In early 1941, Robert Gordon Menzies made his fourth visit to England, and his first as Prime Minister of Australia. He left by flying boat from Rose Bay, Sydney on 24 January, returning the same way on 25 May. The purpose of the trip was to discuss the defence of Singapore, trade and war production. Menzies was accompanied by two advisers, Frederick Shedden, then Head of the Department of Defence Co-ordination, John Storey from the Aircraft Production Commission, and two secretaries (N C Tritton and S Landau). Menzies kept a diary of the trip, now held by the National Library of Australia (1).

This series records the regular cable communication between Menzies and Australia while he was away. Some of the cables are concerned with travel arrangements, but most relate to the war situation, including strategic planning, war production, supplies, defence organisation, Australian troops in the Middle East, and other government business dealt with during the period of Menzies' absence. Many of the cables are addressed to Arthur William Fadden as Acting Prime Minister. However, the series also includes some personal cables to or from members of Menzies' Party. These were probably sent through official channels because of wartime restrictions. 

Some files include duplicates of the same cable, and there is also duplication of cables between different files. Most of the cables date from late January to mid May 1941. A few cables dating from 1943, originally in the series, appear to have been removed, possibly because they related to the later establishment of the United Nations rather than to Menzies' 1941 wartime trip.

The cables were transferred to archival custody in 1953 by the Prime Minister's Department (ref. RWC2/1/50), and a single number system of control was subsequently imposed on the files. The series description was revised as part of the Prime Ministers Papers Project (May 2002).
 
Endnotes:

1. NLA, MS 4936, series 13, 3 vols. It has also been published (AW Martin and Patsy Hardy, eds, Dark and hurrying days: Menzies' 1941 diary (Canberra, NLA, 1993)