MVM 1951

The High Court declares invalid the Communist Party Dissolution Act on the grounds of its effect on civil liberties and property rights.

A referendum is put to the people asking for the government to have the powers to ban the Communist Party. It is narrowly defeated.

"Leader of the Opposition Dr H V Evatt led the attack from the Labor side, claiming that in defeating the 1951 referendum, the Australian people had 'rejected the Menzies campaign of unscrupulous propaganda and hysteria' and saved themselves and their children from the 'insidious aggressions of a police state'. Menzies, while urbanely accepting defeat ('as a democrat I respect and recognise the popular voting') expressed his belief that the electors had been misled by a 'wicked and unscrupulous "No" campaign'.
Allan Martin in Australian Prime Ministers, 2000 p 196.

June 13: Leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister from 1945 to 1949, Ben Chifley dies of a heart attack while working in his room at the Hotel Kurrajong. At 11.50pm a visibly upset Prime Minister Menzies makes the announcement at a splendid Commonwealth Jubilee Ball being held in Kings Hall, Parliament House to mark 50 years of Federation. The Prime Minister calls for an end to the night's festivities as a mark of respect.

The first radio-based "School of the Air" broadcasts are made from Alice Springs over the Flying Doctor network.

Author Frank Hardy is acquitted of having criminally libelled Ellen Wren in his popular book Power Without Glory.


	Appointed Companion of Honour. Birth of first grandchild, Alec Menzies. Prime Minister Menzies is returned at the election following a double dissolution when the Senate refused to pass the Bank Bill. Mr Menzies waged his election campaign accusing the ALP of links with communism. The first one-day festival cricket match for the West Indian team against the Prime Minister's Eleven, is held in Canberra: "… I proposed to have a few players who had retired from Test cricket, several who were still playing, a couple of members of Parliament, and three local players …" Sir Robert Menzies The Measure of the Years, 1970 p 269.		Grandparents: Dame Pattie and PM Menzies, holding Alec Menzies 2
			Talking with a cattle exhibitor at Cessnock Show, NSW, March 14
			PM Menzies tossing the coin: West Indies v PM's XI 18


	The High Court declares invalid the Communist Party Dissolution Act on the grounds of its effect on civil liberties and property rights. A referendum is put to the people asking for the government to have the powers to ban the Communist Party. It is narrowly defeated. "Leader of the Opposition Dr H V Evatt led the attack from the Labor side, claiming that in defeating the 1951 referendum, the Australian people had 'rejected the Menzies campaign of unscrupulous propaganda and hysteria' and saved themselves and their children from the 'insidious aggressions of a police state'. Menzies, while urbanely accepting defeat ('as a democrat I respect and recognise the popular voting') expressed his belief that the electors had been misled by a 'wicked and unscrupulous "No" campaign'. Allan Martin in Australian Prime Ministers, 2000 p 196. June 13: Leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister from 1945 to 1949, Ben Chifley dies of a heart attack while working in his room at the Hotel Kurrajong. At 11.50pm a visibly upset Prime Minister Menzies makes the announcement at a splendid Commonwealth Jubilee Ball being held in Kings Hall, Parliament House to mark 50 years of Federation. The Prime Minister calls for an end to the night's festivities as a mark of respect. The first radio-based "School of the Air" broadcasts are made from Alice Springs over the Flying Doctor network. Author Frank Hardy is acquitted of having criminally libelled Ellen Wren in his popular book Power Without Glory.
			School of the Air 1


	The ANZUS Pact, the Pacific Security Treaty between Australia, New Zealand and the United States, is signed at San Francisco on 1 September. First peaceful use of atomic energy for electric power and heating. Winston Churchill elected Prime Minister again in Britain.		Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister 16
			British PM: Winston Churchill (1952) 2