Sir Robert Menzies

• Menzies informs Parliament that Soviet diplomat Vladimir Petrov had requested and been granted political asylum. He also announces Cabinet's decision to institute a Royal Commission into Soviet espionage in Australia.
• The Petrov Affair ...

"... 'spy scare' plays into Menzies' hands: anti-communism and the threat of Australian society being undermined by a fifth column remained central to his propaganda armoury, and he used it very effectively against Evatt."
Allan Martin in Australian Prime Ministers, 2000 p 196.

• For Sir Robert Menzies' view see "The Petrov Spy Case" in his book "The Measure of the Years" (1970).
• May 29 election: Menzies Coalition government is returned.
• January 1: Pattie Menzies becomes the third Australian to be awarded the GBE. The citation for the Dame Grand Cross in the Order of the British Empire reads:

"In recognition of years of incessant and unselfish performance of public duty, in hospital work, in visiting, addressing, and encouraging many thousands of women in every State of Australia, including very remote areas, and in the distinguished representation of Australia on a number of occasions overseas."

• In receiving this honour Dame Pattie follows Dame Florence Reid (1917) and Dame Mary Hughes (1922).

† "The Petrov Spy Case", in The Measure of the Years