Background
Gough Whitlam was born on July 11, 1916 Kew, Victoria, Australia. He was the oldest of two children and the son of Frederick Whitlam and Martha Maddocks.
1942
Cnr Gilliver Ave & Vaucluse Road, Vaucluse NSW 2030, Australia
Wedding of Edward Gough Whitlam and Miss Margaret Dovey at St Michael's Vaucluse on April 22, 1942.
1954
Gough Whitlam with his wife Margaret and their four children.
1959
Gough Whitlam
1967
Gough Whitlam and his wife Margaret entering the memorial service for Harold Holt in December 1967.
1967
Gough Whitlam with his wife, his son Stephen and his daughter, arriving at Rose Bay Flying Boat base after holidaying at Lord Howe Island.
1968
13 Mansfield St, Glebe NSW 2037, Australia
The leader of the Opposition, Mr. Gough Whitlam, together with Mr. A. S. Luchetti, MHR for Lithgow, visited the Tranby Co-Operative College for Adult Education Centre at Glebe.
1968
13 Mansfield St, Glebe NSW 2037, Australia
The leader of the Opposition, Mr. Gough Whitlam visited the Tranby Co-Operative College for Adult Education Centre at Glebe.
1969
Leader of the Federal opposition Gough Whitlam speaking at the Lyceum Theatre with the Reverend Alan Walker and the boys from St. Augustine Brookvale boys choir on September 29, 1969.
1970
Gough Whitlam, leader of the federal Opposition, attended the Beer Festival on October 3, 1970.
1972
Parliament Dr, Canberra ACT 2600, Australia
Gough Whitlam, giving a press conference at Parliament House.
1972
Narrabeen, Australia
Gough Whitlam, leader of the opposition, attended the Australian Labour Party picnic at the National Fitness Camp at Narrabeen on April 30, 1972.
1972
Mr. Gough Whitlam received a cheque for $25,000, a donation to the Australian Labor Party Campaign Fund, from Mr. Jack Devereux, Commonwealth President of the Amalgamated Metal Unions, on July 10, 1972.
1972
Campbell St, Blacktown NSW 2148, Australia
Gough Whitlam opens Labour Election Campaign at Blacktown Civic centre.
1972
Levuka St, Cabramatta NSW 2166, Australia
Gough and Margaret Whitlam voting in the 1972 federal election at Cabramatta East Primary School in his electorate of Werriwa in Sydney's south-west on December 2, 1972.
1973
China
Gough Whitlam visits China.
1973
United States
Gough Whitlam visits United States President Richard Nixon in July 1973.
1973
Strand, London WC2B 4LA, United Kingdom
Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam and Australian High Commissioner John Armstrong during a press conference on April 25, 1973.
1973
Wilton Pl, Knightsbridge, London SW1X 7RL, United Kingdom
Australian Prime Minister Whitlam Gough with his family who are meeting for the first time in ten years at the Berkeley Hotel during a visit to London.
1973
Whitehall, Westminster, London SW1A 2ET, United Kingdom
Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam and New Zealand High Commissioner Terence Henderson McCombs at an Anzac Day wreath-laying ceremony on April 25, 1973.
1974
London, United Kingdom
Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam with Conservative Party Leader and former British Prime Minister Edward Heath at Heath's London home on December 20, 1974.
1974
Prime Minister of Australia Edward Gough Whitlam meets with Prime Minister of New Zealand Norman Kirk.
1975
Australian Labour politician Gough Whitlam at a conference with Malcolm Fraser of the Liberal Party.
1982
500 Harris St, Ultimo NSW 2007, Australia
Gough Whitlam opens the Space Light Spectacular at the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences on January 5, 1982.
1982
Gough Whitlam and his wife, Margaret, with their grandson, Edward Hugo Whitlam, on November 28, 1982.
1982
Sydney NSW 2020, Australia
Gough Whitlam, Ossie Cruse and Michael Anderson leaving for Africa from Sydney Airport on June 24, 1982.
2003
Former Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam and his wife Margaret at the opening of the Nelson Meers Foundation Heritage Collection.
