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State Library of New South Wales
Get stuffed! I am the Queen of Australia

Get stuffed! I am the Queen of Australia

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Mitchell Poster 1678


The most dramatic political event in Australia since federation occurred on 11 November 1975. At 1.15pm Sir John Kerr, the Governor General of Australia and the Queen’s representative dismissed the Whitlam Labor Government, dissolved parliament and appointed Malcolm Fraser as caretaker Prime Minister. Fraser went on to win a general election on 13 December 1975 and Whitlam remained as leader of the Labor party until 1977.  


Gough Whitlam was a Queen’s Counsel (QC) from 1962 and was awarded a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in 1978 for his services to politics and government and the federal parliament.


Sir John Kerr died in Sydney in 1991 at the age of 76 years. He was a member of the Australian Labor Party from 1948–1955.

John Malcolm Fraser joined the Liberal Party in 1952 and entered parliament in 1955 at the age of 25 years – he was the youngest federal Member of Parliament. 


In 1991 Malcolm Fraser and Gough Whitlam worked together to campaign against the concentration of media ownership in Australia.

(Edward) Gough Whitlam AC QC died on 21 October 2014. He was 98 years old. A state memorial service was held in his honour and many condolences and tributes were read in parliament.


Malcolm Fraser resigned from the Liberal Party in 2010 as he disagreed with its increasingly conservative stance on many issues.