The Poet Among Statesmen exhibition examines the influences of poetry on Menzies’s beliefs and values, curated by the Institute’s Curatorial Librarian, William Cook and Museum Assistant, Victoria Hronas.

On display are treasured items including: Menzies’s own poem ‘De Natura’ (1916) for the Melbourne University Magazine, a first draft by famed poet Bernard O’Dowd and Menzies’s pocket sized version of Macbeth.

Some fantastic new objects include the Japanese Order of the Rising Sun awarded to Menzies in 1973 by the Government of Japan, and a book that Menzies gave his father, James Menzies, entitled ‘The Art of F.McCubbin’ (1916) with the inscription “To Father – August 9th, 1919. With loving birthday greetings!”