Gough Whitlam's memorial service
Gough Whitlam’s memorial service draws to a close. I thought it was an entirely fitting farewell for the “old man” as Noel Pearson called him. What did we take away from it?
- Mourners were turned away at the door after registering for the event in the belief it guaranteed them seats. The fine print of their confirmation emails said “first in, best dressed”. Some were ushered into empty seats just as the service was starting.
- Julia Gillard, Bob Hawke and Paul Keating all received standing ovations within Sydney’s town hall and huge cheers from crowds outside. Kevin Rudd did not get a standing ovation and John Howard and Tony Abbott were booed by those outside the memorial service.
- Auntie Millie Ingram, Cate Blanchett, Noel Pearson, Graham Freudenburg, John Faulkner and Antony Whitlam all spoke at the memorial service.
- Noel Pearson remembered Whitlam for his burning conviction to break down class and race barriers:
We salute this old man for his great love and dedication to his country and to the Australian people. When he breathed, he truly was Australia’s greatest white elder and friend without peer of the original Australians.
- Whitlam’s son, Antony, remembered a father who instilled in his children a great tolerance and a husband who always returned to his family home when attending events in Sydney.
The road ahead may be difficult for all Australians but we need not be divided on partisan lines.
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To round out the memorial for Gough Whitlam, RAAF Hornets just flew over Sydney’s CBD in the missing man formation.
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Antony Whitlam thanks his sister Catherine for her care of their father as his health declined and mentions Gough’s driver as a man who always brightened his demeanour.
He thanks prime minister Tony Abbott for authorising the state memorial service and all the speakers who have come before him.
The road ahead may be difficult for all Australians but we need not be divided on partisan lines.
The service finishes with Hubert Parry’s Jerusalem.
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Now on to autobiography and geography as Antony Whitlam puts it. He says in 1957 the Whitlam family, of Gough, Margaret and their children, moved to a house in Cabramatta.
That is where Gough and Margaret lived until he became prime minister. He never had a flat in town. During the whole of that time, for the last 13 years of which Gough was successively deputy leader and leader of the parliamentary Labor party, with functions to attend all over the metropolis, if he was in Sydney, Gough slept at home in Cabramatta.
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Antony Whitlam, Gough’s oldest of four children, is speaking now about his dad.
I am Gough’s eldest child, the only advantage appears to have given me upon my father’s death is this speaking slot. Gough, of course, would have loved to speak today. But the rules of the game necessarily disqualify him. That is just as well, because I gather the town hall is booked tomorrow.
Antony says the family have been greatly touched by the affection and respect of the public upon the Whitlam family. He says there has been a wealth of information but he wishes to flesh out two subjects.
Firstly religion. He concedes Gough was not a religious man, but he had a religious upbringing and a lifelong fascination with religion.
By his background and disposition, he did not scoff people who were religious and was genuinely respectful of their beliefs and moral values. They included many of his closest friends. In every way, Gough was ever keen to inculcate with his children, religious tolerance. Of course, this was more than just religious tolerance. It was a quality that informed so much of what he aspired to do for our society as a whole.
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Un Bal from Symphonie Fantastique by Hector Belioz is played before the last speaker of the service, Gough’s son, Antony Whitlam, is introduced.
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Outside Gough Whitlam’s memorial the crowd sung along to From Little Things, Big Things Grow, which is about the Indigenous struggle for land rights and recognition.
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Senator John Faulkner says Gough showed us what we can aspire to be at our best.
His achievements, in opposition and in government, in parliament and in the party, are undeniable proof of the power of politics wedded to principle; of the capacity of government to change our nation for the better and forever.
The entire speech can be found here.
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John Faulkner acknowledges there were mistakes made by Gough but he “hardly ever” pretended to be perfect.
