The Legacy of Sir Robert Menzies

19 November 1994

The National Library of Australia is the repository of the personal papers of Sir Robert Menzies who served as Prime Minister of Australia from 1939 to 1941 and continuously from 1949 until his retirement in 1966. The Library also holds papers and records of the Liberal Party of Australia, together with the papers and memorabilia of a number of Menzies' political contemporaries including Richard Gardiner Casey, Sir John Cramer, Sir Ernest White and F.H. Wright.

This seminar was arranged by the National Library to mark the centenary of Menzies' birth in December 1894. It considered Menzies' role in Australian life and evaluated his influence and his achievement. Speakers appraisals were offered on the bases of personal and professional acquaintance with this significant and controversial Australian. Some of the seminar papers, and other papers again, were published in the Winter 1995 issue of the National Library of Australia's quarterly journal Voices. (Back issues of Voices can be ordered from the National Library Shop.)

Melbourne historian Janet McCalman gave a keynote address placing the public Menzies in the context of the Melbourne middle-class constituency which he represented for so many years. Panel discussions explored biographical perspectives, the era of the Menzies' post-war Prime Ministerships and his personal style, with themes including the delicate balance achieved through the long coalition agreement between the Liberal and Country Parties, Menzies' role as a lawyer and the influence this had on his later political career. Finally, Ian Hancock discussed the relationship of Menzies to the Liberal Party organisation during 1944-1966, challenging the perception that Menzies and the party organisation constituted a monolithic entity.

The seminar coincided with the National Library of Australia's exhibition On this We Stand: Menzies and the Liberal Party of Australia. In 1993 the National Library published the diary kept by R.G. Menzies during his wartime visit to England in 1941, which is held in the Library as part of the extensive collection of the Papers of Sir Robert Menzies. The diary offers an interesting and valuable insight into Menzies' and Australia's relationship with Britain at a time of world crisis, and was published with the title Dark and Hurrying Days: Menzies' 1941 Diary, edited by A.W. Martin and Patsy Hardy. (Available from the Shop.)

Speakers:

Panellists: Perspectives on a Life

Panellists: The Era, Its Issues and Its People


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