Prime Minister & Statesman

A new exhibition showcasing for the first time the rich collection of Stanley Melbourne Bruce, Australia’s eighth Prime Minister, will be on show at the National Archives in Canberra from 11 December 2009.

On display will be objects and personal papers, including Bruce’s war medals, Freedom of the City caskets, cutlery and crockery, and his spectacular privy councillor uniform. The collection was willed to the people of Australia and is held by the National Archives.

Bruce became Prime Minister in 1923, aged 39. He was Australia’s High Commissioner in London during World War II, became a British peer and was the first Australian to sit in the House of Lords as Viscount Bruce of Melbourne.