Samuel Furphy has edited The Seven Dwarfs and the Age of the Mandarins: Australian Government Administration in the Post-War Reconstruction Era (ANU Press). Originally a witty epithet applied to a powerful group of senior public servants, the term has come to represent the professionalisation of Australian government administration during the Second World War and post-war reconstruction era, and into the following two decades of expansion. This book explores the lives and influence of the Seven Dwarfs and their colleagues and includes contributions from Geoffrey Bolton, Nicholas Brown, David Lee, Stuart Macintyre and Tim Rowse.
The book will be launched in Canberra on 17 December 2015.