His policies, his programs and his instincts were profoundly Labor. He was a great Labor prime minister and a great Labor leader before it. He chose Labor as his cause despite the imperfections he understood and strove to remedy for so long, and ultimately, so successfully. He chose Labor as a young navigator on active service defending our shores a the time of Australia’s greatest peril ... Gough chose Labor because his faith in the transformative power of government is fundamentally a Labor faith. His belief in the role and responsibility of our democratic institutions and those who serve in them, to look forward, to strive upward, is fundamentally a Labor belief. As was his conviction in the power of progressive politics to build community consensus behind reform and to enact those reforms in government.
Faulkner says it may seem now Gough’s success was inevitable but the course he chartered was filled with risks. He says Gough came close enough to expulsion from the Labor party that he and Margaret devised for her to run for parliament.
He made the Labor party electable, and more importantly, he made the Labor party worth electing.
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Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody have just performed From Little Things, Big Things Grow and Labor senator John Faulkner is now taking to the stage.
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I don’t know why someone with this old man’s upper middle-class background could carry such a burning conviction that the barriers of class and race of the Australia of his upbringing and maturation should be torn down and replaced with the unapologetic principle of equality.
Noel Pearson says Gough Whitlam’s policies were essential to the uplifting of many Australians.
We salute this old man for his great love and dedication to his country and to the Australian people. When he breathed, he truly was Australia’s greatest white elder and friend without peer of the original Australians.
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Noel Pearson says Australians are like John Cleese, Eric Idle and Michael Palin asking “what did the Romans ever do for us”?
Apart from Medibank and the Trade Practices Act, cutting tariff protections and no-fault divorce and the Family Law Act, the Australia Council, the Federal Court, the Order of Australia, Federal Legal Aid,the Racial Discrimination Act, needs-based schools funding, the recognition of China, the Racial Discrimination Act, the abolition of conscription, the Law Reform Commission, student financial assistance, the Heritage Commission, non discriminatory immigration rules, Aboriginal land rights, paid maternity leave for public servants, lowering the minimum voting age to 18 years and fair electoral boundaries and Senate representation for the Territories. Apart from all of this, what did this Roman ever do for us?
Noel Pearson speaks on "this old man's" legacy
Noel Pearson says for one born estranged to the nation’s citizenship, who was striving in the teeth of poverty and discrimination, he speaks to “this old man’s legacy with no partisan brief”.
He says Gough enacted the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders’ Queensland Discriminatory Laws Act in 1975 which finally outlawed the discrimination Pearson’s grandfather, his father and himself faced living on a reserve. Its companion was the Racial Discrimination Act which Pearson likens to America’s civil rights act.
Only those who have known discrimination truly know its evil. Only those who have never experienced prejudice can discount the importance of the Racial Discrimination Act. This old man was one of those rare people who never suffered discrimination, but understood the importance of protection from its malice.
(I really cannot do this speech justice. Do look it up if you can and watch for yourself.)
Assessments of those three highly charged years and their aftermath divide between the nostalgia and fierce pride of the faithful and the equally vociferous opinion that the Whitlam years represented the vordere of government in Australia. Let me venture a perspective. The Whitlam Government is the textbook case of reform trumping management.
The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, who were tasked with organising Gough’s memorial service, have issued a statement on the confusion which saw members of the public register for the memorial only to be told Sydney’s town hall was at capacity when they turned up with their confirmation emails.
The statement in full:
· The original email in response to enquiries did say seats would be allocated on a ‘first in best dressed’ basis.
· However due to the volume of calls received and the limited capacity in the Town Hall, this advice was updated.
· The updated advice informed people that they would be advised if they were to be allocated a seat and if they didn’t receive this confirmation then a seat was not available.
· Every attempt has been made to contact the people who received the initial advice to give them the updated advice.
· However it has not been possible to contact everyone who received the initial advice.
· Although it is not possible to accommodate everyone inside the Town Hall, space has been made available outside the venue for people to view the memorial service on a big screen.
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"I was but three when he passed by but I shall be grateful ... " Cate Blanchett speaks
Cate Blanchett was three years old when Gough Whitlam was elected. She says she is the beneficiary of free tertiary education, of good, free healthcare, of foreign policy that put Australia on the world stage. She says she is the product of an Australia that engages with the globe and with its Indigenous people.
