Biggles of 266
1st Level Red Feather
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2001
- Messages
- 1,126
- Points
- 36
To quote from Bill Bryson's book, 'Down Under':
"In 1972, after twenty-three years of rule by the conservative Liberal Party, Australia elected a Labor government under the leadership of the dashing and urbane Gough Whitlam. At once Whitlam's government embarked on a programme of ambitious reforms - it gave Aborigines rights they had previously not enjoyed, began to disengage Australian troops from Vietnam, made University education free, and much more. But, as sometimes happens, the government gradually lost its majority and by 1975 Parliament was in a deadlock from which Whitlam nor the leader of the opposition, Malcolm Fraser, would budge.
Into this impasse stepped the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, the Queen's official representative in Australia. Using a reserve privilege not before invoked, he dissolved Whitlam's government, placed Fraser in control and ordered a general election. The outrage and indignation Australians felt at this high-handed interference can scarcely be described. The country was thrown into a fury of resentment. Before they had any chance to sort out their differences themselves, an unelected representative of a government on the other side of the planet had taken the matters out of their hands. It was a humiliating reminder that Australia was still at root a colony, constitutionally subordinate to the United Kingdom."
Whitlam was the best Prime Minister we've ever had. His government started to spend money on the Arts (they purchased Jackson Pollock's 'Blue Poles'), recognised China (when Whitlam went to visit, Reagan followed a few weeks later) and purchased land to return to the Aborigines (who had had their land stolen from them by previous governments).
Perhaps the more political of you have heard his speech as he stood on the steps of Parliament House to announce his sacking. "Well may we say, God Save the Queen. Because nothing is going to save the Governor-General." He called Malcolm Fraser 'Kerr's Cur' and asked the public to "maintain your rage."
However, after a few weeks of threatening to tear the country apart, Australians peacefully voted Whitlam out and Fraser in. This I will never understand, and historians and political analysts say that this is an example of the Australian public following what the Old Country wanted us to do. Australians still thought of England as 'home', even if they were born here. We had Prime Ministers who called themselves 'British to their bootstraps', even though they'd been born in Sydney and never visited Engerland.
Very strange country, but still a terrible event. Maintain your rage.
Biggles
"In 1972, after twenty-three years of rule by the conservative Liberal Party, Australia elected a Labor government under the leadership of the dashing and urbane Gough Whitlam. At once Whitlam's government embarked on a programme of ambitious reforms - it gave Aborigines rights they had previously not enjoyed, began to disengage Australian troops from Vietnam, made University education free, and much more. But, as sometimes happens, the government gradually lost its majority and by 1975 Parliament was in a deadlock from which Whitlam nor the leader of the opposition, Malcolm Fraser, would budge.
Into this impasse stepped the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, the Queen's official representative in Australia. Using a reserve privilege not before invoked, he dissolved Whitlam's government, placed Fraser in control and ordered a general election. The outrage and indignation Australians felt at this high-handed interference can scarcely be described. The country was thrown into a fury of resentment. Before they had any chance to sort out their differences themselves, an unelected representative of a government on the other side of the planet had taken the matters out of their hands. It was a humiliating reminder that Australia was still at root a colony, constitutionally subordinate to the United Kingdom."
Whitlam was the best Prime Minister we've ever had. His government started to spend money on the Arts (they purchased Jackson Pollock's 'Blue Poles'), recognised China (when Whitlam went to visit, Reagan followed a few weeks later) and purchased land to return to the Aborigines (who had had their land stolen from them by previous governments).
Perhaps the more political of you have heard his speech as he stood on the steps of Parliament House to announce his sacking. "Well may we say, God Save the Queen. Because nothing is going to save the Governor-General." He called Malcolm Fraser 'Kerr's Cur' and asked the public to "maintain your rage."
However, after a few weeks of threatening to tear the country apart, Australians peacefully voted Whitlam out and Fraser in. This I will never understand, and historians and political analysts say that this is an example of the Australian public following what the Old Country wanted us to do. Australians still thought of England as 'home', even if they were born here. We had Prime Ministers who called themselves 'British to their bootstraps', even though they'd been born in Sydney and never visited Engerland.
Very strange country, but still a terrible event. Maintain your rage.
Biggles
Makes me glad I live in a country that's been independent for over 200 years. 
