Afternoon Light

In this special summer series of the Afternoon Light podcast you can enjoy the presentations delivered at our November 2025 conference entitled ‘Menzies and the British Commonwealth of Nationa’. This sixth episode features Michael de Percy's paper 'God, King, and Country: British Identity and the Australian Defence Force', Greg Melleuish's paper 'Being British, Being Australian', & Peter Kurti...

In this special summer series of the Afternoon Light podcast you can enjoy the presentations delivered at our November 2025 conference entitled ‘Menzies and the British Commonwealth of Nations’. This fifth episode features Dan Brettig's paper 'Menzies, Cricket, and the Cold War', Teesta Prakash's paper 'Menzies, Commonwealth and Kashmir', Stewart Gill's paper 'Canada and Australia in the Commonwea...

In this special summer series of the Afternoon Light podcast you can enjoy the presentations delivered at our November 2025 conference entitled ‘Menzies and the British Commonwealth of Nation’. This fourth episode features Selwyn Cornish & John Hawkins's paper 'Menzies, Keynes and the Australian economists', Mark Lunney's paper 'A Judicial Commonwealth?', & Eli Rubenstein Sturgess's paper...

In this special summer series of the Afternoon Light podcast you can enjoy the presentations delivered at our November 2025 conference entitled ‘Menzies and the British Commonwealth of Nation’. This third episode features David Furse-Roberts's paper 'A Twentieth Century Australian Whig: Robert Menzies and the Nineteenth Century British Liberal Tradition', Charles Richardson's paper 'Menzies, Burke...

In this special summer series of the Afternoon Light podcast you can enjoy the presentations delivered at our November 2025 conference entitled ‘Menzies and the British Commonwealth of Nations’. This second episode features Lee Rippon's paper 'Britain, Australia, the Empire and prisoner of war diplomacy, 1939–1942', Wayne Reynolds's paper 'Navigating Imperial Overstretch east of Suez: Menzies and...

In this special summer series of the Afternoon Light podcast you can enjoy the presentations delivered at our November 2025 conference entitled ‘Menzies and the British Commonwealth of Nation’. This first episode features the keynote address delivered by Martin Farr, Josh Woodward's paper 'Enlarged horizons and excited imagination: Rereading Robert Menzies’s 1935 overseas diary', & David Lee's...

Robert Menzies served 18 years as PM, but were they all as good as each other? On this week’s Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with Andrew Kemp, who has recently ranked Australian Prime Ministers by the best and worst terms of government we have experienced. A fun and enlightening exercise that highlights how good governance can be judged not merely on the policy programs for which governmen...

How did the shopping centre become a ubiquitous part of Australian life & is its retail and cultural hegemony greater here than anywhere else on the planet? On this week's Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with retail historian Matthew Bailey to reveal the fascinating stories associated with the rise of the Australian Shopping Centre. An outgrowth of Menzies-era prosperity, automobility a...

Was an Aussie more essential to the development of the Atom bomb than J. Robert Oppenheimer, & if so why don't we remember him? On this week's Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with Roland Perry to reveal the remarkable story of Mark Oliphant. A man who arguably won the Second World War twice: first by developing radar to stave off the Nazis, and then by developing the bomb that knocked o...

What did it mean when Australians used to boast that we were 'more British than the British'? On this week's Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with Stuart Ward to discuss the complexities of British identity, as it once held sway across Australia and the broader British Empire. A defining yet evasive term that meant many different things to many different people, and perhaps because of this,...

How did a PM who only ever won one election become as iconic as Ben Chifley? On this week's Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with David Day to discuss Australia's 16th PM. The pipe smoking Bathurst train driver who suffered a trade unionist's martyrdom, before rising to become the architect of Australia's post war settlement. An endearing pragmatist respected even by his opponents, who ironi...

Did Gough Whitlam crash through or simply crash? On this week's Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with Troy Bramston about his new book,  Gough Whitlam: The Vista of the New. The first full length biography of the iconic Labor PM since his passing in 2014, and one replete with lessons for Australia's present generation of political leaders. Troy Bramston is a senior writer and columnist with...

