We know a lot about what our early prime ministers were like. There are plenty of photos of them throughout their lives, and biographies record their personalities, appearance, quirks, habits, and even their tastes in food, literature or music. But we don’t know much about how they sounded.
This speech by Stanley Melbourne Bruce has recently come into the Museum’s collection. We were very excited to hear it, as none of us had ever heard Bruce’s voice before!
Just twelve years after the end of the Second World War Australia conferred ‘most-favoured nation’ with regard to tariffs on its former enemy, Japan.
What are some of the most notable and curious nicknames for Australia’s prime ministers? This blog post explores the unusual epithets given to our leaders, from Tosspot Toby to the Silver Bodgie.
The handshakes, points, touches and other gestures that made a statement in Australian history.
Photos of Prime Minister Robert Menzies show a confident and outgoing leader, but an interview with his first secretary, Hazel Craig, reveals that his confidence at times covered a surprising self-consciousness.
Why does the Prime Minister of Australia sit at the table in the House of Representatives? No other PM does. A chance question led researcher Campbell to do some detective work, and in the process learn more about the shapes and settings of parliamentary chambers the world over.
Melbourne artist, craftivist and community development worker Tal Fitzpatrick talks about the process behind her socially engaged artwork PM Please.
On St. Patrick’s Day, we examine seven Irish–Australians who served as Prime Minister.
In a new exhibition that opens today, Canberra-based artist Alison Alder reinterprets and reinvigorates portraits of Australia’s first eight prime ministers. Here, historian Dr Chris Wallace responds to Alder’s works…
Until recently, King’s Hall has featured a number of portraits of well-known parliamentarians, including past prime ministers. Two of these were Bryan Westwood’s Archibald-prize winning ‘The Prime Minister’, depicting Paul Keating, and Louis Kahan’s ‘R.J.Hawke’.
On this day in 1967, Gough Whitlam replaced Arthur Calwell as leader of the Australian Labor Party.
As the world looks on as Donald Trump becomes the 45th U.S. President, researcher Campbell looks at meetings between other presidents and Australian prime ministers, and what effect they had on Australia.
On International Day of the Migrant, researcher Campbell looks at the seven Prime Ministers who came to Australia as migrants.
In 1965 Queen Elizabeth gave Sir Robert Menzies a gift so special that he had to contemplate burying it on a beach. What was it?
The second part of this series examines the historical passage of disability legislation through the parliament.
The blog post takes an historical look at former leaders who served in the parliament through the lens of disability.
On this day in 1966 Nedeljko Gajic was arrested in Braidwood after threatening a taxi driver. It was alleged by police that Gajic intended to ‘kill the head man of Australia, Mr Holt.’
100 years ago Australia was divided over the issue of conscription. Australia was one of the few countries without conscription, and Prime Minister Billy Hughes was determined to introduce it. Guest blogger Professor Joan Beaumont examines why the popular and bombastic Hughes, a man used to getting his own way by hook or by crook, failed in his mission.
Robert Menzies was prime minister for almost two decades in total, but he was also a man of many interests and talents. One of his interests was in film, and in 1954 he was presented with a gift that let him indulge that passion. The Menzies projector is a new acquisition into the MOAD collection that sheds light onto Menzies’ life outside politics.
