Edward Gough Whitlam AC QC (1916 - 2014)

Born 11 Jul 1916 in Kew, Victoria, Australia

Ancestors

Husband of Margaret Elaine (Dovey) Whitlam AO — married Apr 1942 in St Michael's Church of England, Vaucluse, NSW

Died 21 Oct 2014 at age 98 in Elizabeth Bay, New South Wales, Australia

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Biography

Gough Whitlam AC QC is Notable.

Gough Whitlam AC QC was awarded the Companion of the Order of Australia.

Gough Whitlam came into office in late 1972. The Australian Labor Party (ALP) had been in opposition for 23 years, and Whitlam, who had reformed the ALP's policies, was keen to bring a program of social reform to the people of Australia. He ended conscription, established new Commonwealth agencies like Aboriginal Affairs, Environment, and Urban and Regional Development, and introduced universal health care - the Medibank Scheme. Economic woes and political mistakes resulted in the opposition refusing to pass his government's Budget Bills in the Senate. In 1975 he became the only Prime Minister to be removed from office by the Governor-General.

Life Events

Edward Gough Whitlam (commonly known by his middle name - Gough) was born in Kew, Melbourne, on 11 July 1916. He was the first of two children of Harry FE Whitlam and Martha Maddocks. Harry joined the Commonwealth Public Service in Melbourne and rose to become the Commonwealth Crown Solicitor. The family moved to Sydney in 1918 and to Canberra in 1928.

Whitlam was educated at Mowbray House and Knox Grammar School in Sydney, then in Canberra at Telopea Park High School and Canberra Boys' Grammar School. He went on to the University of Sydney, from which he graduated in arts and law.

He enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in 1941, served as a navigator, and was discharged as a flight lieutenant in 1945.^[1]

Gough married Margaret Elaine Dovey in 1942, and they had four children.

He was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in 1947 and practised as a barrister. Whitlam was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1962.

Whitlam entered federal parliament in November 1952 by winning the seat of Werriwa in a by-election. He was elected deputy leader of the federal parliamentary ALP in March 1960. He succeeded Arthur Calwell as leader in February 1967, which made him Leader of the Opposition. “Indigenous affairs was the policy area in which the Whitlam Government effected some of its most transformational change. Under the Whitlam Government, a policy of ‘self determination’ was adopted, whereby the Commonwealth would support decision-making by indigenous communities themselves, and relinquish the paternalistic control that previous governments had wielded over the lives of indigenous people. The Whitlam Government sought to empower indigenous people to claim back the land to which they were entitled, to allow more indigenous input into policy-making, and to abolish discriminatory practices that limited their freedoms and opportunities. Whitlam’s 1972 election campaign speech was clear on the need to accord Aboriginal people the rights, justice and opportunities that had been denied to them for so long. He was committed to ‘legislate to give aborigines land rights – not just because their case is beyond argument, but because all of us as Australians are diminished while the aborigines are denied their rightful place in this nation’. The inequality suffered by indigenous people, Whitlam argued, should cause Australians an ‘unrelenting’ and ‘deep determined anger’.

In 1973 he announced the establishment of the Aboriginal Arts Board, 'To stimulate and protect Aboriginal culture in Australia'.^[2]
"It was on his advice (William Edward Hanley Stanner CMG) that former PM Gough Whitlam poured sand from his hand into that of Vincent Lingiari when handing the Wavehill Station back to the Gurindji people"^[3]
Australia's first indigenous Senator, Neville Bonner AO sat in the Federal Parliament at this time. Many of the reforms initiated by the Whitlam Government were continued by the Fraser Government.” He stood down as Leader after the 1977 election.

In 1983 Whitlam was appointed Australian ambassador to UNESCO by Bob Hawke. In retirement Whitlam continued to lecture and comment on political and constitutional issues.

The Hon Edward Gough "Gough" Whitlam AC QC, died the 21st of October 2015 at Elizabeth Bay, New South Wales, Australia.^[4]

Sources

1. ↑ National Archives of Australia, Military Service Record: B=5380827 WHITLAM EDWARD GOUGH : Service Number - 423371 : Date of birth - 11 Jul 1916 : Place of birth - KEW VIC : Place of enlistment - SYDNEY : Next of Kin - WHITLAM MARGARET recordsearch.naa.gov.au
2. ↑ studiointernational.com
3. ↑ Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Radio National: Australian Identity, WEH Stanner and the Great Australian Silence, broadcast 26 Mar 2009, retrieved 24 Apr 2020
4. ↑ findagrave.com

See also:

• Wikipedia : Gough Whitlam
• Wikidata: Item Q23333, en:Wikipedia
• Stephens,Tony; 'Whitlam, Edward Gough (1916–2014)', Obituaries Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, oa.anu.edu.au accessed 24 May 2020
• National Museum entry nma.gov.au
  
• Hocking, Jenny; Gough Whitlam Vol. 1 (Melbourne: Meigynyah Press, 2008)