2004
Art Gallery Rd, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia
Former Australian Prime Mininister Gough Whitlam and his wife Margaret attend the Australia's National Shakespeare Company salute dinner at The Grand Court of the Art Gallery of New South Wales on June 21, 2004.
2005
Canberra, Astralia
Former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam with speechwriter Graham Freudenberg before briefing the media at the Release of Cabinet Documents from the National Archives of Australia in Canberra on December 12, 2005.
2006
Former Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam on July 7, 2006.
2006
123 Clarence St, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia
Former Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam with federal Labor Leader Kim Beazley and former Prime Minister Bob Hawke at Whitlam's 90th birthday celebrations at Machiavelli restaurant.
2007
Sydney, Australia
Gough Whitlam, the 90-year-old former prime minister of Australia, and his wife Margaret speak at a ceremony inducting the couple as the first life-time members of Australia's Labor Party, at the Australian Labor Party National Conference on April 28, 2007.
Redfern, Australia
Gough Whitlam speaks at the Trade Union Club in Redfern.
339 Mowbray Road, Chatswood, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Mowbray House School where Gough Whitlam studied.
2 Borambil Street Wahroonga, New South Wales, 2076 Australia
Knox Grammar School where Gough Whitlam studied.
Telopea Park School, 25 New South Wales Cres, Barton ACT 2600, Australia
Telopea Park School where Gough Whitlam studied.
40 Monaro Cres, Red Hill ACT 2603, Australia
Canberra Grammar School where Gough Whitlam studied.
9 City Rd, Camperdown NSW 2050, Australia
St Paul's College where Gough Whitlam received a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Bachelor of Laws degree.
The Order of Australia that Gough Whitlam received in 1978.
The Order of the Paulownia Flowers that Gough Whitlam was awarded.
The Centenary Medal that Gough Whitlam was awarded.
(Whitlam, famous for his crash through or crash style, ref...)
Whitlam, famous for his crash through or crash style, refused to compromise with his political enemies. Passionate, pithy, learned, witty, and vigorously combative, "The Truth of the Matter" tells the extraordinary political story of the only Prime Minister of Australia ever deposed from office.
https://www.amazon.com/Truth-Matter-Gough-Whitlam/dp/0522852122
1979
educator executive politician author
Gough Whitlam was born on July 11, 1916 Kew, Victoria, Australia. He was the oldest of two children and the son of Frederick Whitlam and Martha Maddocks.
Gough Whitlam attended such schools as Mowbray House School, Knox Grammar School, Telopea Park School, and Canberra Grammar School. Later he enrolled at St Paul's College at the University of Sydney where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1938 and a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1946.
Gough Whitlam served in the Royal Australian Air Force during World War II. He was a navigator and served to protect certain convoys in northern Australia for much of the war. On August 8, 1945 he decided to join the Labor Party. He joined the Darlinghurst branch and wrapped up his military service a few months later. He was admitted to the bar in 1947, served as a member of the New South Wales Bar Council from 1949 to 1953, and served as a junior counsel assisting the Royal Commission into the Liquor Trade from 1951 to 1952. In 1952, Whitlam was chosen as the Australian Labor Party candidate for an election in the district of Werriwa. He won and kept that seat in the House of Representatives until his retirement in 1978.
His first major position in government was on the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Review between 1956 and 1959. By 1959 Whitlam had gained enough support in the Party to become a member of the Party's federal parliamentary executive, and in 1960 he became deputy leader of the Party. On February 8, 1967, Whitlam was elected leader in a fiercely contested election, succeeding Arthur Calwell. On December 5, 1972 he was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs and held this post until 1973. In 1972, Whitlam also became the first Prime Minister hailing from Labor Party. His program was immediately put in place. During his reign the amount of Bills that were initiated and enacted was record breaking. In 1974, he was reelected, however, by 1975 Whitlam's parliament was in a terrible political deadlock and was having difficulty agreeing upon and passing the budget. When Whitlam steadfastly refused to call new elections to resolve the parliamentary deadlock, Sir John Kerr, Australia's governor-general, dismissed him from office on November 11, 1975. In the 1977 election he lost and decided to quit the Party leadership. A year later he resigned from the parliament.
