Anne Henderson, ‘A Shakespearean play’ Menzies vs Evatt

There has never been a political rivalry in Australia quite like that between Robert Menzies and Herbert Evatt. Born in the same year, these two brilliant lawyers were on opposite sides of the Engineers’ Case and ended up on opposite sides of the House of Representatives. Evatt bested Menzies in the battle over the 1951 referendum, but there followed a political and arguably phycological implosion on Evatt’s part which would shape Australian politics for decades. Joining us to discuss their epic clashes is Anne Henderson, author of the new book Menzies Versus Evatt.

Want to hear more? Listen to Gideon Haigh delve further into the story of Evatt.

Want to learn more? Read our On This Day article on the Communism Referendum.

Anne Henderson was educated at Melbourne University and is deputy director of The Sydney Institute – a forum for debate and discussion which enjoys good relations with both sides of Australian politics. She is the editor of The Sydney Papers Online and one of Australia’s leading biographers with studies on Dame Enid Lyons and former prime minister Joseph Lyons along with books on immigration and women in politics. Anne Henderson’s Menzies at War was short-listed for the Prime Minister’s Prize for Australian History in 2015 and she appeared in the ABC TV documentary Howard on Menzies: Building Modern Australia (2016) and Foxtel’s The Menzies Years hosted by John Howard (2022).