At first Menzies went to Grenville College, a small private school in Ballarat. He was there for two years – 1908 and 1909. But in 1910 the Menzies family moved to Melbourne as James Menzies was entering State politics. Menzies chose to go to Wesley College, interestingly against the advice of his father who wanted him to attend Scotch College. Menzies had mates who were going to Wesley so that is where he went. Wesley College provided Menzies with a good education and in 1912 he won another scholarship of £40 (worth over $5000 today) towards his university studies. In 1913, Menzies went on to study law at the University of Melbourne where he continued to win many more prizes and scholarships and graduated with first class honours in 1916.

In his role as Federal Attorney-General – and thus a spokesperson for the government – Menzies became embroiled in some contentious issues which plagued the Lyons Government. These included the attempt to bar the entry of communist activist Egon Kisch into Australia and a disagreement with the trade unions over the export of pig-iron to Japan. Both issues cemented Menzies’ reputation as being a strong and forthright leader and the union dispute gave him one of his nicknames: ‘pig-iron Bob.’

In 1939, Menzies resigned from Cabinet in protest at the Lyons’ government’s failure to uphold its election promise of establishing a proper National Insurance scheme which would support Australians who were ill, unemployed, poor or in their old age. Whilst such a scheme was legislated as the National Health and Pensions Insurance Act 1938, in 1939 the funds for the scheme were diverted to National defence so it could not be implemented. As a result, when Joseph Lyons died in April 1939, the UAP were leaderless. However, Menzies stepped into the breach and was elected Leader of the UAP and thus Prime Minister of Australia.

Menzies’ first term as Prime Minister was just over two years, a brief period when compared with his second term of sixteen years and thirty-eight days. In 1941, amidst dissension with the UAP’s allies in the Country Party, Menzies resigned as Prime Minister, paving the way for the eventual ascension of John Curtin’s Labor government.

In 1944, Menzies spearheaded the formation of a new political party, the Liberal Party, which included the United Australian Party plus seventeen other non-Labor parties. Menzies’ vision for the party was ‘a true revival of liberal thought which will work for social justice and security, for national power and national progress, and for the full development of the individual citizen…’ Despite an initial loss at the 1946 election, the Liberal party would go on to win the next six general elections. Menzies’ second term, which began in 1949 and ended in 1966, was regarded as a period of economic growth, increased prosperity for Australians and great social change for Australia despite some periods of political turmoil.

Menzies and his government achieved much in his second term as Prime Minister and this reflected one of his core beliefs; that politics was a public service and that its primary purpose was to serve the interests of the community and improve the lives of the Australian people. The list of achievements and improvements to Australian society by the Menzies government is a long one and included an overall improvement in the standard of living for Australians, a rapid rise in home ownership through the renegotiation of the Commonwealth State Housing Agreement, the Home Savings Grants Scheme and Housing Loans Insurance Corporation to help more Australians own their own home. The Menzies government also initiated many social security and medical benefits schemes, such as pensions and concessions for the needy and free medical treatment for pensioners. These changes formed the basis for many of the social and medical schemes today which help all Australians. Menzies was also passionate about education and giving educational opportunities to those who otherwise might not be able to afford a higher education. He initiated the Commonwealth scholarship schemes for both secondary and tertiary education to help others just as he had been helped as a schoolboy. He also introduced State aid for non-government schools, tax deductions for school fees and other school expenses to help families send their children to school.

The Menzies government helped lead a mining boom which made Australia economically strong, and improved roads and transport which helped develop inland Australia. The Government supported and completed large scale engineering projects such as the Snowy Mountain hydro scheme. The government were staunch supporters of the immigration scheme which saw the arrival in Australia of one million immigrants over a ten-year period. All of this led to great prosperity for Australia and a top ten spot as a trading nation.

On the world stage Menzies and his government also played a key role, especially in the Asia-Pacific region. Menzies was instrumental in the creation of the South-East Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO), the Australia, New Zealand, and United States Security Treaty (ANZUS), as well as a commerce treaty with Japan and the Colombo Plan to assist Southeast Asian countries. The Menzies government also, in 1954, established Mawson Station in Antarctica for both scientific research and to protect Australia’s claim to 42% of the Antarctic continent. It is now the longest running research station in Antarctica.