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The Menzies Foundation: an unconventional memorialSandra K Mackenzie AbstractAustralia does not have a conventional prime ministerial library to honour its longest serving prime minister, Sir Robert Menzies. This paper outlines the alternative memorials established by the Menzies Foundation including the creation of the Menzies Virtual Museum website. Sir John Bunting described Robert Gordon Menzies (1894-1978) as ...the benchmark Australian Prime Minister. Week by week, and even day by day, press, radio and television refer to him for political illumination. Leaders and governments and events are measured against his standards.1 Why then, is there not a conventional prime ministerial library to honour Australia's longest serving Prime Minister? After Sir Robert Menzies retired from politics in 1966, but before his death in 1978, a number of organisations offered suggestions for ways to commemorate his contribution to Australian life.[2] A planning group, led by Sir William Vines and co-ordinated by Sir John Bunting, was put in place to implement the ideas. Consequently, when Prime Minister Fraser spoke in the parliament following Sir Robert Menzies' death on 15 May 1978, he was able to say that there would be a memorial trust to commemorate Sir Robert Menzies and that Sir William Vines would be its chairman. At its first meeting on 30 November 1978, the trust appointed a National Committee which soon began work on two tasks: (1) how to raise money and (2) to decide on the form of memorial. The underlying principle was the creation of a memorial that would, in some way, be of benefit to all Australians. The Committee began in reverse order - deciding first on the form of memorial as the basis for the public appeal and it took altogether the best part of a year to do that. One suggestion which finally emerged as a front runner was the concept of a United World College in Australia. A similar memorial to a former Canadian prime minister had been established in British Columbia as the Lester B Pearson United World College of the Pacific. A further proposal was the creation of an independent policy research institute similar to the Brooking Institute. After lengthy research and discussion, both ideas were deemed not to conform to the trust's wish to benefit as many Australians as possible. At this time (1978) the expectation was that a new prime minister's residence would be built and included in the long list of ideas offered to the Menzies Trust for consideration was 'a library of Menzies papers - perhaps, in due course, in the present Prime Minister's Lodge in Canberra'.[3] Again, the proposal did not meet the Trust's criteria to benefit as many Australians as possible. Its preference was for a foundation with a medical and health research focus that 'would improve fitness through enjoyment and performance at all levels in the community.'[4] Another practical reason for not considering the prime ministerial library proposal further was that Menzies' papers and other collections had already been directed elsewhere. As Graeme Powell details in this volume, Menzies had bequeathed his papers to the Parliamentary Library.[5] The Parliamentary Library, which does not collect archival material, directed that the papers be placed in the National Library. A personal library had also been formally gifted to the University of Melbourne Library in 1976.[6] This collection comprises Menzies' personal library (from his office in Collins Street and home in Malvern but not his law library) of 3500-4000 volumes, many signed and reflecting friendships and his interests including cricket, Scottish heritage, politics, history and the classics. The collection also includes other material such as lecture notes from his time as a student at the University of Melbourne, souvenir ephemera, a barrister's accounts book and photo albums. About the Menzies FoundationIn February 1979 it was agreed that the principal memorial to Sir Robert Menzies was to be a non-political foundation called 'The Sir Robert Menzies National Foundation for health, fitness and physical achievement'. It would be located in Melbourne with Sir Edward Hughes, then president of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, as its founding chairman. The appeal brochure emphasised that the Menzies Foundation: ... would be broad in vision and high in aspiration, and be directed to improving the quality of life. It would have wide appeal among Australian men and women and a special application to young people. It would for these reasons be appropriate to the memory of the man to be honoured. Having concluded that some aspect of health and fitness would be the main focus of memorial activities, the trust also decided that it would not limit itself to this area alone but would also engage in a number of subsidiary activities. These included the possibility of developing scholarships in law and medicine.[7] The public appeal raised $6.2 million in 1979. The funds were invested so that the income could be used to support the various memorial activities in perpetuity. In its first 25 years, the Menzies Foundation expended approximately $20 million of its investment income on a program of initiatives that included:
