On 29 March 1963 in Edinburgh, reported the London Gazette, ‘The Queen has been graciously pleased to appoint The Right Honourable Robert Gordon Menzies, P.C., C.H., Q.C., to be a Knight of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle.’ The Order of the Thistle, an order of chivalry that was founded in 1687 by King James VII of Scotland, is the oldest order of chivalry in Britain, and second only to England’s Order of the Garter in precedence. Menzies is the only Australian ever appointed to this order, and the second of only two Australian prime ministers to be knighted during their term of office. In September 1963, the Canberra Times reported that ‘Scotsmen in Perth are dancing a new reel now—the Sir Robert Menzies Scottish Thistle … Sir Robert said he was most honoured that the dance had been named after him.’

So, after all this tartan-clad pomp and ceremony, what did Scotland represent for Menzies the man and Menzies the politician, and what, more broadly, do Australian Liberals owe to Scottish liberalism? Although the answers to these questions may provide some novel insights, they cannot exhaustively account for such a vast and contentious legacy. Instead, they are offered as a provocation to continue to think more carefully and more seriously about Menzies and his Liberals.