Menzies Australia Institute

Celebrating 40 years of the Menzies Australia Institute

In 2022-23, Menzies Australia Institute at King's is celebrating its 40th anniversary. Join us as we review all we achieved over the past 40 years and our reflections on our work to come.

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Global Australia: our new research theme

Australia has long been connected to its region and the world beyond. Before colonisation, Yolŋu people from northeastern Arnhem Land traded with sailors from nearby Makassar (now in Indonesia) and connected Indigenous Australians with supply chains stretching to China. Settler colonialism heralded widespread institutional and personal links with Britain as well as other parts of Europe, Asia, the United States and beyond.

These links inspired a great deal of travel and mobility, and today, Australians are among the world’s most voracious travellers and significant numbers of Australian expats can be found around the world, including in London.

Panel discussion on 'The Voice' referendum in context

On 3 October 2023, the Institute hosted a panel discussion, in partnership with the Britain-Australia Society, to discuss the referendum to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. The event reflected on the constitutional reform and historical legacies.

The panel was moderated by Dr Agnieszka Sobocinska, Director of the Menzies Australia Institute, and featured contributions by Associate Professor Crystal McKinnon, Dr Anne Macduff, Dr Sarah Keenan, and Ethan Taylor.

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Panelists on stage at the event by Menzies Australia Institute to discuss the Australian 'Voice' referendum.

2023 Visiting Fellow and Gunter Scholars

In April, the Institute was proud to welcome Dr Aditya Balasubramanian as the first Australia National University/Menzies Australia Institute Visiting Fellow.

The Richard Gunter Scholarships are travel bursaries, which support postgraduate research students at King’s, and in British and European universities, to do research focused on Australia.

We were excited to award three Gunter travel bursaries in 2023. The inaugural winners of the scholarships are: Edward Pinfield, Matthew Kwok and David Prosser.

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Graphic of Australia on the globe with light paths connecting it to other parts of the globe

The Annual Menzies Lecture

The Menzies Lecture is delivered by a distinguished person, of any nationality, to reflect on a subject of contemporary interest affecting Britain and Australia.

The 2023 lecture titled 'Australia: A New Political Geography?' was delivered by Professor Frank Bongiorno, Professor of History. He discussed the transformation of Australia into a nation very different from what its founders imagined it to be.

The Annual Reese Lecture

The Reese Memorial Lecture is given in honour of Dr Trevor Reese, a distinguished historian of the British Commonwealth and Australia and Reader at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, the Institute’s home from 1982 to 1999. The lecture is given by an emerging scholar in the disciplines of history or political science.

The 2023 Reese Lecture titled 'Negotiating a warming world: Australia, the Pacific and climate change since the 1980s', was presented Dr Ruth Morgan. She offered a historical account of Australia's role in negotiating climate change and its effects in the region.