Join the Robert Menzies Institute in Canberra to celebrate the launch of our second book The Menzies Watershed on Monday 26 February 2024 6:30pm – 8:00pm.

We are honoured to have The Hon Andrew Hastie to launch this book, the second in a four-volume history of Menzies and his world, based on conferences convened by the Robert Menzies Institute at the University of Melbourne.

Tickets to the launch are available here. The launch will be held at Menzies House, cnr Blackall and Macquarie Streets, Barton ACT.

Light refreshments will be served from 6:30pm, with formalities commencing at 7:00pm.

Copies of The Menzies Watershed will be available to purchase on the day.

About The Book

The eleven years that passed between the 1943 and the 1954 elections were arguably some of the most pivotal in Australian history. This was a period of intense political, policy and strategic transition, which saw a popular Labor Government and its state-led vision for post-war reconstruction toppled by Robert Menzies and his newly formed political machine, the Liberal Party of Australia. Meanwhile, a backdrop of rising Cold War tensions came to dominate domestic and international policymaking, ushering in a divisive communist party ban, the ANZUS treaty, the Colombo Plan, and Australia’s own agency of international espionage, ASIS. But what was the difference in practical terms between Menzies and his predecessors? What role was the state to play under a centre-right government, and would Menzies be able to live up to the liberal ideals with which he had won over the Australian public? All these issues are explored in the second of a four-volume history of Menzies and his world, based on conferences convened by the Robert Menzies Institute at the University of Melbourne.

Contributors include Christopher Beer, Andrew Blyth, Troy Bramston, Lorraine Finlay, Nicolle Flint, David Furse-Roberts, Anne Henderson, David Lee, Lucas McLennan, Lyndon Megarrity, Charles Richardson, William Stoltz and Tom Switzer, with a foreword by The Honourable John Howard OM AC.