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Bob Menzies speaking of his parents, James and Kate: "My father, James Menzies, was a strongly built man of little more than medium height. His hair was prematurely grey, and became a splendid silver. He had a fairly full moustache, in which he took some pride. The nervous tension which he had tended to make him both dogmatic and intolerant; in a very modified sense, a 'Barrett of Wimpole Street'. His temper was quick. We, his sons, got to know that 'whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth'. We were not a little frightened of him, and found our regular refuge in the embracing arms of our mother who afforded us the comfort of her own understanding, balance, and exquisite humour."
The land around
Jeparit was gradually being cleared of virgin scrub for wheat growing,
and money was scarce. James Menzies carted supplies with a horse and wagon
to the outlying farms, but it was difficult to make the business pay in
such a small pioneering community and many farmers were given food on
credit until their next harvest came in. |
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Premiers' Conference on Federation held in Hobart, Tasmania
calls for a convention to frame the federal constitution. Enabling Acts
were to go through colonial legislatures authorising popular election
of delegates and machinery to consider and pass the draft Constitution
by referendum. The economy
shows clear evidence of revival following the "... cloud of
depression which has so persistently hung over Australia during the past
three years," writes the editor of Australian Insurance and Banking
Record. He records improvement in the prices of wool, hides, leather,
beef and mutton, wheat, dairy products and Australian metals, referring
to gold. In January Queensland
standardises time at 10 hours ahead of GMT (Eastern Standard Time), followed
in December by Perth standardising time at 8 hours ahead of GMT (Western
Standard Time). "The Man
from Snowy River, and Other Verses" by A B (Banjo) Paterson is published.
"Waltzing
Matilda" is first sung in public at the North Gregory Hotel in central
Queensland. Tune by Christine McPherson and words by Sydney solicitor
and writer Banjo Paterson, the song refers to an incident in which a Bavarian
shearer swagman died. |
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First public showing of films in Paris, the beginnings
of cinema. Jameson Raid
into Transvaal is defeated by the Boers against the British. Germany announces
its support for the Boers. End of the war
between China and Japan which takes Formosa and Korea. German physicist
Wilhelm Roentgen discovers X-rays: he finds that when cathode rays impinge
on the end of the evacuated tube in which they are produced, other rays
are emitted. Roentgen later identifies the main properties of these new
"X"-rays and their extraordinary powers of penetration. He is
awarded the first Nobel Prize for Physics in 1901. Marconi invents
radiotelegraphy undertaking the first crucial experiment demonstrating
that radio transmission is feasible. In September Guglielmo Marconi carries out the first broadcast (of the letter "S") - from his lab in Villa Grifone to the hill opposite. Gillette invents
the safety razor. |
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