Today I was faced with talking about the impact of Gough Whitlam on women and the arts and I was overwhelmed. So I stuck a random pin in the map because the affect on the geocultural political map of Australia made by Gough Whitlam is so vast that wherever you stick a pin in you get a wealth of Gough’s legacy. Hugo Weaving, Noni Hazlehurst, Sam Neill, Rowan Woods ... multiculturalism, urban stories, Australia’s relationship with Asia, the list goes on. And that is just one pin stab in one art form from one beneficiary’s perspective. It’s exhausting just trying to conceive of it.
Blanchett lists how women benefitted from Gough Whitlam’s legacy through the start of the campaign for equal pay, no fault divorce, awarding senior positions to women within the government and courts and appointment of an advisor on welfare of women and children.
She also speaks on his great impact on the arts.
I was but three when he passed by but I shall be grateful ‘til the day I die.
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Actor Cate Blanchett is being introduced by Kerry O’Brien as being part of a generation that had two particular reasons to thank Gough: she grew up in a more equal society for her gender and a more supportive society for her chosen field, the arts.
Thousands are outside of Gough Whitlam’s memorial service.
Thousands in town hall square watching @bkjabour pic.twitter.com/Mlqi5JURty
— Michael Safi (@safimichael) November 5, 2014
Gough Whitlam picked the music for his memorial service before he died and the Sydney Philharmonia Choir and Sydney Symphony Orchestra are performing it. After Freudenberg’s tribute: “Wir setzen uns mit Tranen nieder”, the final chorus from St Matthew passion by J S Bach.
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Graham Freudenberg recalls Gough Whitlam responding “the fun is where I am, Mungo” when asked by journalist Mungo MacCallum if he missed the fun of Canberra when in Paris.
Gough was very serious about making us laugh, not least at himself and his egoism. There was a lot of laughter in the Whitlam years, some tears too, but always energy, exuberance, enthusiasm.
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"It's been a long road comrade" – Graham Freudenberg speaks
Writer and historian Graham Freudenberg, who also wrote speeches for Gough Whitlam, is now speaking at the memorial service. He asks, can it really be more than 40 years since Gough’s “epic” 1969 campaign launch?
Freudenberg recalls Whitlam touching his shoulder before he gave an important speech.
It’s been a long road, comrade, but I think we’re there. He knew how much the words and the touch would mean to me at such a moment.You would go to the barricades with such a man. The Whitlam touch is on us all. He touches us in our day-to-day lives, in the way we think about Australia, in the way we see the world. He touches, still, the millions who share his vision for a more equal Australia, a more independent, inclusive, generous and tolerant Australia, a nation confident of its future in our region and the world.
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In Melbourne my colleague Melissa Davey reports:
Annie McCrory used to hold fundraisers for the Labor party in Cairns in the 70s.
Watching Gough Whitlam’s memorial service at Melbourne’s Federation Square, she shares her memories of him.
“He used to come with Margaret to our fundraising barbecues and they were a happy, lovely couple.
“She used to make jokes about him all the time, and he always laughed the loudest.
“They were wonderful people who had time for everyone. I have photos of them on my wall still.”
Sitting next to McCrory is Gillian McLeod, who says the election of Whitlam was a “breath of fresh air”.
“Australia had been waiting a long time for someone like him,” she said.
“A very long time.”
There are now about 150 people gathered at Federation Square, many wearing "It's Time' badges. @bkjabour pic.twitter.com/vCFrQoJwst
— Melissa Davey (@MelissaLDavey) November 5, 2014
Annie McCrory and Gillian McLeod at the Whitlam memorial in Melbourne @bkjabour pic.twitter.com/YKcRPxOw4c
— Melissa Davey (@MelissaLDavey) November 5, 2014
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In Melbourne, my colleague Melissa Davey is at a public broadcast of the memorial where about 150 people have gathered.
