Stanley Melbourne Bruce had strong ties to Canberra

Of all our former national leaders he almost certainly has the strongest association with our fair city and, dare I say, his spirit still lives on in the heart of the ACT.

While I realise Menzies' fanciers, and they are rightly legion in these parts, will contest this claim, it is not one I make lightly.

While Sir Robert and his wife, Dame Pattie, lived in The Lodge for longer than any other PM (and don't forget that Tony Abbott hasn't even moved in yet) Bruce has one claim to fame they cannot match. He was the first.

When he was elected Prime Minister in 1923 the Federal Parliament still sat in Melbourne and The Lodge, currently undergoing a The Block-style makeover, was still a work in progress that had barely progressed beyond the design stage.

It was not until 1927, four years into the conservative politician's term, that the seat of power moved to Burley-Griffin's Tell el-Amarna in the boondocks and Bruce and his wife Ethel took up residence in Canberra's bunker-like bush bungalow.

Unlike some of their successors they would not have been awed or intimidated by their new surroundings, likely comparing it less than favourably with family homes in London, Melbourne and the Western Districts of Victoria. Indeed, when it comes to cash, the Bruces could have given the Rudds and the Keatings a run for their money.

Stanley Melbourne (as in Lord Melbourne, Queen Victoria's first Prime Minister) Bruce was a child of wealth and privilege who was born in St Kilda back when that was a fashionable address in 1883.

His father was a partner in the successful "soft goods" importing firm of Paterson, Laing and Bruce that brought in clothes, footwear and bedding from the mills and factories of Great Britain and other parts of the empire.

After being schooled at Melbourne's prestigious Church of England Grammar School and spending some time in the company warehouse, the 19-year-old was dispatched to Trinity Hall in Cambridge in 1902. A natural athlete, he rowed in Cambridge's winning team in 1904 and graduated in 1905.

He later read for the Bar, a bit of a tradition among conservative colonial future politicians, and was appointed acting chairman of Paterson, Laing and Bruce in 1907 at the ripe young age of 24.

According to his Australian Dictionary of Biography entry Bruce's "tact and courtesy to the older directors, together with his sound knowledge of the business, ensured their continued backing".

Bruce wed Ethel Dunlop, his closest confidant for the rest of his days, in 1913 and by January 1915 had been commissioned into the Worcester Regiment. He was to become one of a handful of Australian-born war veterans to have landed at Gallipoli wearing British Army, not AIF, khaki.

He was wounded twice during the campaign, once in the arm and once in the knee, and was awarded the Military Cross and the Croix de Guerre before being invalided back to Blighty.

A bona fide war hero whose courage and character was never questioned by even his fiercest detractors, Bruce returned to Australia in 1916 where he spoke at recruiting rallies and developed the public profile that later saw him enter politics.

Bruce's political career has been well documented and he was the Prime Minister who presided over the opening of "old" Parliament House on May 9, 1927.

That career came to an abrupt halt on October 22, 1929, when his Government lost more than half its seats (including his own) to Labor under Scullin.

Bruce was re-elected "in absentia" to his old seat of Flinders when the Scullin Government crashed and burned in 1931.

While he never rose to his previous high office, Bruce served as assistant treasurer before leading the Australian delegation to the 1932 Imperial Economic Conference and subsequently being appointed Australia's resident minister in the United Kingdom.

Within little more than a year he had resigned from parliament and been appointed Australia's High Commissioner in London, an office he was to hold under successive conservative and Labor Governments until 1946.

While London remained his home until the end of his life, Bruce returned to Canberra in 1952 to take up his appointment as the first chancellor of the Australian National University. The job was no sinecure and he took a keen interest in the future role it might be able to play, noting that "Australia has become a bridgehead between the East and the West".

His contribution is still remembered with ANU Vice Chancellor, Professor Ian Young, telling Gang Gang: "The appointment of Lord Bruce as our first Chancellor was a real demonstration of how committed that generation was to making something of ANU and of Canberra."

And his continuing association with Canberra? Although Bruce died in London in 1967 and his funeral service was held there, he regarded Australia as home, bequeathing "a generous endowment" to the ANU and ordering that his ashes be scattered over Lake Burley Griffin, which had only filled in 1964

The National Archives of Australia has an impressive collection of his papers and memorabilia, including a magnificent bowl that was presented to him at the launch of HMAS Sydney in 1934. The cruiser was lost with all hands less than a decade later.