In this special summer series of the Afternoon Light podcast you can enjoy the presentations delivered at our November 2024 conference entitled ‘The Final Chapter: Purpose, Endurance and Legacy 1961-66 and Beyond’. This fifth episode features Anne Henderson on ‘The Menzies Government, B A Santamaria and the Beginning of State Aid’, Jennifer Clark’s paper on ‘Science and Science Education’ (begins at 15:00), James Waghorne & Gwilym Croucher’s paper ‘University unlimited: Commonwealth Scholarships in Australian universities, 1951-1974’ (begins at 40:40), and Lyndon Megarrity’s paper ‘Menzies and Liberal Education’ (begins 59:45).

Anne Henderson is the Deputy Director of the Sydney Institute. She is a prolific and respected author having published books on Enid Lyons, Joseph Lyons, Mary Mackillop, Patrick Glynn and more. In 2014 she published Menzies at War, a detailed
account of Menzies’s years in the political wilderness between his two stints as prime minister, which was shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for History. In 2024 she published Menzies Versus Evatt: The Great Rivalry of Australian Politics.

Jennifer Clark is a historian from the University of Adelaide. She is the author of Aborigines and Activism: Race, Aborigines & the Coming of the Sixties to Australia and The American Idea of England, 1776-1840. Her current research interests cover
post war Australian history, including memorial culture, science education, automotive history and history pedagogy. She has published several articles relating to the Menzies era exploring science education, race and Australian American relations.

James Waghorne is a Senior Research Fellow at the Melbourne Centre for Higher Education and the University of Melbourne’s de facto historian. His work reaches across the history of university governance, university disciplines, the heritage of
university campuses, and the changing influence of campus life and culture on the student experience. Additionally, he takes in the historical connections between universities and the state, industry and community groups. James is the co-author of Australian Universities: A History of Common Cause, Liberty: A History of Civil Liberties in Australia, and co-editor of The First World War, the Universities and the Professions in Australia, 1914–1936.

Gwilym Croucher is the Deputy Director of the Centre for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Melbourne. A former Fulbright Scholar, his research focuses on different aspects of the political economy of higher education. He has published widely on higher education policy and management and led large publicly funded research projects. He is also a regular media commentator on higher education in Australia.

Lyndon Megarrity is adjunct lecturer at James Cook University in Townsville, where he teaches history and political science. His research interests include Queensland, Northern Australia, and overseas student policy. He is also the author or co-author of several books, including Northern Dreams: The Politics of Northern Development in Australia, which won the 2019 Chief Minister’s Northern Territory History Book Award. With Carolyn Holbrook and David Lowe, he co-edited Lessons from History (NewSouth, 2022), a collection of essays on contemporary issues and debates informed by history. Published in 2024, Megarrity’s latest book is the first biography of Dr Rex Patterson, Minister for Northern Development in the Whitlam Government.