Leo Ng from Marist College in Canberra has taken out the National History Challenge special category ‘Sir Robert Menzies and today’s Australia’ with an
excellent essay addressing the question ‘Did Sir Robert Menzies contribute to a better world?’.
Leo was awarded the prize for the special category on Sir Robert Menzies at the National History Challenge awards at Parliament House, where he was congratulated
by Menzies Foundation CEO, Sarah Hardy. The Foundation has sponsored the special category for the last three years.
Leo’s essay says Menzies ‘undoubtedly contributed to a better world, especially for Australians’.
With many examples of Sir Robert Menzies’ 18 years as Prime Minister, Leo argues that Menzies ‘revolutionised the country’s standards and expectations
of their leaders’.
In his research he found Menzies had an ‘uncanny focus on the working middle class’, which still has an impact on how Australia functions now. Leo says
Menzies not only formidably represented Australia on the world stage but ‘his office kick-started advances in Australian education, academia and health
care’.
He sums up by saying ‘Regardless of political philosophy, it is difficult to deny the far-reaching and penetrating influence that Sir Robert Menzies has
had’ in his time as Prime Minister.
You can read Leo’s outstanding essay here. Leo Ng: Sir Robert Menzies – a better world766.61 KB
