Robert Menzies Quotes

Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, , was an Australian politician who twice served as Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1939 to 1941 and again from 1949 to 1966. He played a central role in the creation of the Liberal Party of Australia, defining its policies and its broad outreach. He is Australia's longest-serving prime minister, serving over 18 years in total.

Menzies studied law at the University of Melbourne and became one of Melbourne's leading lawyers. He was Deputy Premier of Victoria from 1932 to 1934, and then transferred to federal parliament, subsequently becoming Attorney-General and Minister for Industry in the government of Joseph Lyons. In April 1939, following Lyons's death, Menzies was elected leader of the United Australia Party and sworn in as prime minister. He authorised Australia's entry into World War II in September 1939, and in 1941 spent four months in England to participate in meetings of Churchill's war cabinet. On his return to Australia in August 1941, Menzies found that he had lost the support of his party and consequently resigned as prime minister. He subsequently helped to create the new Liberal Party, and was elected its inaugural leader in August 1945.

At the 1949 federal election, Menzies led the Liberal–Country coalition to victory and returned as prime minister. His appeal to the home and family, promoted via reassuring radio talks, matched the national mood as the economy grew and middle-class values prevailed; the Labor Party's support had also been eroded by Cold War scares. After 1955, his government also received support from the Democratic Labour Party, a breakaway group from the Labor Party. Menzies won seven consecutive elections during his second term, eventually retiring as prime minister in January 1966. His legacy has been debated, but his government is remembered today for its development of Canberra, its expanded post-war immigration scheme, its emphasis on higher education, and its national security policies, which saw Australia contribute troops to the Korean War, the Malayan Emergency, the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation, and the Vietnam War. Wikipedia  

✵ 20. December 1894 – 15. May 1978
Robert Menzies photo
Robert Menzies: 22   quotes 0   likes

Famous Robert Menzies Quotes

“There have been, in the course of recorded history, some men of power who have cast shadows across the world. Winston Churchill, on the contrary, was a fountain of light and of hope…his body will be carried on the Thames, a river full of history. With one heart we all feel, with one mind we all acknowledge, that it will never have borne a more precious burden, or been enriched by more splendid memories.”

Eulogy for Winston Churchill, delivered from the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral, during the latter's funeral, January 30, 1965
Second Term as Prime Minister (1949-1966)
Source: http://australianpolitics.com/1965/01/30/robert-menzies-eulogy-for-winston-churchill.html

“The real danger of the regime was that the suppression of criticism would ultimately destroy Germany.”

In conversation with Hjalmar Schacht, regarding Nazi Germany, during his four day visit in 1938
Early career (1934-1939)
Source: https://www.jewishnews.net.au/menzies-an-enemy-of-tyranny-and-friend-of-freedom/29309

“Few people of the Commonwealth fully realised that the European crisis might involve hostilities in Australian waters – that war might be something that would come to Australia, and not merely something that was happening 12,000 miles away.”

In speech to the Constitutional Club of Sydney, October 1938
Early career (1934-1939)
Source: https://www.jewishnews.net.au/menzies-an-enemy-of-tyranny-and-friend-of-freedom/29309

“In the long run, will our community not be a stronger, better balanced and more intelligent community when the last artificial disabilities imposed upon women by centuries of custom have been removed?”

Women in War speech, broadcast from Sydney, Australia — February 20, 1942
Wilderness Years (1941-1949)
Source: http://www.emersonkent.com/speeches/women_in_war.htm

Robert Menzies Quotes about people

Robert Menzies Quotes

“We have no offer to make except that we shall serve you faithfully.”

Election speech, 1951
Second Term as Prime Minister (1949-1966)
Context: In conclusion, we have sought this election to resolve a deadlock. We have no offer to make except that we shall serve you faithfully. What we seek is a Senate majority. If you approve of the Labour Senators frustrating your vote of December, 1949, you will not give us a majority in either house. To give it in the one and refuse it in the other would be a tragedy for Australia.

“Women are unquestionably destined to exercise more and more influence upon practical politics in Australia”

Albury Conference, 1944
Wilderness Years (1941-1949)
Context: Women are unquestionably destined to exercise more and more influence upon practical politics in Australia…In the educating of the electorate in liberal ideas they have for many years been an effective force. Now we have an organisation in which all distinctions have gone, and with men and women working equally for the one body …

“Fellow Australians, it is my melancholy duty to inform you officially that, in consequence of the persistence of Germany in her invasion of Poland, Great Britain has declared war upon her, and that, as a result, Australia is also at war.”

Declaration of War Broadcast, on the outbreak of the Second World War, 3 September 1939
First Term as Prime Minister (1939-1941)
Context: Fellow Australians, it is my melancholy duty to inform you officially that, in consequence of the persistence of Germany in her invasion of Poland, Great Britain has declared war upon her, and that, as a result, Australia is also at war. No harder task can fall to the lot of a democratic leader than to make such an announcement. Great Britain and France, with the cooperation of the British Dominions, have struggled to avoid this tragedy. They have, as I firmly believe, been patient; they have kept the door of negotiation open; they have given no cause for aggression. But in the result their efforts have failed and we are, therefore, as a great family of nations, involved in a struggle which we must at all costs win, and which we believe in our hearts we will win...

“Heckler: "I wouldn't vote for you if you were the Archangel Gabriel"”

Second Term as Prime Minister (1949-1966)

“His real tyrant is the glittering phrase so attractive to his mind that awkward facts have to give way.”

On British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, diary entry of March 2, 1941
First Term as Prime Minister (1939-1941)
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20080228185527/http://www.oph.gov.au/menzies/churchillandthewarcabinet.htm

“Menzies: "If I were the Archangel Gabriel, you wouldn't be in my constituency"”

Conversation with interjecting heckler in Williamstown, Victoria, 1954
Second Term as Prime Minister (1949-1966)
Source: http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/menzies/in-office.aspx

“The material home represents the concrete expression of the habits of frugality and saving "for a home of our own."”

Your advanced socialist may rave against private property even while he acquires it; but one of the best instincts in us is that which induces us to have one little piece of earth with a house and a garden which is ours; to which we can withdraw, in which we can be among our friends, into which no stranger may come against our will.
Radio talk, 22 May, 1942
Wilderness Years (1941-1949)

“A national election campaign is not a conflict of self-interest, with the prize going to the highest bidder. It is an occasion for a re-statement of faith, a renewal of zeal, and a clear vision of the future.”

Election speech, Canterbury, Victoria, 29 October, 1958 https://electionspeeches.moadoph.gov.au/speeches/1958-robert-menzies
Second Term as Prime Minister (1949-1966)

“Our slogan is Australia Unlimited, and we pronounce it with confidence.”

Election speech, Canterbury, Victoria, 29 October, 1958 https://electionspeeches.moadoph.gov.au/speeches/1958-robert-menzies
Second Term as Prime Minister (1949-1966)

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