Gough Whitlam dead - Australian history

[Vincenzo]

I have just read that Gough Whitlam has died at the age of 98. This is not a political statement but I thought I would share my small part of history with you.

In 1975 I was a 17y/0 working in the Commonwealth Public Service in Canberra as a Departmental Courier. I had the mail run and the deliveries to / from Parliament House. One day in November I had an urgent delivery to the Minister's Office. Drove to Parliament House, parked out the front as usual and proceeded to enter via the security entrance under the front stairs. Once I was inside, what should have been a 10 minute turnaround was about an hour and a half. Something big was happening but no one was talking. Once I had the response I went to walk out the front doors only to find a lot of people milling around. I eventually got back to my car (1974 Passat Station Wagon) only to be stuck there as a lot of people had gathered.

On the 11th November 1975, Malcolm Fraser (opposition leader) went to see the Governor General, Sir John Kerr to ask him to sack the government of the day as he had the numbers to Govern in his own right. Sir John obliged and David Smith stood on the steps of the old Parliament House and announced what had just happened. He ended the reading of the declaration with "God save the Queen".

Then Gough uttered his famous words, "Well may he say God save the Queen, for nothing ... will save the Governor General".

So it was a young 17y/o got to see a piece of Australian History. I have to say Gough was an extremely powerful figure standing there .

RIP Mr Whitlam.


Cheers Vincenzo