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