Introduction: premiers and politics, 1856-2006

This book, coinciding wifh the sesquicentenary of responsible government, is a step towards redressing the neglect of the history of Victorian politics. This inattention to the premiers, and the associated relative general neglect of Victorian politics, is particularly puzzling since they have been in charge of a polity which has vied with New South Wales for the status as the most prosperous and powerful of the Australian States (colonies). Spring Street has been a nursery ground for some of the nation's most important politicians, including its longest-serving prime minister, Robert Menzies, and his great Liberal predecessor, Alfred Deakin. It has also produced premiers who have put their mark on the national political landscape from their Victorian redoubt---in more recent times Henry Bolte and Jeff Kennett cast an influence that transcended the State's boundaries, sometimes to unexpected ends such as Bolte's role in destroying the prime ministership of fellow Victorian Liberal John Gorton. And among the premiers there has been no shortage of larger than life characters: Graham Berry, Thomas Bent, Tom Hollway, Bolte and Kennett all have strong credentials for inclusion in a first 11 of flamboyant Australian politicians. It is not just the characters but the circumstances in which the premiers have governed that have been colourful