Former prime minister Gough Whitlam, who passed away yesterday aged 98, came to Bathurst in 1973 with his wife Margaret to open the Chifley Home and Museum.
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As the first Labor prime minister to be elected since Chifley’s time, it was a fitting honour for Mr Whitlam, who had come to power the year before.
Gough Whitlam was born in Melbourne on July 11, 1916 and was elected to the federal parliament in 1952. He served as prime minister from December 5, 1972 until his government was famously dismissed on November 11, 1975.
Chifley historian Sam Malloy said Mr Whitlam opened the Chifley Home on March 24, 1973.
“He sat on the verandah, a towering figure,” Mr Malloy said. “It was a big thing for Bathurst to have the prime minister of the day visit the city.”
Charles Sturt University political science Associate Professor Dominic O’Sullivan said with Mr Whitlam’s passing, people were taking the opportunity to reflect on a legacy of extraordinary vision and reforming zeal.
Mr O’Sullivan said the Whitlam era was a hugely transformative time, opening opportunities to those who wouldn’t otherwise have had them.
“Gough Whitlam had incredible vision for the kind of society Australia could be,” he said.
“We were a very staid and conservative society in the Menzies era, and while life was comfortable, it was not very interesting.
“There was 23 years of Labor idealism just waiting to be realised.
“Whitlam had a vision for creating a great sense of Australian identity.”
Associate Professor O’Sullivan said, however, it was the end of Mr Whitlam’s prime ministership, the dismissal, that helped foster his interest in politics.
“I was asking myself how could something like this happen? What does it say about democracy? It was exciting, but there was a sense of confusion too.
“It seemed like the rule book had been thrown out.”