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 second episode features Jim Walter’s paper on ‘Robert Menzies and Allen Brown: The odd couple?’, John Hawkin’s paper on ‘Menzies and the Vernon Report’ (begins at 22:52), and Nicholas Brown’s paper ‘”A risky enterprise”: Menzies, Sir John Crawford and the Vernon Committee’ (begins at 42:42).

Jim Walter is Emeritus Professor of Political Science in the School of Social Sciences at Monash University. Walter has published widely on Australian politics, history, biography and culture. Among his books are The Leader: a political biography of Gough Whitlam (1980), The Ministers’ Minders: personal advisers in national government (1986), Intellectual Movements and Australian Society (with Brian Head, 1988), Tunnel Vision: the failure of political imagination (1996), The Citizens’ Bargain: a documentary history of Australian views since 1890 (2002), No, prime minister: reclaiming politics from leaders (with Paul Strangio, 2007), What were they thinking? The politics of ideas in Australia (2010), Settling the Office: The Australian Prime Ministership from Federation to Reconstruction (with Paul Strangio and Paul ‘t Hart, 2016) and The Pivot of Power: Australian Prime Ministers and Political Leadership 1949-2016 (with Paul Strangio and Paul ‘t Hart, 2017).

Dr John Hawkins is deputy head of the Canberra School of Politics, Economics & Society at the University of Canberra. He was awarded a PhD in political science from the Australian National University for his thesis on the Australian treasurers. He also holds an MSc in economics from the London School of Economics and an MA in politics and history from Macquarie University. He is co-editor of History of Economics Review. He previously worked in the Australian Treasury and the Reserve Bank and served as secretary of the Senate Economics Committee. He was interviewed for the Afternoon Light podcast in August 2023 on Menzies as treasurer.

Nicholas Brown is a professor in the School of History, Australian National University, with interests in Australian social, political and public policy history and biography. His current projects include a biographical study of Sir John Crawford, in collaboration with Frank Bongiorno, David Lee and the late Stuart Macintyre.