How did Robert Menzies develop his skillful way with words? On this week's Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with Julian Leeser & Damien Freeman about the new book  Fancies I Dare Not Speak: The Hidden Verse of R.G. Menzies . Revealing how poetry helped to shape the young Menzies, Australian culture, and our nation's quest to understand who we are. Julian Leeser is the Shadow Minister for...

What did the Iron Lady have in common with Pig Iron Bob? On this week's Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with Margaret Thatcher's official biographer Charles Moore to explore her life and legacy on the centenary of her birth. Revealing how the grocer's daughter from Lincolnshire drew inspiration from the shopkeeper's son from Jeparit, in her trailblazing quest to reinvigorate Britain and def...

Why are we so quick to try to censor opinions with which we disagree? On this week's Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with Toby Young, founder of the Free Speech Union, to discuss the current fight for free debate across the Anglosphere. Giving insights into his own experience of being 'cancelled', the massive legislative encroachment on free expression, and what the FSU is doing to protect...

What happens to an ex-prime minister's legacy when they repudiate the political party that would otherwise have championed it? On this week's Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with Margaret Simons to unpack the complexities of the career, beliefs and impact of Australia's twenty-second prime minister Malcom Fraser. A leader whose profound contribution to our nation has sadly been obscured by...

How did long have politicians been dodging criticism by appointing elaborate Royal Commissions and inquiries? On this week's Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with Kirsten McKenzie to explore how the famous Bigge Report denouncing Lachlan Macquarie's liberal treatment of convicts fit into a broader attempt to regulate and rationalise the kaleidoscopic British Empire, as it had emerged from th...

How did Book Week grow to become an Australian institution, inspiring children & stressing parents nation-wide? On this week's Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with children's authors Jackie French & Kate O'Donnell to mark 80 years of Book Week. Exploring the annual celebration's wartime origins, the hope its founders had for promoting understanding and world peace, the role of the C...

Why is the Melbourne University Liberal Club (MULC) older than the Liberal Party of Australia, & what grand tales and battle scars has it developed carrying the liberal banner on a hostile campus for over a century? On a special bonus episode of the Afternoon Light podcast Georgina Downer speaks with MULC President Kai Bowie to mark 100 years since the club's formation. A very timely discussio...

How can Australians know who we are and where we're going, without skilled historians who can map how we even got here in the first place? On this week's Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with Alex McDermott to discuss the profound career and contribution of Australian historian John Hirst. An inquiring mind, who asked unorthodox questions and succeeded in explaining many of the paradoxes of...

Who is going to celebrate a prime minister who got kicked out of multiple political parties? On this week's Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with Hugh Rogers to explore the complex career and legacy of Billy Hughes. The man who ensured that Australia had its own 'seat at the table' in international relations & won the acclaim of foreign media, but who is now most often remembered for the...

On 16 September 1975 Papua New Guinea gained its independence, but how well did Australia prepare its former territory for that day? On this week's Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with Nicholas Ferns to unpack the ideology and policies known as 'developmentalism' - Australia's concerted attempt to help its neighbours achieve the same level of economic prosperity & political stability en...

Should India be considered a democratic success story? On this week's Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with Salvatore Babones to explore the remarkable rise of democracy in India, and why it has recently become the subject of much international criticism. A story which reveals the importance of culture in maintaining democratic institutions, and how cultural differences therefore shape the d...

If more than a third of voters are opting for Independents and minor parties, does Australia even have a two party system anymore? On this week's Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with Charles Richardson and Zachary Gorman to discuss a new Robert Menzies Institute policy paper on  The Future of Australia's Two Party System: Function, Flaws and Fixes . A wide ranging conversation exploring how...

Who led Australia through the roaring 20s & was he responsible when they came to a crashing halt? On this week's Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with David Lee about Australia's 8th Prime Minister Stanley Melbourne Bruce. A decorated Gallipoli veteran, architect of the Federal Coalition, and notable international diplomat, whose complexities have been obscured behind the caricature of a...