One indigenous woman was in tears after listening to the tribute to how Whitlam progressed Aboriginal rights. A very moving speech.
— Melissa Davey (@MelissaLDavey) November 5, 2014
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"We loved you" – Auntie Millie Ingram speaks
Auntie Millie Ingram is now doing the welcome to country on behalf of the Gadigal people. Ingram says she met Gough and Margaret Whitlam a few times and was always treated as an equal despite being slightly awed.
The impact that the Whitlam government had on our people was enormous and can’t be underestimated. The policy of self-determination changed the whole dynamic for us. For the first time, we were include in the decision-making about our rights and our lives and we were taken seriously.
Ingram says Whitlam gave herself and her people hope when they thought there was none.
Mr Whitlam, you were a brave and inspired man and we loved you and you will live on in our memories.
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Kerry O’Brien is speaking on his experience working for Gough Whitlam in the lead-up to his last election campaign which he says was the “sharpest learning curve”.
There have been moments of embellishment in the wake of Gough’s death. You expect that. But there’s no need for embellishment because Edward Gough Whitlam’s achievements have already been judged in the full light of day and after a suitable passage of time and his very substantial legacy is now carved into this country’s history. Others here today will more appropriately measure the hallmarks of the Whitlam era and Gough’s personal impact on family, on party, on the parliament and on this nation.
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Some good news for some of the mourners not allowed inside town hall:
Seat mixup appears to have been sorted - people are being ushered into spare seats in the hall @bkjabour
— Michael Safi (@safimichael) November 5, 2014
Gough Whitlam's memorial service begins
Kerry O’Brien begins Gough Whitlam’s memorial service relaying that Whitlam’s first choice for a funeral was a pyre in the Senate.
Big man, big heart, big vision, big hurdles, big flaws, big outcomes, a big life dedicated to public service.
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Right, the service is underway opening to the strains of Advance Australia Fair (incidentally, Gough Whitlam was the one who first ditched God Save the Queen as our national anthem but it was years before Advance Australia Fair was officially anointed).
Live streams of the service can be found here and here and I understand most of the free-to-air channels are also broadcasting live.
Some thoughts from the Canberra press gallery on the booing and applause at Gough Whitlam’s memorial service:
how utterly graceless of those clowns who booed John Howard outside Gough funeral.
— Phillip Coorey (@PhillipCoorey) November 4, 2014
Why object to crowds showing strong emotion at a memorial service? The man himself would have approved #Gough
— Katharine Murphy (@murpharoo) November 5, 2014
By all means boo John Howard at the cricket if you feel the need, but at a funeral? Really? #GoughWhitlam
— Andrew Greene (@AndrewBGreene) November 5, 2014
We have video from outside the memorial service of the moment former Labor prime minister Julia Gillard arrived.
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Crowds outside Sydney’s town hall for Gough Whitlam’s memorial service are well into the hundreds, possibly even thousands.
At least one thousand people gathered in Town Hall square as ceremony gets underway @bkjabour pic.twitter.com/Sa3FZVBedX
— Michael Safi (@safimichael) November 5, 2014
In some fairly interesting timing, former prime minister Julia Gillard arrived just minutes before prime minister Tony Abbott. The crowd were still cheering loudly when Abbott appeared and it turned fairly quickly to boos.
Inside Gillard received a standing ovation, making Kevin Rudd the only former Labor prime minister not to receive a standing ovation inside.
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Former Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd has arrived with his daughter, Jessica. According to various reporters he got slightly more muted applause than Bob Hawke and Paul Keating – no standing ovations.
Very partisan crowd here, former Liberal prime minister John Howard arrived with his wife Janette to loud boos from those outside. Federal Labor leader Bill Shorten has also arrived with his wife Chloe. He got applause but again, not on the Hawke and Keating scale.
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Former Labor prime minister Paul Keating and Bob Hawke have received standing ovations in Sydney’s town hall as they arrived separately for Gough Whitlam’s memorial service.
