The first exhibition of the Robert Menzies Institute officially opens at the University of Melbourne

Chief Executive Officer of the Robert Menzies Institute Georgina Downer standing with Robert Menzies’s Grandson Alec Menzies at the Official opening of the first exhibition of the Robert Menzies Institute on 23 March 2022.

The first exhibition of the Robert Menzies Institute officially opened on Wednesday 23 March 2022 in our museum space in the Old Quad at the University of Melbourne.

The exhibition examines the influences on Menzies’s liberalism, and has been Co-curated by the Institute’s Deputy Chair Dr David Kemp and Menzies Research Centre Executive Director Nick Cater.

The exhibition aims to create an image of Menzies that Menzies himself would recognise, as opposed to the various projections which detractors and even supporters have attached to Menzies over the years.

The exhibition covers eight key themes, including Menzies as a Liberal, Political Architect, Leader, Parliamentarian, Family Man, Nation Builder, Patriot, and his Legacy.

Taken together they form a complete, nuanced and quite remarkable picture of Australia’s longest serving prime minister, which is brought to life by a host of unique and evocative artefacts. These are drawn heavily from the Menzies Collection, Menzies’s personal library of some 4000 books which he bequeathed to the University of Melbourne and which capture the breadth of his reading and thought, as well as other items brought in from public and personal collections around Australia.

The exhibition is officially open to the public by appointment. Tours can be booked at https://www.robertmenziesinstitute.org.au/visit.