1919

Sir Robert Menzies

Posted in 1919

  • Establishes law practice: individual briefs for cases combine with opinion work to keep Menzies busy and lay the basis for a sound income.
  • First appearance in the High Court in a case Troy v Wrigglesworth.
  • It is noted in Martin (1993) that Menzies' father came to sit at the back of the court and listen to the arguments. For a junior to appear alone for the first time before the High Court of up to seven judges could be a fearsome experience. Menzies enjoyed recounting the family sequel:

"Well you know, the Old Man went out, and afterwards went back to my mother and said: 'You know my dear, I have been underestimating Robert.' That was very good. It almost revolutionised his outlook on his third son's talents."

Australian Events

Posted in 1919

  • Brothers Captain Ross Smith and Lieutenant Keith Smith flew from UK to AustraliaAustralia, with Billy Hughes as Prime Minister, has a prominent place at the Paris meeting of nations that decides the fate of the defeated Germany and reshapes the map of Europe and the colonial world.
  • Brothers Ross and Keith Smith and their crew become the first people to fly between England and Australia. The flight takes 27 days and 20 hours in a Vickers Vimy. It earns the brothers a £10,000 prize offered by the government to the first Australian airmen to complete the flight in less than 30 consecutive days before December 31.
  • Nurses with children during the influenza epidemic, MelbourneInfluenza epidemic claims the lives of 11,552 Australians.
  • Jules Archibald bequeaths a sum of money to fund an annual portrait painting competition.

World Events

Posted in 1919

  • Captain Alcock and Lieutenant BrownTreaty of Versailles: Australia gained League of Nations mandate over German New Guinea.
  • Influenza epidemic spreads around the world.
  • First trans-Atlantic flight: British aviators John Alcock and Arthur Brown fly non-stop across the Atlantic in a Vickers-Vimy biplane. The 3,154 km flight from Newfoundland to Ireland took 16 hours 12 minutes at an average speed of 120 mph.
  • Russia invaded by British, US and other foreign troops supporting anti-Communists.

Marconi with the first broadcast transmitter