Among the other high-profile Australians spotted taking their seat are attorney general George Brandis, former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Fraser, Liberal politician Philip Ruddock and deputy federal Labor leader, Tanya Plibersek.
Apparently some Liberal figures have been booed by those gathered outside; one would think a memorial service would be a bipartisan event.
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Returning to the confusion which has seen registered mourners turned away from Gough Whitlam’s memorial service. It seems those who registered got a confirmation email, which they thought guaranteed them seating, but they actually needed a second email to ensure they would definitely be allowed inside.
Here's the follow up email people should have received to secure a ticket @bkjabour pic.twitter.com/HGeboq7OA7
— Michael Safi (@safimichael) November 4, 2014
My colleague Michael Safi has been speaking to people outside of Gough Whitlam’s memorial service on how the former PM will be remembered.
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We have photos from those lucky enough to be seated inside town hall for Gough Whitlam’s memorial as well as the swelling crowds outside.
Sydney town hall looking splendid for Whitlam service @bkjabour pic.twitter.com/1vt50LSLrk
— Emily Wilson (@emilyhwilson) November 4, 2014
Skies clearing, crowds growing @bkjabour pic.twitter.com/5rGYEVHoEe
— Michael Safi (@safimichael) November 4, 2014
Hall filling after after confused queueing at different doors - people here from all over country @bkjabour pic.twitter.com/DGXOT8EYrL
— Emily Wilson (@emilyhwilson) November 4, 2014
.@AlboMP and Carmel Tebbutt arriving at Town Hall for Gough Whitlam's memorial service. Photo by @John__Donegan pic.twitter.com/NVhdLDkJDV
— 702 ABC Sydney (@702sydney) November 4, 2014
Farewelling Gough Whitlam at the Town Hall pic.twitter.com/oAMwUyACpt
— astro xerxes (@tigeguerin) November 4, 2014
Guardian Australia editor Emily Wilson has been kind enough to send us the list of speakers at Gough Whitlam’s memorial according to the order of service.
Kerry O’Brien is the master of ceremonies and in order of appearance we will be hearing from:
- Whitlam’s former speech writer Graham Freudenberg
- Actor Cate Blanchett
- Indigenous leader Noel Pearson
- Labor senator John Faulkner
- Whitlam’s son, Antony Whitlam, QC
Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody will also perform From Little Things, Big Things Grow.
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ABC journalist Ellen Fanning is reporting even former senators are having trouble being seated inside Sydney’s town hall for Gough Whitlam’s memorial.
Former sen Rosemary Crowley came from South Australia but word is could not get in to #goughwhitlam memorial due to mix up. Hope they fix
— Ellen Fanning:Journo (@ellenmfanning) November 4, 2014
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Michael Safi is speaking to mourners outside of Sydney town hall who registered for Gough Whitlam’s memorial in the belief it allocated them seating, only to be turned away from the doors.
Mourners not allowed inside Gough Whitlam memorial after registering
Taking a moment to survey this small calamity at Gough Whitlam’s memorial service which is seeing registered mourners turned away at the doors:
My colleague Michael Safi says about 50 people have been left outside of Sydney’s town hall after registering for the memorial service in the belief they had allocated seating inside. Instead they have been told the town hall is at the capacity. Some of the mourners have travelled from as far as Western Australia and Townsville thinking they had seating.
A copy of the confirmation email has been obtained and it says there is limited seating inside of the town hall and it will be allocated to registered mourners on a “first come, first served” basis.
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The email which confirms registration for Gough Whitlam’s memorial service does say seating is limited and it is on a “first come, first served” basis.
An example of the confirmation email at the centre of the mixup @bkjabour pic.twitter.com/AUmNcz03NC
— Michael Safi (@safimichael) November 4, 2014
My colleague Michael Safi has been shown a copy of the email which confirms attendance for Gough Whitlam’s memorial but the receiver has been turned away from the door. There seems to be quite a crowd who were under the impression they had registered for the memorial but upon arrival have been turned away. One man has even made up signs saying “Shame” and “It’s a disgrace”.
