Zachary Gorman, ‘This Empowerment Philosophy’ Sir Joseph Cook

The first Liberal leader to win a Federal election outright was not Robert Menzies, it was in fact a little-remembered prime minister named Joseph Cook. Remarkably, Cook was also the first leader of the NSW Labor party and his story reveals the how and the why of the emergence of the Australian party system, and the philosophical lines of cleavage which continue to shape our nation. Born in an English coal mining town in 1860, Cook entered the mines as a pit boy at just age nine, and his life is a remarkable tale of human agency and Australian social mobility. It was this lived experience of opportunity and success which ultimately turned Cook into a powerful and persuasive advocate of the enduring values of Australian liberalism.

In this week’s episode of the Afternoon Light podcast, Robert Menzies Institute CEO Georgina Downer talks to Zachary Gorman, author of a new biographical monograph on Australia’s sixth prime minister Joseph Cook.

Dr Zachary Gorman is the Academic Coordinator for the Robert Menzies Institute at the University of Melbourne. A professional historian who has specialised in the history of Australian liberalism, he has a PhD from the University of Wollongong where he worked for several years. He has authored three books, Sir Joseph Carruthers: Founder of the New South Wales Liberal Party, Summoning Magna Carta: Freedom’s Symbol Over a Millennium, and most recently Joseph Cook. He also edited Captain James Cook, R.N.: 150 Years After, and The Young Menzies: Success, Failure, Resilience 1894–1942.