Summary heading

Folder of papers maintained by Robert Gordon Menzies as Prime Minister

Function and purpose

This series consists of folders of papers maintained by Robert Gordon Menzies as Prime Minister (December 1949 – January 1966). Most of the papers cover the period 1950-1965, although a small number are dated earlier (essentially from 1945) or are from the months following Menzies’ retirement. The folders include correspondence relating to official rather than private business. Several of them consist of correspondence with Ministers (eg J McEwen, W McMahon, W H Spooner, H E Holt and R G Casey), other Members of Parliament and prominent church figures. There is also some correspondence between Menzies and state Premiers and from the United Kingdom Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan. Many of the letters were originally treated as confidential. Other papers in the folders include Cabinet submissions, telegrams, statements, speech notes, reports, news clippings and printed material. The records cover a wide range of subjects including the economy, budgets, defence, primary and secondary industry, the conferring of honours and awards, royal visits, Communism, Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ meetings, Britain’s entry into the Common Market, overseas visits, external affairs, elections and electoral redistribution.

The records were transferred to archival custody by the Prime Minister’s Department, and a single number system of control was subsequently imposed on the folders. Some original file covers carried a title but, in most cases, it has been necessary to impose a file title. Both these and the series description were revised as part of the Prime Ministers Papers’ Project in December 2002.

System of arrangement and control

Single number system imposed by the National Archives of Australia

Custodial history

Item 122 was transferred to the custody of the National Archives of Australia on 10 November 2008 from an anonymous source via the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.