Sizeable gathering of people denied entry @bkjabour pic.twitter.com/pfODKjUFPe
— Michael Safi (@safimichael) November 4, 2014
Signs at the entrance, more frustrated mourners @bkjabour pic.twitter.com/UsJ3Go03Im
— Michael Safi (@safimichael) November 4, 2014
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The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting mourners who registered for Gough Whitlam’s memorial service have been turned away at the door after being told in “first in, best dressed”:
Penelope Robinson and Omid Namdar had flown from Perth on the red-eye flight on Wednesday morning, only to be told they could not get in despite receiving an email confirming their registration.
“This is so unfair. I got through university because of Gough and I named my third son because of him. Mr Whitlam even signed his birth certificate,” Ms Robinson said.
Rodney Ranners came from Seven Hills by train in his wheelchair.
“I came all the way in because my carer received an email, I haven’t got the email, I don’t have a mobile phone. They won’t let me in,” he said, close to tears.
Ron Miles, from Leichhardt, said he had phoned to register to attend the memorial service on the day registration opened.
“The woman I spoke to took my name, and I said ‘What happens now?’ She said nothing, it was first in, best dressed. That was how she phrased it,” he said.
The people you meet standing in line: ABC’s Phillip Adams and former Sydney mayor Lucy Turnbull have been spotted waiting to enter Sydney’s town hall for Gough Whitlam’s memorial.
Some well know faces among the wellwishers @bkjabour pic.twitter.com/9ftJA39yOK
— Michael Safi (@safimichael) November 4, 2014
@bkjabour outside st andrew's cathedral pic.twitter.com/4AlkRNowQO
— Emily Wilson (@emilyhwilson) November 4, 2014
@bkjabour the order of service - says there'll be an RAAF fly past afterwards pic.twitter.com/EFMVzb3V9S
— Emily Wilson (@emilyhwilson) November 4, 2014
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My colleague Michael Safi is wearing out the shoe leather outside of Gough Whitlam’s memorial. It is another 90 minutes before it starts but the (well-dressed) crowds are already amassing.
Crowds already massing to enter Town Hall for Gough's memorial @bkjabour pic.twitter.com/i3gVketbfP
— Michael Safi (@safimichael) November 4, 2014
@bkjabour pic.twitter.com/AtIFpnZjkc
— Michael Safi (@safimichael) November 4, 2014
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Guardian Australia’s political editor, Lenore Taylor, and deputy political editor, Katharine Murphy, speak on the legacy of Gough in this video. Do watch if you have a spare four minutes.
As we wait for the former prime ministers, other dignatories and other folk paying their respects to gather, let’s take a moment to cast our eye back on the tributes already paid to Gough Whitlam.
Paul Keating:
Gough Whitlam changed the way Australia thought about itself and gave the country a new destiny. A more inclusive and compassionate society at home – a more engaged and relevant country abroad.
Tony Abbott:
Whitlam represented more than a new politics. He represented a new way of thinking, about government, about our region, about our place in the world and about change itself.
Julia Gillard:
He is alive in our universities and the many lives he changed by giving free access to university education, my life included in that count. Alive in Medicare and the uniquely Australian health system we now take for granted. Alive in our suburbs and in our family law. Alive in our relationship with China and our multicultural society.
A comprehensive summing up of the tributes can be found here.
Preparations for Gough Whitlam’s memorial service come right down to the scrubbing of footpaths.
Freshly hosed sydney pavements in preparation for Gough Whitlam memorial pic.twitter.com/hW7b3g4ebP
— Emily Wilson (@emilyhwilson) November 4, 2014
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Welcome to the rolling report of Gough Whitlam’s memorial. The former prime minister died a fortnight ago and while the family have chosen to cremate him privately, thousands are expected for the public memorial which will start at 11am at Sydney’s town hall. Public broadcasts are also being held in Cabramatta, which is in Whitlam’s former electorate, and in Melbourne.
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