Robert Menzies Notebook Collection

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Collection Description

This collection, part of the Robert Menzies Collection at the University of Melbourne, comprises a set of notebooks mainly covering the period 1913 to 1930, when Menzies was a student at the University of Melbourne and a barrister. This incomplete collection contains handwritten lecture notes made by Menzies as an undergraduate student; handwritten lecture notes made by Menzies as a sessional law tutor; handwritten lists of Menzies’ clients and fees; and handwritten legal notes by Menzies as a barrister at Selborne Chambers. Some notebooks contain loose enclosed documents mostly relating to law and cases, plus miscellaneous material dating from Menzies’ student years. Some later notebooks relate to Menzies’ early political career.

Biographical Note

Robert Gordon (Bob) Menzies (1894-1978) was Prime Minister of Australia, politician and barrister. Menzies studied Law at the University of Melbourne from 1913 to 1916. Menzies served for two years as president of the Law Students’ Society and was a founding member of the Historical Society. In 1916, he was elected president of the Students’ Representative Council and was appointed editor of the Melbourne University Magazine (MUM). Admitted to the Victorian Bar on 13 May 1918, Menzies became a tenant of Selborne Chambers, the established home of the Victorian Bar. He built a successful practice with an interest in constitutional law. Menzies’s political career began in state politics, when he entered the Victorian Legislative Council in 1928. In 1929, he stood successfully for a seat in the Legislative Assembly at the Victorian general elections. Menzies made the move from state to federal politics in 1934, whereupon he served as Commonwealth Attorney-General (1934-39). Menzies first served as Prime Minister from 1939 to 1941. In 1944, he formed the Liberal Party of Australia. Menzies’s second term as Prime Minister lasted from 1949 to 1966. Menzies held the federal seat of Kooyong until his retirement from politics in January 1966. After politics, he served as Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, from 1967 to 1972. Menzies died in 1978. In 1976, he offered his personal library to the University of Melbourne. The collection was installed in the Baillieu Library in 1980.

Acknowledgement

This digitisation project was supported by the Friends of the Baillieu Library

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    Legal notes from the collection of Robert Menzies; legal and case notes made by Robert Menzies
    Menzies, Robert Gordon (1919-1923)
    Notebook
    Two conjoined notebooks. First contains notes by an unknown person on property law presented at the University of Melbourne in 1919. Lectures 23 (17 May 1919) to 54 (no date). Second notebook (1923) inscribed 'Robt G. Menzies' and stamped 'ROBERT G. MENZIES, Barrister-at-Law'. Includes handwritten case and legal notes; list of practising members of the Victorian Bar (1918) and 'Catalogue: Books in Library March 1919'.
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    Robert Menzies' barrister notes: Clients and fees (1923-1924)
    Menzies, Robert Gordon (1923-1924)
    Notebook
    Handwritten list of clients and fees made by Robert Gordon Menzies, January 1923 to September 1924. Stamped 'SIR ROBERT MENZIES' and inscribed 'Robert G. Menzies'.
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    Notes by Robert Menzies on cases and legal subjects
    Menzies, Robert Gordon (c. 1924)
    Notebook
    Handwritten notes made by Robert Gordon Menzies on evidence, judgments and various cases; tribunal and procedure. Includes handwritten notes on letterhead of the Attorney-General Commonwealth of Australia on McAuliffe and Hughes.
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    Robert Menzies' barrister notes: Clients and fees (1924-1926)
    Menzies, Robert Gordon (1924-1926)
    Notebook
    Handwritten list of clients and fees made by Robert Gordon Menzies, October 1924 to October 1926. Stamped on front cover: 'SIR ROBERT MENZIES'. Includes several loose pages including: handwritten calculation of fees (dated July and August 1925); extract of birth certificate for Robert Gordon Menzies (issued 28 February 1913); handwritten copy of Morse Code; handwritten poem by Menzies on letterhead of the Law Students' Society of Victoria; receipt for payment from R.G. Menzies for rent of room in Bourke Street, Melbourne (25 October 1926); cutting from Australian Law Times (November 1911) on 'Tenant for life and casual profits' and 'Section 33 of Wills Act 1837'; and notes on subjects including the Conveyancing Act 1915; Supreme Court Act 1915; powers of life tenant; insolvency; Shelley's case; Landlord and Tenant Act 1909; fraudulent conveyances; special procedure on bills of exchange; mortgage before and after conveyancing act; 'Life tenant and dilapidation money (April 1912) etc.
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    Legal notes on cases, R.G. Menzies, Selborne Chambers
    Menzies, Robert Gordon (1925)
    Notebook
    Handwritten notes made by Robert Gordon Menzies while practising as a barrister. Inscribed on inside front cover: 'Legal notes on cases, R.G. Menzies, Selborne Chambers'. Subjects include: 'PASSING OFF & TRADE MARKS' 'GARNISHEE'; also notes on cases e.g. Federated Gas Employees Case (1925).
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    Notes by Robert Menzies on nationalisation of banking, credit, tariffs and other contemporary issues
    Menzies, Robert Gordon (c. 1935)
    Notebook
    Handwritten and typed notes made by Robert Gordon Menzies while practising as a barrister at Selborne Chambers, Melbourne. Subjects include: the nationalisation of banking, Douglas credit, tariff, Commonwealth assistance to primary producers, 'Lang policy', war debt, pensions, industrial policy, monetary policy, 'Financial policy (Theodore)', 'Sanctity of contract' and 'What sound government has done'.
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    Notes by Robert Menzies on cases
    Menzies, Robert Gordon (1947)
    Notebook
    Notes on various cases made by Robert Gordon Menzies. Inscribed on front cover 'R.G. MENZIES 1947'.