Afternoon Light

Were you aware that Australia was the first country in the world to hold an open competition to design its national flag? Or that the seventh point was added to the flag’s Federation Star when Austra…

Australians will soon vote on whether to constitutionally enshrine an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, but do we even accurately recall when Indigenous Australians received the vote? Many incorrectly …

When Robert Menzies was first induced to switch to Federal politics in 1934, he hesitated because he had significant reservations about spending a large amount of time in the national capital. He obs…

The Treasury portfolio is generally considered the second most important ministerial position, behind only that of Prime Minister. However, despite the onerous nature and great responsibility of the …

The Menzies era saw a number of important economic reforms including the creation of the Reserve Bank, signing of the 1957 Commerce Agreement with Japan, and the granting of the first export license …

Australia has often been described as a secular nation, however up until quite recently it is debatable whether that has been the case. While the government has never imposed a religion and the const…

Since the record-breaking run of Robert Menzies, there have been 14 leaders of the Liberal Party of Australia. Each of them has been influenced in various ways by the party’s founder, as they try to …

Since the record-breaking run of Robert Menzies, there have been 14 leaders of the Liberal Party of Australia. Each of them has been influenced in various ways by the party’s founder, as they try to …

When the Australian Commonwealth was formed in 1901, the Constitution left education as a matter for the States and Australia had only a handful of tertiary institutions. However, as the nation grew …

The first Liberal leader to win a Federal election outright was not Robert Menzies, it was in fact a little-remembered prime minister named Joseph Cook. Remarkably, Cook was also the first leader of …

Despite being the home of the central institution of Australian democracy, Canberra was long denied its own democratic rights. Initially envisaged as a seasonal town where people would only come when…

Enter any Australian bookshop over the last couple of decades, and you are likely to have been inundated with publications written by politicians trying to tell their life story, spill gossip and thr…

It was under Robert Menzies that Australia entered the nuclear age with the opening of the Lucas Heights Reactor in 1958. 65 years on, what looked to be the first step in a much bigger story remains …

Bob Santamaria is a key figure in the Menzies era. Despite being little known until the mid 1950s, Santamaria’s role as the driving force behind ‘the Movement’ helped to thwart communist influence in…

Since the record-breaking run of Robert Menzies, there have been 14 leaders of the Liberal Party of Australia. Each of them has been influenced in various ways by the party’s founder, as they try to …

Since the record-breaking run of Robert Menzies, there have been 14 leaders of the Liberal Party of Australia. Each of them has been influenced in various ways by the party’s founder, as they try to …

If one were to rank Australia’s most important Prime Ministers, Joseph Lyons would have to be high on the list. Not only did he lead the nation out of the Great Depression, but he was also responsibl…

The Korean War is in many respects the war that never ended. This year marks 70 years since the signing of the Armistice Agreement which ended the three-year conflict in which 339 Australians lost th…

Since the record-breaking run of Robert Menzies, there have been 14 leaders of the Liberal Party of Australia. Each of them has been influenced in various ways by the party’s founder, as they try to …

Ebony Nilsson, ‘It Will Be Classified’ The Remarkable Story of Bill Marshall & ASIO’s Operatives in Australia

The biographies of migrants – as individuals who move through countries, across borders …