Australia’s longest-serving prime minister was born on this day 116 years ago. Robert Menzies became a prominent Melbourne barrister in the 1920s before being elected to the Victorian Legislative Council in 1928 as a member of the Nationalist Party. In 1929 he was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly, and he served as deputy premier of Victoria from 1932 to 1934, when he transferred to federal politics.
The Nationalist Party merged with other non-Labor parties to form the United Australia Party, and Menzies was elected to the Australian House of Representatives in 1934 representing the UAP. He served as Attorney-General and Minister for Industry. After the death of the prime minister in 1939, he was elected leader of the UAP, then sworn in as prime minister. He remained prime minister at the outbreak of the second world war, but was forced to resign when he lost support in 1941.
In 1945 Menzies became leader of the newly created Liberal Party, and in 1949, in the wake of a coal strike organised by the Communist Party, the Liberal Party won in a landslide and Menzies was again appointed prime minister. He survived close elections in 1954 and again in 1961, but remained in power until he retired on Australia Day 1966.