Abstract:
In May 1964 the Australian federal government introduced legisla- tion and other arrangements, for the provision of financial assistance to State education (and where appropriate non- government secondary schools3, This decision by the Menzies government, the first 'federal aid to schools' decision.has attracted considerable discussion from historians and political scientists largely arising from the local pre-occupation with the 'State aid' to non-government schools component of the decision. This paper re-examines the decision from a different approach, by focussing on the Australian States' demand for federal aid to their education systems. It establishes a possible nexus between the States' demands and Menzies' personal decision to intervene in the funding arrangements of schooling in the States.