Long & tedious, however very informative Well written and clearly presented
'OUT OF EMPIRE: EDWARD GOUGH WHITLAM'
'More than any other part of the old Empire, Australia
remains inhibited and limited by its nostalgia for past
associations and pretensions which the British nation, and
in particular, the British monarch have long since
abandoned. Nothing has done more to retard Australia's
relations with Britain or to distort the very real and
substantial nature of that relationship than the obsessions
of the Australian conservatives with the British connection
and their manipulation of the monarchy and their
exploitation of the perquisites and privileges associated
with it.'
- Edward Gough Whitlam, 1985
Gough Whitlam was perhaps Australia's most controversial
Prime Minister ever, and the Australian with arguably the
most reason to resent our country's ties with Britain. For
on Remembrance Day, 1975, the Governor General, Sir John
Kerr, invoked his reserve powers to dismiss Whitlam as Prime
Minister, something he could only do because he was
Gough Whitlam
English: President Richard M. Nixon and Australian...
Malcolm Fraser is welcomed at Andrews Air Force Ba...supposedly acting on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II. Thus, it
is to be expected that out of all of Australia's leading
figures, Whitlam would have the most reason to feel
strongly, one way or the other, about our 'mother country'.
Today, Whitlam declares himself to be a Republican, but he
confesses he only came to this way of thinking after his
dismissal, when he and the nation saw for the first time
just how much power the Queen and her representatives really
had, despite their lack of control over day to day running
of the Government. At the onset of his career, Whitlam was
quite proud of his Queen - he had, after all, fought in the
Airforce during the Second World War to defend Britain as
well as Australia - but he always thought the...