Menzies Shield

Background: 

The Menzies Shield is offered to all schools in the Federal electorate of Menzies and will be presented once a year by Keith Wolahan MP, usually at the school’s end of year graduation, speech night or final assembly. 

The Menzies Shield is presented in the spirit of its namesake Sir Robert Menzies: 

The seat of Menzies is named after Sir Robert Menzies, Australia’s longest serving Prime Minister, who led two governments, at the outbreak of World War II (1939-1941) and through the Cold War (1949-66). Education was the central theme throughout Menzies’ life – whether as an award-winning student or as the Prime Minister who tripled Australian tertiary education funding.  

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“The first function of education is to produce a good (person) and a good citizen. Its second function is to produce a good carpenter or a good lawyer, and the good carpenter and good lawyer will be all the better at their respective crafts if they have become aware of the problems of the world, have acquired some quality of intellectual criticism and have developed that comparative sense which produces detachment of judgement and tends always to moderate passion and prejudice.” 

- Sir Robert Menzies to Parliament, 1945  

Process: 

The shield is awarded for “Leadership or Community Spirit”. It will be a matter for each school as to how the recipient is selected.   

Each participating school submits the name of the student to be awarded the shield together with some information about why this student was chosen.  If this award is to be announced as a surprise, the school should write up the “information” in this manner with the student’s name announced at the end.   

A small shield will be presented by Mr Wolahan to the student, as well as a book on Sir Robert Menzies.  A larger perpetual shield will also be presented and remain at the school.