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Finding Menzies: A new generation’s inspiration for foreign affairs, social policy and political thought

Sir Robert Menzies is the behemoth of Australian political history, but does his legacy have any enduring relevance for the challenges that lie ahead? Finding Menzies exemplifies the wealth of resources that contemporary scholars can mine in the archives of the Menzies era in order to gain a better understanding of the origins of contemporary political challenges and the possibilities for solving them.

The collection addresses topics in Australian political history ranging from defence and foreign policy through to the rule of law and social and economic policy, as well as topics in the history of political thought and at the intersection of politics and religion.

Contributors engage with Menzies’s understanding of Australia’s war aims and post-war relations with the UK, USA, and USSR; his approach to changes in families, housing, and education; and his attitude to liberalism, tolerance, aspiration, and Catholicism.

It is the product of research undertaken by members of the Menzies Early Career Network, an initiative of the Robert Menzies Institute, which aims to nurture an appreciation of the enduring legacy of Menzies and his government in the next generation of Australian scholars as they embark on careers in history, law, and public life.

Damien Freeman is a fellow of the Robert Menzies Institute at the University of Melbourne, where he convenes the Menzies Early Career Network, an honorary fellow of Australian Catholic University, and a research fellow of Catholic Schools NSW’s Kathleen Burrow Research Institute. His books include The End of Settlement: why the 2023 referendum failed and Abbott’s Right: the conservative tradition from Menzies to Abbott.