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Australian Monarchist League

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The Australian Monarchist League was founded in 1943 to support the role of the Crown in Australia's constitutional system.

The Australian Monarchist League was originally a branch of the Monarchist League in London. However, due to the growing battle with Australian Republicans it was felt that the League in Sydney needed to be seen to be a wholly Australian body to defer criticisms that it was just an offshoot of a UK group, and it severed its affiliation with the London body in 1993, becoming an independent group.

The League has some 2,500 members across Australia, and claims an additional 20,000 supporters. The League has Branches in each State and the ACT, and is headquartered in Sydney. It is a not-for-profit organisation and all office bearers, including the National Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the League, Philip Benwell MBE are elected by the membership and serve on a voluntary basis. The League receives no public or corporate funding and is financed solely by subscriptions and contributions from its members.

The League recently established a Trust with a number of prominent Australian businessmen as Trustees. The purpose of the Trust is to raise and invest substantial contributions to be used only in the event of a plebiscite and/or future referendum.

It was the third largest grouping at the Constitutional Convention and played a very important role in the 'No Republic' campaign during the lead up to Australia's 1999 Republic Referendum which was defeated with 54.4% of electors voting 'NO' nationally. The Referendum also failed in all States.

While Australians for Constitutional Monarchy simply campaigns to maintain Australia's constitutional status quo, the League's Chairman, an ardent champion of the Prince of Wales, has spoken out against what what he terms as the dangers to the British Crown by the European Union. He is a popular speaker at gatherings both in Australia and internationally and has spoken on several occasions to meetings in the House of Lords. He is also held to have been an influence in the failure of a Bill proposed by Lord Dubs to amend the Act of Settlement.

Benwell is also the author of In Defence of Australia's Constitutional Monarchy, (ISBN 0-7734-6696-7) which was published by Mellen Press in 2003. He is one of the League's Patrons, the first of which was the late Dame Pattie Menzies GBE, wife of former Prime Minister and international statesman, Sir Robert Menzies.


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Footnotes

  1. SEE AUSTRALIAN ELECTORAL COMMISSION)
  2. ( SEE SOVEREIGNTY - THOUSAND RALLY IN TRAFALGAR SQUARE)
  3. (SEE SPRINGBOK CLUB ENTRY IN WIKIPEDIA)
  4. See European Institute of Protestant Studies)
  5. SEE THE 'ENSIGN MESSAGE')
  6. SEE THIS ENGLAND PROJECT)
  7. SEE MELLEN PRESS)
  8. SEE LIST OF PATRONS)
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