How can you capture Sir Robert’s life and legacy in just two rooms?

On this week’s Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with Alex McDermott, the curator of the Robert Menzies’s Institute’s latest and greatest museum exhibit, about the process of distilling Menzies’s story into a message of inspiration for a general audience. Giving them an appreciation of the man, his role in fostering the Australian way of life we all know and love, and their own place in ‘the great procession’ of our liberal democracy.

Alex McDermott is the Curator at the Robert Menzies Institute. An author, historian and Executive Producer, his passion is writing histories which tell the pivotal stories that help us understand how we came to be who we are today. He was Historical Curator for the “Democracy DNA” exhibition [2022] at the Museum of Australian Democracy, authored Australian History For Dummies [2022] and various commissioned histories which explore the crucial role played by civic associations in Australia’s democratic history, such as Of no personal influence: how people of common enterprise unexpectedly shaped Australia [2015] to mark the 175th anniversary of Australian Unity. Across more than two decades as public historian he has contributed his expertise to Screen Australia, State Library of Victoria, La Trobe University, the Institute of Public Affairs, Channel 7, SBS, ABC, Sky News Documentaries and many other organisations.