Robert Gordon Menzies was born in Jeparit, Victoria, on 20 December 1894, the third of four children to James and Kate Menzies. A gifted student, Menzies won scholarships to study at Grenville College Ballarat, Wesley College and at the University of Melbourne. He went on to become a successful lawyer and was appointed Kings Counsel at the age of 25. 

He became a member of the Victorian Parliament in 1928 and served as Attorney General and Minister for Railways in the Victorian State Government of Sir Stanley Argyle.  

Menzies entered the Federal Parliament in 1934 as the Member for Kooyong and was immediately appointed Attorney General and Minister for Industry in the Government of then-Prime Minister Joseph Lyons. 

After the sudden death of Lyons in 1939, Menzies became Prime Minister, and subsequently won the 1940 election. After losing the support of his party and that of the United Australia Party’s coalition partner, the Country Party, Menzies resigned the prime ministership on 29 August 1941 in favour of Country Party leader Arthur Fadden. 

While on the backbench, Menzies delivered a series of radio broadcasts from 1942-44 which became known as the Forgotten People speeches. These speeches set out Menzies’s philosophy in which he placed the middle class at the centre of his thinking. Recognising the demise of the United Australia as a political force in Australia, Menzies brought together non-Labor organisations to form the Liberal Party of Australia in 1944.

On 10 December 1949, Menzies led the Liberal Party to victory in the Federal election, beating the Chifley Labor Government. He would hold the post of Prime Minister for 16 years one month and seven days, a record unbeaten to this day. Menzies retired as prime minister on 20 January 1966, having won seven consecutive elections.

After retiring from politics, Menzies was appointed by Her Majesty the Queen as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. He was the Chancellor of the University of Melbourne from 1967-1972. 

Menzies died on 15 May 1978 at his home in Haverbrack Avenue, Malvern.