The First Eight Project

The First Eight Project

Artwork: Alison Alder

The First Eight Project launched in early 2018 as a joint undertaking between the Australian Parliamentary Library, the National Museum of Australia, the National Archives of Australia, the Victorian Parliamentary Library and the ANU Australian Studies Institute. The project incorporates a series of events, lectures, exhibitions, and a monograph series on the first eight Prime Ministers of Australia.

“This collaboration aims at enlivening interest in this formative period of the nation’s history, focusing on the private, public and political lives of its political leaders, and something of the essence of the world they inhabited and which shaped them.” Dr Dianne Heriot, Parliamentary Librarian.

Read the interview with historian and AuSI Foundation Fellow, Dr David Headon, about the inspiration behind the project.

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Past Events

First Eight Lecture Series with Dr David Headon - Prime Minister Watson
02
Nov
2023

First Eight Lecture Series with Dr David Headon - Prime Minister Watson

Dr David Headon

The ANU Australian Studies Institute, in conjunction with the Chairman of the Britain-Australia Society, invite you to our annual "First Eight…

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First Eight Lecture Series with Dr David Headon - Prime Minister Cook
19
Oct
2023

First Eight Lecture Series with Dr David Headon - Prime Minister Cook

Dr David Headon

Parliamentary Library Lecture: Joseph Cook — The Eternal Outsider As part of the First Eight Project About the Lecture At the State funeral in…

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Labor Royalty or Labor Rat: John Christian 'Chris' Watson (1867-1941) - National Archives of Australia
09
Mar
2023

Labor Royalty or Labor Rat: John Christian 'Chris' Watson (1867-1941) - National Archives of Australia

Dr David Headon

Join us to discover the contribution John Christian (Chris) Watson, Australia’s third Prime Minister, had on Australian political life. About…

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