Menzies government (1949–1966)
Australian federal executive government
9 dated entries naming Menzies government (1949–1966), drawn from 9 separate years between 1951 CE and 1966 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.
Also written as Menzies Government (1949-66) in the source articles; Wikipedia redirects those to the same subject, so their entries are on this page.
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20th century
- 1951April 28 – 1951 Australian federal election: Robert Menzies' Liberal/Country Coalition Government is re-elected with a decreased majority, defeating the Labor Party, led by former Prime Minister Ben Chifley. Chifley dies a little over a month after the election; he will be replaced by his deputy H. V. Evatt.source
- 1953May 9 – Australian Senate election, 1953: The Liberal/Country Coalition Government, led by Prime Minister Robert Menzies, holds their Senate majority, despite gains made by the Labor Party, led by H. V. Evatt. This is the first occasion where a Senate election is held without an accompanying House of Representatives election.source
- 1954May 29 – 1954 Australian federal election: Robert Menzies' Liberal/Country Coalition Government is re-elected with a decreased majority, defeating the Labor Party led by H.V. Evatt. The election has come shortly after the Petrov Affair, arguably helping the Government survive what was initially predicted to be a defeat.source
- 1955December 10 – 1955 Australian federal election: Robert Menzies' Liberal/Country Coalition Government is re-elected with a substantially increased majority, defeating the Labor Party led by H. V. Evatt. This election comes in the immediate aftermath of the devastating split in the Labor Party, which leads to the formation of the Democratic Labor Party. The DLP will preference against Labor, and keep the Coalition in office until 1972.source
- 1958November 22 – 1958 Australian federal election: Robert Menzies' Liberal/Country Coalition Government is re-elected with a slightly increased majority, defeating the Labor Party led by H.V. Evatt. This is the first election where television is used as a medium for communicating with voters. Evatt will eventually resign as Labor leader and will be replaced by his deputy Arthur Calwell.source
- 1961December 9 – 1961 Australian federal election: Robert Menzies' Liberal/Country Coalition Government is re-elected with a one-seat majority, narrowly defeating the Labor Party led by Arthur Calwell. One of the closest election results in Australian history, such a result will not be replicated again until 2016. Notably, former Prime Minister Earle Page loses his seat, although he dies a few days later, never knowing the result.source
- 1963November 30 – 1963 Australian federal election: Robert Menzies' Liberal/Country Coalition Government is re-elected with an increased majority to an unprecedented eighth term in office, defeating the Labor Party led by Arthur Calwell. (This would be the final lower house election won by Menzies, who would retire from office during the term as the longest-serving Prime Minister in Australian history; he would be replaced by Harold Holt.)source
- 1964December 5 – Australian Senate election, 1964: The Liberal/Country Coalition Government led by Prime Minister Robert Menzies hold their status quo, while the Labor Party led by Arthur Calwell lose one seat to the Democratic Labor Party, who hold the balance of power in the Senate alongside independent Reg Turnbull.source
- 1966January 26 – 1966 Liberal Party of Australia leadership election: Harold Holt is elected leader of the Liberal Party of Australia unopposed when Sir Robert Menzies retires after an unprecedented 16 years in office; consequently Holt becomes Prime Minister of Australia six days later.source