Melbourne Launch of ‘The Menzies Legacy’ | Professor Glyn Davis AC

We are excited to invite you to the Melbourne launch of ‘The Menzies Legacy: Ideals, Change, Procession, 1960s and Beyond’, the final volume in our four‑part history of Menzies and his world, a project shaped by conferences convened by the Robert Menzies Institute at the University of Melbourne.

We are honoured to announce that Professor Glyn Davis AC, interim Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, will officially launch the book. Glyn will share his reflections on The Menzies Legacy and discuss how its themes resonate with Australia today.

Details of the event are:

Date: Wednesday 20 May
Time: 5:30pm – 7pm (AEST)
Venue: Robert Menzies Institute, Old Quad, East Wing, University of Melbourne, Parkville
Tickets: FREE for members / $30 for non-members. Book your ticket HERE.

Drinks and canapés included.

You can pre-order your copy of The Menzies Legacy HERE. Copies of the book will also be available for purchase and signing on the night.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Menzies led Australia for over half the decade, finally retiring in 1966 as our oldest prime minister. His reputation for stability and continuity appears opposed to everything we commonly associate with the 1960s. Yet he governed during a dynamic period marked by rising levels of homeownership, university education, opportunities for women, engagement with Asia, instantaneous communications, space exploration, international travel and trade.

These years also saw the decline of bitter sectarian divisions, an evolving Australian identity and even the introduction of a new currency. Multitudinal transformations occurred against a backdrop of stormy geopolitical tensions, involving a presidential assassination, a clandestine war with Indonesia, the introduction of conscription and the commitment of a combat battalion to Vietnam.

Australia would never be the same, but was this because of or despite Menzies?

Contributors include Christopher Beer, Geoffrey Blainey, Frank Bongiorno, Nicholas Brown, Andrew Carr, Jennifer Clark, Selwyn Cornish, Gwilym Croucher, Peter Dean, Damien Freeman, David Furse-Roberts, Matilda Hatcher, John Hawkins, Anne Henderson, Sean Jacobs, David Lee, Tom Lewis, Stephen Loosley, Lucas McLennan, Lyndon Megarrity, Michael de Percy, Charles Richardson, Dean Smith, William Stoltz, James Waghorne, James Walter and Joshua Woodward.

ABOUT PROFESSOR GLYN DAVIS AC

Professor Glyn Davis AC is a public policy specialist and interim Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne. He served previously in the role from January 2005 to September 2018, and has returned at the request of the University’s Council following the tragic death of Vice-Chancellor Emma Johnston AO.

Prior to his current role Professor Davis served as Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and Head of the Australian Public service from June 2022 until June 2025.

From 2019 Professor Davis served as Chief Executive Officer of the Paul Ramsay Foundation, then Australia’s largest charitable foundation, with a mission to break the cycle of disadvantage. In this role he published On Life’s Lottery(Hachette, 2021), an essay on our moral responsibility toward those less fortunate.

Professor Davis holds a first-class honours degree in Political Science from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and a PhD from the Australian National University (ANU). In 1988, Professor Davis undertook post-doctoral studies as a Harkness Fellow, with appointments at the University of California, Berkeley, the Brookings Institution in Washington DC and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

His academic career began at Griffith University, which he joined as a lecturer in public policy, holding various teaching and research roles until appointed a professor in 1998 and Vice-Chancellor in 2002.

Professor Davis is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia and was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia in 2002 for service to public administration and governance and to education. He is a visiting Professor at the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford, and the Policy Institute at Kings College London.

Alongside his work in universities and government Professor Davis has long been involved in music and theatre. He is currently Chair of Opera Australia, the nation’s largest performing arts company.