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

Dr David Headon at the lectern
13
May
2021

In search of the real Edmund Barton: our first prime minister

Dr David Headon

Historian Dr David Headon reveals the compelling story of Australia’s first prime minister, Sir Edmund ‘Toby’ Barton. Most of us know that Barton…

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An Enigma Revealed: The Mystery and Mysticism of Prime Minister Alfred Deakin
11
Nov
2020

An Enigma Revealed: The Mystery and Mysticism of Prime Minister Alfred Deakin

Dr David Headon, Foundation Fellow, Australian Studies Institute, His Excellency the Hon George Brandis QC, High Commissioner for Australia to the United Kingdom, Damian J Walsh, Chairman, Britain-Australia Society

Hosted by the Britain-Australia Society, in partnership with the ANU Australian Studies Institute, this special lecture will be delivered via Zoom,…

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Andrew Fisher
24
Oct
2019

So much more than a Prime Minister: Andrew Fisher (1862-1928) - University of Edinburgh

Dr David Headon, Foundation Fellow, Australian Studies Institute

Hosted by the School of History, Classics and Archaeology, University of Edinburgh About the Lecture: The remarkable contribution to Australian…

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