SIR ROBERT MENZIES - SOUND

(20 Mar 1963)
Her Majesty the Queen was pleased to confer upon Prime Minister ROBERT GORDON MENZIES the Knighthood of the Most Ancient and most Noble Order of the Thistle. Film shows Sir Robert Menzies distinguish- ed career. (DOPE SHEET ATTACHED) SIR ROBERT MENZIES. Her Majesty the Queen is pleased to confer upon Her Prime Minister Robert Gordon Menzies the Knighthood of the Most Ancient and most Noble Order of the Thistle. A significantly high honour....the personal gift of our monarch to a distinguished Australian. A car-- eer which summed up, spans thirty five years in politics and a record term as Price Minister. In the government led by Joseph Lyons in 1935 a very young looking Mr. Menzies was appointed Attorney General. In that Cabinet, the fiery Billy Hughes. When Lyons dies in 1939 it was Menzies who ultimately succeeded him. MENZIES SPEAKS The road was difficult. He inherited the pig iron dispute from the Lyons administration. Watersiders opposed Japan's war against China and struck against shipping potential war material. Then....World War II. The commonwealth faced a grim participating role. MENZIES SPEAKS. Cabinet began the task of initiating Australia's war programme. Within months, expeditionary forces were raised, trained and headed for the main theatre of action. It was decided that Prime Minister contingent was engaged in the Middle East under the command of General Blamey, later to become the first Australian to hold the rank of Field Marshal. As many of us, including Mr. Menzies recall, these were times of almost continued reverses for the Allies and many diggers paid the supreme sacrifice. There was a visit to the ill fated H.M.A.S. Perth later to be a casualty of the war, which had by then, come much closer to home. Following the UPA defeat by Labour in the elections of 1941, and after nearly eight years leading the opposition...a landslide vote brough Menzies Government back to power in 1949. A brilliant come- back marking perhaps the real beginning of his career. MENZIES SPEAKS. And from his office in Parliament House the Prime Minister undertook, among other things, the encouragement of all kinds of national development. This was a land rich in mineral resources including uranium the vital metal of a new age; the Australian economy steadily improved. At Woomera Rocket Range the famed Jendivik pilotless aircraft was devised and perfected by our own scientists and technicians. Then another war crisis at the Korean thirty eight parallel. Mr. Menzies assured President Truemen of Australia's support and indeed our troops were among the first to join the American's. He became the first Australian Prime Minister to address Congress. MENZIES SPEAKS. Largely due to Mr. Menzies representations...the first Royal Tour in 1954
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[@adrianjackson2696]

1:30 Pig Iron Bob was really Pig Iron Joseph !!

[@rorojara001]

Great leader and inspiration