• On 6 July Menzies delivers the first Baillieu Lecture that was founded in London in honour of great Australian, Lord Baillieu.
• Opening of Lake Burley Griffin:

"When the time came to give the lake a name, I remember my then minister for the Interior, Gordon Freeth, coming to me and saying, 'There is a widespread feeling that, as you have been in a material sense the father of this lake, it should be named after you.' My reply was prompt. 'Gordon,' I said, 'that is a characteristically pleasing thought on your part, but the lake is not going to be named after me. Do you remember that the original designer of this city and the original creator of the whole notion of a lake was Walter Burley Griffin. So far as I know, he has no memorial in this place. He must have one. I want to have the lake called Lake Burley Griffin.' It was so named and has given Griffin a memorial which no man ever more handsomely deserved."
R G Menzies The Measure of the Years, 1970 p 147-8.

• In December Robert Menzies' Cabinet gives him a special dinner to celebrate his impending 70th birthday and his 15th anniversary as Prime Minister.