Sir Robert Menzies

Posted in 1946

  • The newly formed Liberal Party improves on the position of its predecessor but loses the election. Menzies comes close to retiring from politics but resolves to contest the next election.

"Few knew that parliamentary aplomb and public pursuit of a favourite sport [cricket] at this time masked great personal uncertainty. Defeat in the election, after all his hard work and optimism, had bitten deeply into Menzies' being, provoking a mood of self-questioning, even of doubt about the worthwhileness of the political life to which he had so long dedicated himself."
A W Martin, Robert Menzies: A Life. Vol 1 1844-1978, 1999 p 61.

  • Mrs Kate Menzies, Robert's mother, dies at the age of 80, one year after her husband.