Lee David

Stanley Melbourne Bruce Lee David

The latest Australian Biographical Monograph focuses on the formative years and political career of Stanley Melbourne Bruce to his defeat as Prime Minister in 1929. This period included winning a hotly contested by-election in Flinders in 1918, which brought with it the introduction of preferential voting; a short interlude on the back bench; one year as Treasurer in 1922-23; and then a period as Prime Minister from February 1923 until October 1929, when he was still in his forties. Bruce's career after 1929 was in many ways as distinguished as the period from 1918 to 1929. Notable in this second career after 1929 was his support for institutions such as the League of Nations and the Food and Agriculture Organization. The argument of this book is that the theme that connects Bruce's first period in Australian politics from 1918 until 1929 with his later career is that of institution building.