History
When the Sir Robert Menzies Memorial Foundation restored "Clarendon Terrace"
for the National Trust in 1981, a museum of Menzies memorabilia was high
amongst future aims. In the event, insufficient material was available
to achieve this aim on site and other options were explored. The first
was the creation of the splendid "Menzies in his time" video
in 1994, the centenary of Sir Robert Menzies' birth.
Discussions
were held in 1995 with Steve Bowman Studios and Mr Itiel Bereson as a
consultant regarding the creation of a multi-site, interactive educational
facility including a physical timeline to be accessed at "Clarendon
Terrace". The Board considered the proposal from Steve Bowman Studios
and, although the value was freely acknowledged, early estimates of the
cost and a later feasiblity study put such a project beyond the reach
of the Foundation.
In
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
web site. That proposal has been progressed as an independent web site
by the current Secretariat, Professor John Coghlan (Executive Director)
and Ms Sandra Mackenzie (General Manager).
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
Sir Robert's life from 1894 to 1978. It contains more than 750 images,
several sound and film clips and more than 80,000 words of supporting
text including "The
Forgotten People" essays.
About this site
The
time line is organised on three levels:
(1) the life and times of Sir Robert Menzies;
(2) people and events that shaped Australian history during that
time; and
(3) world events that took place during those years.
Looking
at the time line in any one year, the context of what was happening in
Sir Robert's life, Australia and the world can be seen. For example, the
year 1965
includes photographs of Sir Robert's 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 Sir Robert Menzies' tribute broadcast from the crypt
of St Paul's Cathedral.
The
site is designed to be of value to school children and members of the
general public who have an interest in Australian history and the life
and times of Sir Robert Menzies. It is an ongoing project of the Menzies
Foundation and will be updated continually as further material on Sir
Robert becomes available.
The
Menzies Virtual Museum was launched by the Hon John Howard, Prime Minister
of Australia at Clarendon Terrace on Friday, 13th September 2002. Information
and photographs of the launch can be seen here.
Copyright
Copyright
of the Menzies Virtual Museum website resides with the Sir Robert Menzies
Memorial Foundation ("Menzies Foundation"). Apart from fair
dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review,
as permitted under copyright legislation, no part may be reproduced
or reused for any commercial purposes whatsoever.
Contact
us
The
Menzies Foundation
Clarendon Terrace
210 Clarendon Street
East Melbourne Vic 3002
Australia
Fax
+61 3 9417 7049
Email admin@menziesvirtualmuseum.org.au
Website Menzies
Foundation
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