PM Transcripts

Transcripts from the Prime Ministers of Australia

Menzies, Robert

Period of Service: 19/12/1949 - 26/01/1966
Release Date:
28/07/1962
Release Type:
Speech
Transcript ID:
570
Document:
00000570.pdf 4 Page(s)
Released by:
  • Menzies, Sir Robert Gordon
SIXTH ANNUAL DINNER OF THE MELBOURNE CRICKET CLUB - XXIX CLUB - HELD AT MELBOURNE ON 28TH JULY 1962

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tonight) ( that~ the most polite remark i'll voiks
tong h)( lsughtez!) I tuaep on a rormer occasions~ attended
a ;) inL-or of the & tiX Cluab and I made a speech buat I had
Limeg told. ttwt r was to m~ ake orw and everybaijy lauz& tW
like mad*'-1 d~ itatt gi tteoSn ight, I said to
37 iecetAryj " This is rtehra night off" becuuseg Ica
kno, looking at yo~ j it jogro hoe what 1. had in mind
a fter the la~ st rorty-ii; ht tiowrs was UAuahtor) " If ' twew. e
don., vthon Itix d~ nes then Itiwz. well It vw or done q ilckly
( 4' igh~ tow) If the assassiuAtim) n Id tian~ io up; the
consequene3 And catch with his5 su-. ase suico. is" -Yo
mautn ' t thnitsœ clever I learnt Vadtt, when t was at
tonieht2" 01h, yes, o I oas od khihis nau4
willbe : akinae a speech" and L ) dd a long way to
hear Kieh* : akt -a Speach anid I haie weni wi ti ncw for
a bo-Liuvu lon, time s'-tr) and he haisn't ' Avn tongW
ye't* i.-zt -x tfw Vay u~ p the st* 133 sald to youing
i-joAld boes whas flab.' w-trgsted youa with a certa* in
amounzt fia -ar 1vledja au., hter), I asid first of
al-l t him, " 1low Is Colin?" bowurn5 I am 13! c; clire s
If anssa dy ou tsheaet, aa nv.. ryhe ~ j owoida, v" flrlje ' s heCr6e to0a4l0i6 htIos " the " Aknt, r" wii
( or * htev-r it 4us) anmi he 94adrwd thiis In uedicat te" mS
, rhicht naiurl I didn't undersanrd* an. A theii I said to
blot in~ to be a voruiorfl nigt, I ihvae been
41scussina the Commonf all tho a fdterno An Ith Jackc
Ac.:. wen and Icisterman anid I've ome here 1%) r a quiet,
pleasant eveninge. I kddn' rea is* at thiat time that
1K,= Jo. ton would be hore. Aita ~ it~) youa kia
WhAt L afl And then this aweatures this other' MaJoaialds this
sol -disant doctor this man AP t~ o aL. o-A on's tax
avuy as medical al viser a* nd Viw them all the og ( iautter) l
this deplorable creature said to me, on the second-last
ste~ j s that I m., ldnft stumble, 14 said, " i. op oh no."
I s I, I've no S; Medoh-uakin&? 1 .11 Mcd, Ohl no* * 111 YfOU
have to do is to induct k-ith At" L: said, Plow
on earth do yw Auct him. its a !~ i-oo~ foridstO said*
. Ouihter) " I'm a I'emIxbt oian, OWi car I do thiS? Jo
L it a sjot of something on his bulait tn! 1m? Jo I
.,? oflwmoS the oenedicticin over him; si) ter) AA~ this
man vw knows everythin -azo! t aaon~ oyq o'ut zwthin,; au~ t
: j human bein., ( aLo~ i jte; 1, he Saitd to et " I don't ivlow but
anybovt you have to do It," jo izs jou Is to lndLact Keith
Z but before I doi that . and i d; znlt want to stark1 to
ion., betwen you and this sweat cricketer, icil en~
who Is her., onl,, t IAjauass) t irrt tu suiy two
thitn~ s aaoat two p-Aplo. 4

