Sir Henry Parkes has been dubbed the ‘Father of Federation’, but how much do you know about him? Fleeing poverty in England to seek opportunity in Australia, he found immense political success, that went hand in hand with repeated financial failure. The ‘Grand Old Man’ of New South Wales politics, he was tremendously charismatic and became notorious for marrying much younger women, who fathered him a total of 17 children. However, such indiscretions can be forgiven of a man who helped found not just our nation, but also our system of universal primary education. Joining us to discuss Parkes’s remarkable story is biographer Stephen Dando-Collins.

Stephen Dando-Collins is the award-winning author of 45 books, including histories, biographies and even children’s novels. The majority of his works deal with military history ranging from Greek and Roman times to American 19th century history and World War I and World War II. His book Sir Henry Parkes: The Australian Colossus was published ahead of the 200th anniversary of Parkes’s birth in 2015.