1922

Sir Robert Menzies

Posted in 1922

  • Birth of first son, Kenneth Leckie Menzies.
  • Builds law practice:

"In the 1920s - over his principal years as an advocate - Menzies worked, as Dame Pattie remembers it, 'fantastically hard'. He estimated that at this time his weekly hours of work would average not less than eighty. The Melbourne courts sat from 10.30am to one o'clock and from 2.15 to 4.15 in the afternoon. Menzies' habit was to work at his desk long into the night and to get up as late as court or conference obligations permitted. In the first years of marriage this work routine and the demands on Pat of home and children meant that they lived what she calls a 'very quiet life'. Almost always, however, Menzies took Sunday off, to rest and spend time with his family. Though they sometimes went to church they took no part in wider church activities and Sunday was a day for reading, and occasional picnics and outings."
A W Martin, Robert Menzies A Life Vol 1 1894-1943, 1993 p 44.

Australian Events

Posted in 1922

  • Empire Settlement Act: assisted immigration from Britain is introduced.
  • On Oct 7, Earle Page gave his policy speech at South Grafton in which he spelled out the basic principles of a Nationalist-Country Party coalition which was to work over the next 7 years.
    The Macquarie Book of Events, 1983 p 345.
  • The Queensland Legislative Council is abolished.
  • The first section of the Great Ocean Road in Victoria is opened.

World Events

Posted in 1922

  • Italian dictator Benito MussoliniInsulin is used against diabetes.
  • Benito Mussolini organises the "march on Rome" and forms a Fascist government in Italy. His dictatorship is virtually unchallenged from 1922-43.
  • Pope Pius XI is unexpectedly elected pope. He shows great ability as a diplomat and undisguised hostility to totalitarianism. He also urges a crusade against immodest women's fashions.
  • Mahatma Gandhi, lawyer and Indian nationalist leader, pleads guilty to three charges of sedition and is sentenced to six years imprisonment after his civil disobedience campaign against British authorities in India.Pope Pius XI