premier of Victoria, Robert Menzies also serves as Attorney-General and Minister for Railways from 1932 until 1934.
  • Plays a key role in organising the Nationalists' (now officially called the United Australia Party) campaign in Victoria for the federal election.
  • Menzies attends Bodyline test match in Adelaide and later wrote in Afternoon Light:

"I shall never forget the incident which provoked the ultimate crisis, for I saw it all. ... Suddenly Jardine signalled to Larwood and swung the field to the bodyline setting. It was almost as if he had said - 'This man [Woodfull who had just been struck over the heart and had fallen to the ground] is a bit groggy; let's dispose of him!' A roar of rage went up from 40,000 spectators. If it had been Sydney or Melbourne, I believe, ... the crowd would have invaded the ground and the Test Match might have ended in tumult and disorder.
What happened thereafter is a part of cricket history; angry cables were exchanged; there was much bad feeling; all pleasure went out of the series. Jardine's action was a blunder of the first magnitude. He had in effect announced that 'bodyline' was designed as a physical attack; no more and no less. Many years afterwards, he conceded to me that he would like those five minutes over again!"
Sir Robert Menzies, Afternoon Light, 1967 p 352-3.