Gough Whitlam taught at the Australian National University from 1978 to 1980 and at the University of Sydney from 1981 to 1983 and from 1986 to 1989. In 1979 he taught at Harvard. Whitlam was appointed Permanent Delegate of Australia to UNESCO in 1983 and held this post until 1986. He was on UNESCO's executive board from 1985 to 1989. Whitlam also served on Australia's Constitutional Commission from 1986 to 1988 and was chairman of the Australia-China Council from 1986 to 1991. He also wrote such books as On Australia's Constitution, The Whitlam Government and Abiding Interests.
(Whitlam, famous for his crash through or crash style, ref...)
1979(English edition)
1977(English edition)
1985(English edition)
1997(English edition)
1981In 1973, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam was asked by Labour peer Lord Chalfont about his religious beliefs. Whitlam replied that he was not a Christian but a fellow traveler with Christianity.
Under Whitlam the Labor Party reorganized its internal decision-making structures and broadened its electoral appeal to include the middle-class. Whitlam helped the Party put aside its longstanding ideological disputes long enough to appear as a united Party with a sense of direction. Whitlam had a mandate within his Party to develop a broad range of policies seeking more attention to education, health, urban life, the environment, and equality for women, migrants, and aboriginal peoples. He passed Australia's first environmental legislation, the Environmental Assessment Act.
When he became Prime Minister he pushed for better treatment for aborigines. In August 1975, Whitlam gave the Gurindji people of the Northern Territory title deeds to part of their traditional lands, beginning the process of Aboriginal land reform. The Whitlam government opened up cultural and educational links with China and Indonesia that were the precursor to economic ties. In January of 1973 he recognized Communist China and resumed diplomatic relations with the country which had been halted for over 24 years. In October he became the first Prime Minister to visit the People's Republic of China.
Gough Whitlam saw the connection between nation building and the arts. He recognized that in order for a country to be seen as truly independent, it needed to support and be proud of its own culture. He increased the financial support for the arts. The Australia Council as Australia's national arts funding body was established as a statutory body. The Australia Council created seven art form boards whose government-appointed members were well-respected peers from each field.
In 1973, was introduced the supporting mother's benefit. In addition, the government provided support to civil society organizations. University tuition fees were abolished, and students from low-income families were provided with financial assistance. It was at Whitlam's urging that the architects of Medibank, Richard Scotton and John Deeble, developed a proposal for universal healthcare in Australia. This proposal was originally known as Medibank, and later became Medicare. After a double-dissolution election and the one and only joint sitting of federal parliament, the Medibank legislation was finally passed, just weeks before the Whitlam government was dismissed.
Whitlam ordered Australian troops to return from Vietnam, where they were fighting in support of American policies, and ended the military draft. But soon the international oil shortage and Whitlam's dramatic increases in government spending led to serious economic problems: first inflation and then stagnation. Despite the deteriorating economic situation and bitter disputes within his own Party, Whitlam continued his attempts to create a "new" Australia, changing the relationships between the central, state, and local levels of government. He introduced ideas about participatory democracy at the local level and using the public service to set the pace for wages and workers' rights.
Quotations:
"My hopes were dashed by the outcome and from that moment I determined to do all I could do to modernise the Australian Constitution."
"When government makes opportunities for any of the citizens, it makes them for all the citizens. We are all diminished as citizens when any of us are poor. Poverty is a national waste as well as individual waste. We are all diminished when any of us are denied proper education. The nation is the poorer – a poorer economy, a poorer civilisation, because of this human and national waste."
"The punters know that the horse named Morality rarely gets past the post, whereas the nag named Self-interest always runs a good race."
"I've never said I'm immortal. I do believe in correct language. I'm eternal. I'm not immortal."
Quotes from others about the person
Wallace Brown: "Whitlam was the most paradoxical of all Prime Ministers in the last half of the 20th century. A man of superb intellect, knowledge, and literacy, he yet had little ability when it came to economics. Whitlam rivalled Menzies in his passion for the House of Representatives and ability to use it as his stage, and yet his parliamentary skills were rhetorical and not tactical. He could devise a strategy and then often botch the tactics in trying to implement that strategy. Above all he was a man of grand vision with serious blind spots."
Gough Whitlam married Margaret Whitlam on April 22, 1942. The marriage produced four children.