rst of aln istend toni#; bt withi rapt attention
to Tony Street whose lae father W, 13 a gret friend or mine
and a vWr great Australian ( Aplause), 9 and I thlr* that &' cqy
prbal rind.;, vnwevhjro in his library today a book celled
" Strutt's ( Gwes and PastImes" because it has aflws been mj
practice, when enjaged Ina a pelitioal crisis you dan't know
as mush about that as I do buat th* s things do ooca ( Lauaghter)
and In the old dajs vhen* Ver a political crisis 0.50 an* the
late aeoff -Street and I would find 32rselW5s this too
fbrturiatelj betbze the days of lot aircraft and thIigs sitting
In a train, pi1ne, fraw ( anbarra to Mali wurne and we always
talked about cricket. This is samething, 0ir, and youg, Sirg
which you = aet rienbr -the civilising influee or oriaket.
It lifts a nn aiove the level of political controversy* Ssa
you ight make a note of that ( Lau~ ter) ( Applause).
And therefore you can understand per featly how
delighted I mus tonight to sit boe and look at yotimg ToWq
anW listen to his and realise that if ever there was a mam
who ouaght to be in the " mntel he's the me. ( tA* 01ter)
Now of ourse, Sm doesn't age. with this ( Laghter) or be
woud not have a8e~ vith It a fbrtnight ago, but J3aa* having
looked at the edistribution of seats Kooyong Is a little
choosey int Sam having lo.-ked at the redistribution of
seats has now decided that itehama, that hot contestant with
ikakisten In the cricket world, is a blue ribbon seat ( Laughter),
I hope it is be" ne 4ea9 y1 an tired of Soing da to
P'rahran to mse. aspeak ( TAv14ter) ( Applause Tt's onw
thing before I * eu to mi subjat, but I know you are here,
. baj tisproves that the ap of mir& Cles is DotPat
Anybosho pe you won ' t be vadee' any inisappreboasion. I ' m
all for avnd if r bave to go to the Pro= m Tom a Hll
again and make a speh for I'll do it so ILlU
exatli what the romarks will be from the oltiamary a mrbra&
at the bak of the hall. I an famillat with tbat.
But the otb-thing theat I manted to say was this*
oiur distinguished visitor tonighti Riohie ,3enaa me of the
got captains In the entire history Of Cricket her beer)
= a& luse) has in his other and Less repuatable oaepsety as
a journalist CrA40" tr) Saill sawnea tings about the
appointamt of Ted Dexter and a bout the apoinoot of the
Date as the Manager. Nom I sW nothing about Ted iixter,
except I think he's a Jolly pod player and he'll do fri gitful
ml. tool indeed, I've riea the papers. ( Laughter) I kww
that I a Uw to bae" namirated the Captain in t~ uitdAM
which I dnI I know there's a popular s-iperstitIon In
Australia that when I do to Rngl'td I look at cricket matchs.
I didn't. Didn't mee a bell bowled9 had no op portunity to
nominate a aptain or to nominate a Manager, Mat when 1 say
tthhaatt t. h1 etb oDuugkhe t otfh * atl bthkis wwaass ainmtroiadtuecdin ga na Cnawp taeinrag io fm daisst csiepyline
because it was my duty and perhaps mW fortune to be In London
when the Coroation wis an and to have to attend ame or two
rehearsals bemeuse I was Primo Minister and therefore I Ct In$
as you mIst say ( 1aughpter) vith -zinston ainds you knw te other
lesser breds. ( Lauster).
I attended one or two of these reboarsals and aernaft
: Norfblk Is one of those follows who looks a little deadpan-faaedo
He's trnoul interested In cricket and very good
but he's the & arl Marshal* His family, for manyp many esJureso
have bad to run the Coronationa and, therefore, ? n ran this ono
and I wont alonz to a rehearsal. eill, it's q~ tt simple tbr mel
becmase all I had to do was to walk up the aisle and silt dowmi.
( Lougbter) and that Isa not a task that exceeds my wost abilities
( r'aughter). I could walk up the aisleg turn to the left and sit
00**/ 3

