Australia has honoured the Briton's
memory, though he was never particularly fond of this country.
Sir Winston Churchill, twice prime
minister of Britain, holder of many other great offices of state between 1905
and 1955, regarded by many as the saviour of his country for his heroic
leadership during World War II, died on January 24, 1965, just half a century
ago.
His death occurred on the 70th
anniversary of Lord Randolph Churchill's passing. Lord Randolph, the father
whose affection Winston had craved, died a disappointed man and a failed
politician.
When
he spoke in cabinet about 'the troublesome attitudes of the colonies', it
seemed Australia was the chief offender.
His son, by contrast, was "the man
of the century". The first prime minister of Britain to receive a state
funeral since William Ewart Gladstone, a political rival of Lord Randolph's,
back in 1898, Churchill's body lay in state for three days. In bitterly cold
weather, more than 300,000 people passed through Westminster Hall to pay their
respects. The Queen and other members of the royal family attended the funeral in
St Paul's Cathedral. Five other monarchs came, and more than 20 heads of state.
Churchill's death had long been
expected. Even during World War II itself, he had suffered heart attacks and
strokes. His second prime ministership, 1951-55, was interrupted in 1953 by a
massive stroke from which few thought he would recover. After leaving office in
1955, he declined slowly, confiding on one occasion that "life was over
but not yet ended".
A member of the House of Commons until
1964, the British election of that year was the first in the 20th century at
which he had not been a candidate. When he celebrated his 90th birthday on
November 30, 1964, 70,000 people sent messages, more than double the number who
had done so on the occasion of his 80th birthday.
His birthday appearance at the window
of his home in Hyde Park Gate to acknowledge the cheers and singing of
well-wishers was his last public appearance. But it was not his last
engagement; that occurred on December 10, when he dined for a final time at the
Other Club, a dining group he and others founded more than half a century
earlier after they had been excluded from more demure gatherings on grounds of
excessive rowdiness.
A stroke on January 10, 1965 was the
beginning of the end. Thereafter he drifted in and out of consciousness. The
public was first alerted six days later. A medical bulletin reported that
"after a cold Sir Winston Churchill has developed circulatory weakness and
there has been a cerebral thrombosis".
The Canberra Times' headline shortly informed readers: "Churchill sinking, but
clings to life." Another headline said simply that he was "near
death". On January 25, readers learnt Churchill had died "peacefully
in his sleep ... a strange hush seemed apparent almost everywhere". The
editorial was headed: "The greatest man of his age".
Australia's prime minister, Sir Robert
Menzies, was on the other side of the Pacific as the news reached Australia.
Following a half-Senate election campaign, he had boarded the P&O liner
Arcadia for several weeks' vacation. Leaving the ship in Los Angeles, he flew
to London as chief representative of the nation in a group which included the
former prime minister, Lord Bruce, a Gallipoli veteran (though with a British
regiment).
Another Australian representative was Lord
Casey, an Anzac veteran. He first met Churchill on the western front in 1916,
later serving as British minister in the Middle East, 1942-44, and as governor
of Bengal. The opposition leader, Arthur Calwell, was also cruising the
Pacific. He had just arrived in Auckland and decided that distance prevented
his attendance.
Menzies was appropriately chosen as
Commonwealth representative among the pall-bearers; the others were drawn from
the great and the good in Westminster and Whitehall, and sundry lofty figures
from the armed services.
Among the democracies represented,
Menzies alone had dealt with Churchill on a head of government basis during the
war's early days. Indeed, when Menzies became prime minister in April 1939,
Churchill was still in the wilderness.
Many others present, including newly
elected prime minister of Britain Harold Wilson Canadian prime minister Lester
Pearson, former US president Dwight D. Eisenhower and French president Charles
de Gaulle had been, during the early years of war, only in staff posts of
varying significance.
After the funeral, from the crypt of St
Paul's, Menzies made an eloquent and justly famous speech: "I lived in
Churchill's time."
Before leaving London he joined in
launching the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust. A Commonwealth-wide scheme, its
purpose was to provide opportunities for people from all walks of life to study
and travel abroad. Upon returning to Australia, details of the national scheme
were announced, with Menzies as president and the other two party leaders, John
McEwen (Country Party) and Arthur Calwell (Labor), as vice-presidents.
Sunday, February 28, was designated
Churchill Sunday. A nationwide door-knock mainly organised by the RSL yielded
nearly £1 million, which meant that, with contributions from governments and
corporations, Australia raised double the targeted sum, a performance unmatched
elsewhere in the Commonwealth.
Herein is the irony, the paradox, the
mystery. For, of all the self-governing dominions it was, throughout his
career, with Australia that Churchill most frequently locked horns.
In his earliest days as a minister he
sought, unsuccessfully, to block Deakin's invitation to President Theodore
Roosevelt for the US Great White Fleet, as it cruised the Pacific, to include
Australia. Within a decade he had a very major hand in the Gallipoli campaign,
a conflict which, even in the late 1950s, according to celebrity researcher Ann
Moyal (who knew him), "still haunted him".
In the 1930s and early years of World
War II, Empire defences in the Pacific were a major source of friction.
Australian participation in the ill-fated Greek campaign was another source of
contention.
After Japan entered the war, relations
reached a low ebb over, first, recall of Australian troops from the Middle
East, and then Churchill's attempt to divert the troop convoys to Burma. In
these tense times he noisily complained that nothing much better could be
expected from
"bad stock". When he spoke openly in cabinet meetings about "the
troublesome attitudes of the colonies", it seemed that Australia was the
chief offender. In his second prime ministership he struggled, again without
success, for incorporation of Britain within the ANZUS Pact.
Churchill never visited Australia: he
once told his doctor that "they want me to go to Australia and New
Zealand, but I haven't the heart or strength or life for it". One
historian has observed that Churchill's name and image was the "source of
division in Australian party politics" that had no equivalent in New Zealand,
Canada or the United States.
Curiously, Clementine Churchill spent a
day (February 7, 1935) in Sydney when she travelled to New Zealand on the motor
yacht Rosaura. After several hours at Taronga Park zoo, she acquired two pairs
of black swans to take home.
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