November 2022
Tony Whitlam: Gough was ‘pissed off’ by Dismissal slur
Gough Whitlam’s son opens up for the first time about his father’s reaction to being dismissed, and Labor’s 1972 election victory.
- Andrew Clark
A time for change: Gough Whitlam’s election win, 50 years on
There was a revolutionary flavour to the Whitlam era, with its radical departure from the past and its abrupt demise.
- Andrew Clark
September 2022
- Opinion
- Republic debate
A nation shorn of Britishness is still waiting for the republic
Republicans will need to make the case as to why only an Australian head of state can provide the basis of reassurance and belonging for a 21st-century nation.
- James Curran
November 2021
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Australia’s wasted decade: lessons from the 1970s
What we learned from the decade in which the ‘dream economy’ of the 1960s squandered its luck helped transform Australia over the following 30 years.
- The AFR View
June 2021
Michael Kirby v Geoffrey Robertson on the dismissal and the republic
After the release of the Palace Papers failed to settle lingering questions over the Queen’s role in the Whitlam government’s dismissal, two famous lawyers keep the debate raging.
- Michael Pelly
July 2020
- Opinion
- Satire
The Dismissals: the revolving door kept spinning long after 1975
What if more Australian PMs were quietly dealt with on the suggestion of royal advisers?
- Rowan Dean
- Analysis
- Review
Myths of the palace plot to sack Whitlam debunked
The release of the Kerr Palace letters this week, which promised to reveal evidence of interference from Buckingham Palace in the dismissal of Gough Whitlam, proved the very opposite, writes Anne Twomey.
- Anne Twomey
- Exclusive
- Gough Whitlam
Turbulent times led to nation's greatest constitutional crisis
The Palace Letters transported us to an era that was replete with an air of speculative energy and suspense as the usual suspects at the top of the nation's political leadership did unusual things, writes Andrew Clark.
- Andrew Clark
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Palace Letters don't dismiss the republic debate
The Palace Letters end the conspiracy theory about the Dismissal. But they should also spur the debate about Australia becoming a republic.
- The AFR View
'Of course the Queen knew': Palace Letters maintain Labor rage
Susan Ryan, the first woman to serve in a federal Labor cabinet, says it's incomprehensible the Queen didn't know of plans to oust Gough Whitlam.
- Tom McIlroy
- Exclusive
- King Charles III
Letters reveal Kerr sacked Whitlam as a pre-emptive strike
Light has been thrown on the reasons for the dismissal of Gough Whitlam in 1975, and on the possible courses of action that Sir John Kerr could have taken.
- Andrew Clark
Palace gave Kerr green light to sack Whitlam
The Queen's private secretary was firm in his view that Sir John Kerr had the power to dissolve Parliament.
- Michael Pelly
Queen Elizabeth given no warning of Whitlam dismissal
The Queen said on Tuesday revelations included in the newly released Palace Letters show neither she nor the Royal Household played any role in the dismissal of Gough Whitlam in 1975.
- Updated
- Tom McIlroy
'Please assure her majesty of my continued loyalty and humble duty'
For a man who was, in theory, Australian's head of state, John Kerr was extremely deferential to Buckingham Palace.
- Aaron Patrick
- Opinion
- Opinion
There is no smoking sceptre at the Palace
The House of Windsor is exonerated by the 'Palace Letters'. But there is a way that Gough Whitlam became the winner in the end.
- John Roskam and Morgan Begg
Watch: National Archives Director-General releases the Palace Letters
National Archives Director-General releases the Palace Letters.