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Intro -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Uncovering A Hidden History -- Proem -- 1 What Did The Palace Know? -- 2 What Did The High Court Justice(S) Know? -- 3 What Did Malcolm Fraser Know? -- 4 Ambush: The Half-Senate Election -- 5 Sir John Kerr's Second Dismissal -- 6 'The Man Who Would Be King' -- Postscript -- Notes

Intro -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- 1 'We're In' -- 2 'Euphoria, Absolute Euphoria' -- 3 Colonial Relics -- 4 Action Painting -- 5 Night of the Long Prawns -- 6 A Toothpick in the Raging Sea -- 7 A Magnificent Obsession -- 8 Fire-eaters -- 9 'The Falsification of Democracy' -- 10 The Third Man -- 11 'An Ending Fitting for the Start' -- 12 By the Stroke of a Pen -- 13 A Divided Soul -- 14 'It's His Name' -- 15 The Brave Idea of UNESCO -- 16 'My Best Appointment' -- Epilogue: 'I never said I was immortal, merely eternal' -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Acknowledgements -- Index

Gough Whitlam was deeply committed to the preservation of history, and keenly attuned to the importance of the documentary record in the writing of it. For Whitlam, the written record — the contemporaneous documentary record of government activity — was central to the production of historical knowledge and the "verification" of history. As he reflected on the release of his government's 1975 Cabinet papers, "the publication of these records confirms my belief in the contemporary document as the primary source for writing and understanding history". This paper takes us through the shifting historiography of the dismissal of the Whitlam government by Governor‐General Sir John Kerr. In doing so, it is a reflection also on the role of archives in the writing of history, recognising as Peters does, that the construction of an archival record is "a deeply political act". This is particularly so for contested, polarised, episodes — of which the dismissal is surely the exemplar — for which archival records have been transformative. In this process of historical correction, revelations from Kerr's papers in the National Archives of Australia have been pivotal. Kerr's papers were also central to my successful legal action against the Archives securing the release of the "Palace letters" between Kerr and the Queen regarding the dismissal. This paper explores some critical "archival encounters" during that research journey — revelations, obstructions, missing archives, and even burnt archives. From the destruction of Whitlam's security file, missing Government House guestbooks, the denial of access to records, to royal letters of support for Kerr's dismissal of Whitlam "accidentally burnt" in the Yarralumla incinerator, these encounters illuminate the critical relationship between archives, access, and history which continue to shape our understanding of the dismissal of the Whitlam government.

AbstractGough Whitlam's Labor government came to office in December 1972 with a vast and transformative reform agenda, at the heart of which was a fundamental policy shift in Aboriginal affairs away from assimilation and toward self‐determination, described by Whitlam as; 'Aboriginal communities deciding the pace and nature of their future development as significant components within a diverse Australia'. Whitlam's commitment to self‐determination reflected the United Nation's International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which refers to the right of all peoples to 'freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development'. Whitlam made it clear that Aboriginal Affairs would be a priority of his government with the establishment of the first separate Ministry for Aboriginal Affairs and his government introduced a suite of path‐breaking policies for Aboriginal people. Pat Dodson, the inaugural chairperson of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, later described the change in policy and intent under Whitlam as, 'a transforming sentiment in this country for Aboriginal people'. This article explores the key features of Whitlam's Indigenous policy and argues that Whitlam's commitment to self‐determination was a unique and radical policy reframing in Indigenous affairs not seen before or since. These advances were wound back by the conservative government of Malcolm Fraser and the 'transforming sentiment' soon reverted to one of 'self‐management' and unarticulated assimilation.

Gough Whitlam's Labor government came to office in December 1972 with a vast and transformative reform agenda, at the heart of which was a fundamental policy shift in Aboriginal affairs away from assimilation and toward self-determination, described by Whitlam as; 'Aboriginal communities deciding the pace and nature of their future development as significant components within a diverse Australia'. Whitlam's commitment to self-determination reflected the United Nation's International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which refers to the right of all peoples to 'freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development'. Whitlam made it clear that Aboriginal Affairs would be a priority of his government with the establishment of the first separate Ministry for Aboriginal Affairs and his government introduced a suite of path-breaking policies for Aboriginal people. Pat Dodson, the inaugural chairperson of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, later described the change in policy and intent under Whitlam as, 'a transforming sentiment in this country for Aboriginal people'. This article explores the key features of Whitlam's Indigenous policy and argues that Whitlam's commitment to self-determination was a unique and radical policy reframing in Indigenous affairs not seen before or since. These advances were wound back by the conservative government of Malcolm Fraser and the 'transforming sentiment' soon reverted to one of 'self-management' and unarticulated assimilation.

Gough Whitlam's father was one of Australia's most significant public servants. Deputy Crown Solicitor and Crown Solicitor at a time of great constitutional and international change, Frederick Whitlam maintained an unusually advanced perspective on the use of international instruments to protect rights and to expand powers of nationhood. Gough Whitlam's war‐time experiences in the Air Force, in particular during the referendum campaign to expand Commonwealth Powers to aid post‐war reconstruction, cemented these aspects as central to his developing notions of democratic citizenship. In his 1973 Sir Robert Garran Memorial lecture, fourteen years after his father had delivered the inaugural oration, Gough Whitlam acknowledged the influence of his father as a "great public servant" committed to public service and the developing institutions of internationalism: "I am Australia's first Prime Minister with that particular background". This paper explores "that particular background".I have never wavered from my fundamental belief that until the national government became involved in great matters like schools and cities, this nation would never fulfil its real capabilities.1

This paper details the threats to civil liberties in Australia attendant upon rushed legislative efforts (during 2002) to deal with international terrorism. It is therefore indicative of the dangers of opportunistic political responses in countries which have not incurred terrorism directly and which may need more sustained debate about the nature and appropriateness of unprecedented and extra‐judicial powers. The potential for the criminalisation of politics is demonstrated here through an examination of the ASIO Act Amendment Bill 2002 and the Security Legislation Amendment (Terrorism) Bill 2002. The paper criticises the detention, proscription and executive control of normal political activity which these Bills proposed.