Dimensions
129 x 195 x 15mm
Forty years have passed since Governor-General Sir John Kerr dismissed Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam from office, shocking an already divided nation. Now all the principal players in this political and constitutional drama have passed: not only Kerr and Whitlam but also Whitlam's chief opponent Malcolm Fraser, once leader of the Coalition parties.
In recognition of this significant anniversary, MUP once again makes available The Dismissal: Where Were You on November 11, 1975? In this entertaining collection, thirty prominent Australians recall that eventful November day, and the days and weeks that followed. Starting near the centre of the action at Parliament House, Canberra, and moving out past the demonstrators assembled on the building's front stops, it gathers up the scattered voices of participants and observers, from battle-hardened politicians and staffers who played their part on that day, to teenagers in the schoolyards of Australia for whom the Dismissal represented political awakening. From mothers feeding their children in the kitchens of quiet suburbs and country towns, to poets and anarchists gathering in their favourite pub in Balmain. From public servants, journalists and academics in the capital cities, to those completely isolated from events: a novice in a Jesuit seminary, a farmer and fisherman on a lonely island, and a gaggle of expatriate Queensland artists, musicians and activists who marched down Fleet Street in London in protest.
