I think its fair to say that many Americans have a reasonable knowledge of their 44 Presidents over the years. People like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower and John Kennedy are all well known to Americans and are household names. The history of American Presidents is taught in schools and there is a great deal of respect for the office.

 

In Australia, it seems to be a different story. Older Australians might be able to do reasonably well at naming PMs going back to Robert Menzies but the pre war Prime Ministers are largely forgotten and ignored. I wonder whether anything at all is taught about them in schools.

 

There have been 27 Prime Ministers in Australia. If you ask any Australian "Who was Francis Forde or Stanley Melbourne Bruce or Earl Page?" and you will probably get blank looks. For some reason, there is very little mention of the pre war Prime Ministers and the influence they had on Australia.

 

Maybe it is just a trait of Australians that we are more interested in the present than the past.