3.
dov ~ st he was standing in the middle of what tbq call
the Iateof the Abbey at the Corontion, with a sort of
tcroardvse llinIg dmoincto pozon whayt ouha kpnpoewns, wIni thth e, w ne bouf t tshtsil l Ot
follow holds this bit what he says comes out you know
what I mean, I am riot a scientific tlellov.
from A~ onA nodr athlel tfhires ty-oyuenagr lomredn liantg sv; i olafc bsatigeira nod, r fCrehsrh'is4" t$ th
they ver* there, rehearsing. And I toiglit, " uP. ll this AUi
be very Interesting the kremier Zari and all these young
sprigs of the nobilitysisttiig araund* And he got out In
the -middle and said, l biow when so and so happenal all you
bogs know what you have to do, You have to go across and
stand behind the eoer to vbin you are attached fbr this
purpose, Go." And they got up and slouceld aerees bess
slouching I hhea py to tell you, is not an utter prAostive
of Austeians-they slouched aaros and he had a watch In
his hands and then he would address them In term that would
do your heart -od * Xon, young 3o-and-* o ( namiag the beaver
o f a famous am) g you took tirtyjfIve seconds fbr that
Movement. Fifte is the t~ s all mdo Niow c. We'll
do this a, Xin. And If you Mus't do It in fiten seconds
you gp straight back to Eton ( laughter)". 1 tell yoUp tis
man's a diseipliarziane I woder what's iping to happen,
ihie. I do irtdeed. I thinkv you know if sawe of you
opponents, iorn down by y., ur supqrb tactical ability become
a little i-ary at third slip, His Gracee the '-uke Viillo " m
out and say, buok to Utn" . auhter)* lhough, of cousag
it would be quite uaeless to siy that to Freddie frueman
( Laughter), And1 Lht's why I hope Freddie wiil be here.
Blw that Just restinds we of ore thin& vAt do I
do 4ith this fellow, Ian? Anyhow~ It reminds me of just one
thing, The last time that the ) M. 1C. were out tare, there
was a test match in Adelaide anid the AUStra Lian Jourd of
cricket ontrol ( i hope I have the name righit) they loosened
up . they pve a Dinne. ( laughter) They gave a dinner at
the Adlaide cricket gron and I took one of Wy non-crickating
cabinet colleagues with se because the" e are tines when mne
almost most insist an being at an advantages you see*
( Laughter) I took a non-oriaketIng 00cOllaN with so and
there they were yes, tkmufk you so much, on behalf of
my grandchild, 9 yes and we had this D~ inner and oddly
enoutg, although this was an unexampled piece of pueiOSItY,
the ziglishimen wanted to So sovhere else and eve the
Austra.* ans wanted to do ecmothin6 else, L don't know , and
I had tf' sake a speech@ I am always iiil1Y : ack. 10= 2ay
have to sin, ror my supper* Jut I did raake one remark that
niwrt which 1; think iKeith, In your Presidency you should
no(-orgst because uhs is an izotal obserration.
It had been a Ion,,* long, b-. t day on the Adelaide
groaand, arid Freddie Trumman was bviij from the aim Toa'rens
end, walkinj back fifty yads anil runnin~ uj, forty7five yards;
you know the owt of thing I mean. e ol as he bWot back
towards the Torrens even the amine.-All courtemau& Adelaide
spectators who are the most courteous in the world ( except
to me) ( laughter) even they Ware cal~ ing out in rather
alcoholic voies, * dould YOU like a Pint, Fred?" That's
a leading question ift the strict senoe of the vord ( aiter)
beeause of coup" e he would* kA h e would walk beak a-Ainst
the beeSe muttering, amibing, lookin, shovin.; his teeth
ocoasionady., I thxoughat this ought tol put on record that
night, so I said " A lot or you peoplo have raisuamderstood
Frod , lo ou tikthat when he wa~ s beating Up against tje

wind Walking book to his marks muttering, ambling, shwAvin
his L. th, that he was LLsic ba langeaps p. hapa obsagwe
langap. s Fowpt about It* for~ et about It* I wun as=*
you that all be was doing w-s recitlias Greek Lambies. ( Laughter)
n4 for the " eat of the toar whnver -aw Freddie -yo
kmpv, bass a roug~ hs tnzui, delightft crestare bod look
at me an~ d says " ft. loia a a a ( t. augtr).
Anyhow, you've gone through your trial peri-4..
Yoovebadtoput up with ydm4= KdWonald# this follow Am3
-oeIi nal ailed to understand th-3 [ arachi tomq and
all thse things from ytilch I havwe suffered myself, wad you
have now tur'ned aside to Keith lRigg Aetww It's up or
down Keith I wouldn't kav, * xoept that you are nov a
sped., of lycoon. All I kaW about Naith apart fronm W
other things that I know about % imitsh at when Keith went
out to bat, he had ahabit or liftn the left foot . You
knov# Like that as If he yew. an old hesmf in
the stallI. And whenevor I saw him do that t" we times, I
know that be woul~ d hit the bell for ( loar next stroke -and
be always did. Alwqs did*
46l19 bare's Keith. Hie's one of the oree.
of my life* He " epresents and Is an eminent persons In
& a overseas corporation M Whaliewer I'm ftelin dreadful at
Lanberreq feeling that L can't stand it any lonipr, be
arrives and v& ulk In with a feW tycoons and I have to get
up and say, 1* Helo, Keith. How nice to s o der bey*"
And that bailds him uip, ( Laugter) ftIlds hmup With, thes
wretched ereestures, vb are taking mey out of Australitag
though I am bound to adults asu a comparatively haneat man,
they also put a gaa4 deal of ieyinto Ito
Jut Keith, you're a famous ovidsterg a
great chioketer. It's 0 pest Pleasure to be -what do I
do to induct yom? Aive me a pie** of btatewil U
( Loahter) Look at œ tS ( Laughter) tau kwv, Xe1 Tolvt
Went to KelbDUrMe Arar chool a roreet classical sehool
and as he would sqj alarm at voebile nonan.
And se, Sir,, induct you is that rigft?
and .1 invite you to take your chair ( Iajahter) ( Applauoe I

570