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Did you know?

20 June 2007

How many people know where the term "Ming Wing" comes from when referring to the Menzies building?

Sir Robert Menzies nick name was "Ming."

Contributor: Leah Weston, Project Liaison Officer, Facilities & Services, Clayton

Robert Gordon Menzies earned several nicknames. His nickname, 'Ming', originated in the Scottish pronunciation of his name, Ming-ees, which Menzies preferred to the usual pronunciation, possibly because it was the way the Queen said his name as she was installing him as the first Australian Knight of the Thistle. The nickname took on a new dimension when a newspaper columnist extended it to 'Ming the Merciless', after the Emperor in the Flash Gordon comic strip. 'Fling out Ming' subsequently became an election slogan, but Menzies was to retire, not to be voted out of office.

Robert Gordon Menzies was Prime Minister of Australia from 1939 to 1941 and again from 1949. Beginning in 1949, Menzies won seven consecutive elections. He retired undefeated in 1966. (Source: National Portrait Gallery)

For more information about the Menzies building, visit the Arts faculty website.

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