When the Menzies Foundation restored Clarendon Terrace in association with the National Trust in 1981, some space for a museum of Menzies memorabilia was created in the redevelopment. Although the Foundation housed some items of memorabilia, including a collection of original cartoons and photographs, the material was insufficient to be classed as a 'museum' and unlikely to attract many visitors. It was also agreed that Old Parliament House in Canberra would be the most appropriate place for the memorabilia to be seen by the general public and the collection was transferred there in 2000. Other options for disseminating information on Sir Robert Menzies were also explored. The first was the creation of the 'Menzies in His Time' video in 1994, the centenary of Menzies' birth. Discussions were also held in 1995 regarding the creation of an interactive educational facility including a physical timeline of Menzies' life to be accessed at Clarendon Terrace. Early estimates of the cost put such a project beyond the reach of the Foundation and a feasibility study also concluded that school children were now turning to the internet for educational information. It was at this time that the foundation built its first website in response to prospective scholarship applicants requesting that application forms be made available for downloading from the internet. The Menzies Foundation was one of the first philanthropic scholarship organisations in Australia to have such a facility available and effectively operational. A brief summary of Menzies' achievements was included on the site and it soon became apparent that school children and academic researchers were keen to access more detailed information about Sir Robert Menzies from the Menzies Foundation's website. The Menzies Virtual Museum websiteIn December 1997, the Menzies Foundation's Board of Directors agreed to a proposal from the executive director, Dr Eric Wigglesworth, that an educational facility to honour Sir Robert Menzies should be developed on the foundation's website. That proposal has been progressed as an independent website by the current secretariat, Professor John Coghlan (executive director) and Ms Sandra Mackenzie (general manager). On 13th September 2002, John Howard, Prime Minister of Australia, launched the Menzies Virtual Museum website (http://www.menzies virtualmuseum.org.au) at Clarendon Terrace. The Menzies Virtual Museum is an educational resource which documents the life and achievements of Sir Robert Menzies. The site is a time line spanning Menzies' life from 1894 to 1978. It contains more than 750 images, cartoons, several sound and film clips from various sources and more than 80 000 words of supporting text, including 'The Forgotten People', essays written and broadcast by Menzies in 1942. The time line is organised on three levels:
Looking at the time line in any one year, the context of what was happening in Menzies' life, Australia and the world can be seen. For example, the year 1965 includes photographs of Menzies' appointment as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, photographs of anti-Vietnam war protests in Australia, and the death of Sir Winston Churchill in London, including a sound recording and transcript of Menzies' tribute, broadcast from the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral. The site is designed to be of value to school children, academics and members of the general public who have an interest in Australian history and the life and times of Menzies. The web statistics suggest that, in its first two years online, most of the 90 000 visitors to the site were school children who accessed the site during school terms. The website is an ongoing project of the Menzies Foundation and will be updated continually as further material becomes available. Additions to the site since it was launched have included family photographs of Menzies in his role of grandfather, not seen before by the general public. The material is generally not held by the foundation but copied and returned to the owners. The Menzies Virtual Museum has links to other sites that have material on Menzies, including the National Archives of Australia and the National Library of Australia. The site aims to complement and not duplicate or compete with the resources of those organisations. The forthcoming Menzies edition of the 'Guide to Archives of Australia's Prime Ministers' to be published by the National Archives of Australia will be an invaluable resource in directing researchers to the various sources of information. The Menzies Foundation is keen to foster such links and interactions with like organisations that have a role in promoting Australian history, particularly through the lives and achievements of Australian prime ministers. As an example, in November 2004, Old Parliament House provided a link from its website to the Menzies Virtual Museum as part of its WebQuest for students in Years 9-12. The WebQuest poses a research question and provides the resources and structure to allow the students to work towards an answer. The current WebQuest is on the Petrov Affair (http://www.oldparliamenthouse.gov.au/petrovwebquest) and a chapter entitled 'The Petrov Spy Case' from Menzies' book The Measure of the Years has been provided on the Menzies Virtual Museum site as an additional resource. Whilst there may not be a conventional prime ministerial library to honour Sir Robert Menzies, the Menzies Foundation has been able to create alongside its Menzies memorials devoted to health research and scholarship, an effective internet facility that has been described by the current prime minister, John Howard, as 'an invaluable educational resource particularly for young Australians'.[8] Notes
Ms Sandra K Mackenzie (please remove '.nospam' from address), General Manager, The Menzies Foundation, 210 Clarendon Street, East Melbourne Vic 3002.
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