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Returned at election in December by one seat."Despite the easing of credit restrictions, Menzies barely survived the election. The Liberals lost 13 seats and the CP 2, leaving the Coalition with a majority of only 62:60." South Africa
withdraws from the Commonwealth:
"At the 1961 meeting of Commonwealth prime ministers, the crucial issue was South Africa: now that it had at referendum voted to become a republic, was its application to stay in the Commonwealth acceptable? Being a republic was not the main issue; everyone knew that South Africa's racial policy was the real problem. Menzies and British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan 'worked like horses' over a series of drafts to find words that would be acceptable to all and would therefore keep the Commonwealth intact. The final statement expressed 'deep concern' about the impact of South Africa's racist policies on 'the relations between member countries of the Commonwealth, which is itself a multi-racial association of peoples'. Under mounting pressure, South Africa withdrew its application to re-enter the Commonwealth. Menzies made no bones about his belief that South Africa had been 'pushed out'. He began to feel that the balance of power had changed so much that his own views had become relatively unimportant." |
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Huge iron-ore deposits found at Pilbara, WA and oil discovered
at Moonie, Qld Bankruptcies
and unemployment reach 2%, the highest post-war level. This follows a
fall in wool prices, drought, inflation and rising prices in 1960 when
Treasurer Holt imposed a credit squeeze, raising loan interest rates and
heavily increasing sales tax on motor vehicles. Dr William McBride
recognises severe birth abnormalities in children whose mothers were given
thalidomide in pregnancy. |
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The Berlin Wall is erected by the Communists to isolate the Western sectors
and stop the exodus of East Germans to the West. Concrete blocks rapidly
replace the rolls of barbed wire used by East German soldiers on August
13 to close the border between East and West Berlin. South African
Republic is established by referendum; withdraws its application to remain
in the Commonwealth. John F Kennedy
is inaugurated as President of the USA: "... ask not what your country
can do for you - ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens
of the world, ask not what America will do for you, but what together
we can do for the freedom of man." Bay of Pigs:
US-backed exiles' invasion of Cuba to overthrow the regime of Fidel Castro
is a failure.
Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the world's first man in space. |
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