Menzies and Australia’s Universities.

Why the scholarship carries Sir Robert Menzies’ name: his own route through scholarships to the University of Melbourne, and what his governments did for universities. Drawn from the Australian Dictionary of Biography, the National Archives of Australia and his statements to Parliament. The key dates are also set out in the timeline.

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Educated on Scholarships

Robert Gordon Menzies was born in 1894 at Jeparit, in country Victoria. At Ballarat’s Humffray Street State School he topped the State scholarship examination in 1907. The National Archives notes that, with no publicly funded secondary schools yet in Victoria, winning one of the 40 scholarships offered to state school students was the only way pupils of limited means could attend one of the State’s private secondary schools.

That scholarship took him to Grenville College in Ballarat for two years. The Australian Dictionary of Biography says this opened the way to a further scholarship at Wesley College in Melbourne. The National Archives tells it differently, saying his family moved to Melbourne and he enrolled at Wesley in 1910. In his final year there he topped the English and History examinations and won one of the 25 exhibitions the State awarded for university study.

He enrolled in law at the University of Melbourne in 1913. There he won prizes and exhibitions in history, jurisprudence and law, and the Bowen Prize for an English essay, and he was president of the Students’ Representative Council and editor of the Melbourne University Magazine. He graduated Bachelor of Laws with first-class honours in 1916 and Master of Laws in 1918.

The National Archives sums this up: born into humble circumstances, Menzies “obtained a first-class secondary and university education by winning a series of scholarships”.

Universities and the Commonwealth, 1950–1966

1950–51
The Commonwealth begins a scheme of grants to the States for their universities, in the first full financial year of Menzies’ second government. The Australian Dictionary of Biography links the legislation to a committee chaired by R. C. Mills.
1951
The Commonwealth Scholarship Regulations take effect from 1 January 1951, under the Education Act 1945, replacing the Universities Commission (Financial Assistance) Regulations made in 1946, 1947 and 1948. As the government described the scheme in 1962, a Commonwealth scholarship paid compulsory fees and, subject to a means test, a living allowance.
1956
In London in March, Menzies asks Sir Keith Murray, chairman of Britain’s University Grants Committee, to lead an inquiry into the future of Australian universities.
1957
The Committee on Australian Universities visits all seven Australian universities and reports in September. It recommends £22 million in emergency grants over three years, Commonwealth funds for new buildings and equipment, and a permanent body to advise on university policy. Most of its recommendations are adopted.
1958
Menzies introduces a bill to give effect to the Murray Committee’s proposals for 1958 to 1960. Commonwealth assistance to universities is “greatly increased”, in the government’s words.
1959
Parliament establishes the Australian Universities Commission, the permanent successor to the Murray Committee, to advise the Commonwealth on universities’ needs.
1960
On the Commission’s first report, Menzies tells the House that it recommends £103 million for State universities over 1961 to 1963, against some £55 million spent in the previous three years, and supports raising Commonwealth scholarships from 3,000 to 4,000 a year.
1964
The Martin Report on tertiary education recommends a “binary” system of universities and colleges of advanced education.

The Figures at the Time

Commonwealth grants for universities: £0.5m to over £11mGrants to the States for their universities, 1950–51 to 1960–61, as stated in “The Commonwealth and Education”, tabled by Menzies in 1962.
State spending on universities: £2.5m to £17mThe same ten years, from the same statement.
Commonwealth scholarship holders: Nearly 13,000 in 1961By 1962 there were 4,000 new awards a year, and more than 17,000 people had completed their studies with the scheme’s help.
University enrolments: About 42,000 in 1958Universities predicted 95,000 by 1966, Menzies told the House in 1960, citing the Australian Universities Commission’s first report.

The amounts are in pounds as the government reported them at the time, not adjusted for inflation. Separately, the Commonwealth itself maintained the Australian National University in Canberra, at a cost of over £3.5 million in 1960–61.

How Menzies Saw It

The National Archives notes that in his 1942 radio talks, including “The Forgotten People”, one of two recurring themes was that education was the best means of social and economic advancement for all.

Before the Murray inquiry, the Australian Dictionary of Biography’s entry on Sir Keith Murray records, Menzies “remained reluctant to involve the Commonwealth in their internal affairs”. Near the end of his parliamentary career he named the extension of federal involvement in education as one of the three achievements he was proudest of. The Dictionary’s entry on Menzies singles out the Murray committee, and his insistence that its recommendations be implemented in full, with funding provided “under conditions which preserved university autonomy”.

After Office

After retiring in 1966, Menzies spent time as scholar-in-residence at the University of Virginia, where he lectured on the growth of federal power in Australia. On his return he was elected Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, serving from 1967 to 1972. His estate included legacies to four universities.

Places and awards named for him include the Menzies Library at the Australian National University, the Menzies Building at Monash University and the Sir Robert Menzies Memorial Scholarship in Medicine. In 1967 the Harvard Club of Australia inaugurated the R.G. Menzies Scholarship to Harvard in his honour, with the Australian National University administering it.

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