In the Australian parliament on 23 May 1978, the Prime Minister, Mr Malcolm Fraser, in a tribute to Sir Robert Menzies stated:

By his own ability, his own determination, his own courage and his own will, he became one of the greatest Australians this nation has brought forth. His towering influence helped to mould this nation. He stood uncompromisingly for the abiding traditions and values of Australia. His temporary defeat in 1941 served only to lift him and to reveal his extraordinary resources of energy, the strength of his beliefs and the fortitude of his spirit. He led Australia through the boom years of the 1950's and into a period of unprecedented national development in the economy, industry, agriculture, the arts of learning.

Robert Gordon Menzies was born in Jeparit, Victoria on 15 December 1894. He was educated at Jeparit, Ballarat (Humffray Street State School and Grenville College), Wesley College, Melbourne and the University of Melbourne. He was a brilliant scholar. He graduated in law in 1917 with first class honours and was awarded, among other prizes, the Supreme Court Judges' Prize. He was called to the bar in 1918. In 1920 he married Pattie, daughter of Senator JW Leckie. After five years in the Victorian parliament, having been attorney-general and deputy premier, he was elected to the Commonwealth parliament as the member for Kooyong in 1934. In Canberra he immediately becomes attorney-general, a position he held for five years. From 1939 to 1941 he was Prime Minister. For the next eight years he was in opposition and during that time built into considerable strength the Liberal Party of Australia. In 1949 Menzies, as Liberal Party leader, became Prime Minister once again, a position he held continuously until he retired in January 1966. In 1963 he was appointed Knight of the Most Ancient and Most Nobel Order of the Thistle; Knight of the Order of Australia in 1976; Companion of Honour in 1951; Privy Councillor in 1937; Queen's Counsel in 1929. Menzies was a fellow of the Royal Society and he had received honorary doctorates from nineteen universities. He succeeded Sir Winston Churchill as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports in 1966. He died on 15 May 1978.

Throughout his active life, Menzies had two enduring professional interests - the law and politics. He had a brilliant legal intellect and brilliant powers of advocacy coupled with a notable professional competence. But going beyond these qualities, and pointing to his subsequent high success in political life were his regard, respect and instinct for the law and its foundations, and for its fundamental place in democratic life and government. Menzies respect for, and belief in, the established political institutions match his respect for the law. The parliament and the law together were, in his view, the most valuable Australian heritage. His political awareness, intellectually based as it was, was supplemented by his immense political skills and judgement. Mr WG Hayden, the Leader of the Opposition, aptly described this in his tribute to Menzies in parliament in 1978:

Sir Robert Menzies was one of the most effective politicians in Australia's history. He had a way of identifying the attitudes of the average Australian and appealing very vividly, clearly and incisively to those attitudes, showing a skill and understanding that I didn't suspect he had. He didn't appear to have the common touch. I thought he was consciously or naturally aristocratic and it surprised me to find out that he had the ability to know what the average man felt.

Just as Menzies knew the ways of people, he knows the ways of government. Teamwork was of special importance. In government he formed a framework, a formidable team of the Liberal/Country Party coalition. Concerning ministers, he looked to them for leadership in their own areas. Cabinet and he, himself, were available for advice or, if necessary, decision, but the first role in any portfolio belonged to the individual minister. A third element in this special teamwork concerned the Commonwealth Public Service. One of his former ministers, and later governor-general, Sir Paul Hasluck in 1979 said that Menzies

... held clearly the traditional view that the public service had its own distinctive place in the structure of government and should be capable of serving successive governments without fear or favour, regardless of which party had gained power ... I doubt whether the Commonwealth Public Service has ever been better used or more widely respected than it was in the Menzies years.

During his term Menzies established the medical, hospital and pharmaceutical benefits schemes, in the early 1950s which had a marked effect on the practise of medicine and on the health services generally. As well as other significant domestic measures such as an expanded immigration programme, encouragement of foreign investment to foster the economic development of Australia, and the development of Canberra through establishment of the National Capital Development Commission, Menzies introduced major educational measures.

Great improvements were made in tertiary institutions, first in the universities, which were in financially straitened circumstances. In secondary schools the emphasis was more on the provision of thousands of scholarships to enable selected students to undertake higher studies. It is of interest to note that Menzies, himself, had benefited greatly from scholarships as a boy. These measures gave the Commonwealth a great say in determining the shape of education as the financial assistance was available to all schools, both government and private. His personal satisfaction in these achievements were readily understandable and warranted. But viewed in a total sense his achievements go wider and deeper. They reside most impressively in the strong growth of the nation during his governments. Government under him had an even responsible, reliable, and principled character. These were stability, purpose, courage and vision - from which came great economic development. There was an international, as well as national perspective. Australia's relationships with its allies were especially close. Menzies brought the art of public leadership, and the quality of it, to high pitch. He served Australia as few have done.