John Kerr (Governor-General)

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John Kerr (governor-general)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other people named John Kerr, see John Kerr (disambiguation).
Sir John Robert Kerr AK, GCMG, GCVO, QC (24
September 1914 24 March 1991) was the 18th
Governor-General of Australia. He dismissed the Labor
government of Gough Whitlam on 11 November 1975,
marking the climax of the most significant constitutional
crisis in Australian history. He had previously been the
13th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South
Wales.
The Right Honourable
Sir John Kerr

AK, GCMG, GCVO, QC
Contents
1 Career
2 Governor-General
3 1975 crisis
3.1 The dismissal
3.2 After the dismissal
4 Resignation
5 Honours
6 References
7 Books, letters, articles
Kerr, photographed in 1974

18th Governor-General of Australia
In office
11 July 1974 8 December 1977
Career
Kerr was born in Balmain, a working-class suburb of
Sydney, where his father was a boilermaker. He entered
the Fort Street Boys' High School, and later won
scholarships to the University of Sydney, where he
graduated in law with first class honours and the
University Medal, before being called to the New South
Wales bar in 1938. At Fort Street he met H. V. Evatt, who
later became Leader of the Australian Labor Party and
then a judge of the High Court of Australia, and became a
protege of Evatt for many years. In 1938 Kerr married
Alison "Peggy" Worstead,[1] with whom he had three
children. He spent World War II working for an
Australian intelligence organisation, the Directorate of
Research and Civil Affairs, a fact that later gave rise to
speculation about an intelligence role in the dismissal of
the Whitlam Government. In 1946 he became principal of
the Australian School of Pacific Administration and the
first Secretary-General of the South Pacific Commission.
Kerr returned to the bar in 1948, becoming a prominent
lawyer representing trade union clients and a member of
Monarch
Elizabeth II
Prime Minister
Gough Whitlam
Malcolm Fraser
Preceded by
Sir Paul Hasluck
Succeeded by
Sir Zelman Cowen
Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales

In office
16 May 1973 27 May 1974
Monarch
Elizabeth II
Premier
Sir Robert Askin
Governor
Sir Roden Cutler
Preceded by
Sir Leslie Herron
Succeeded by
Sir Laurence Street
13th Chief Justice of New South Wales

In office
23 May 1972 27 June 1974
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the Australian Labor Party.[2]:p.142 He intended to seek

Labor endorsement for a parliamentary seat at the 1951
election, but withdrew in favour of another candidate.
[2]:p.135 After the Labor split of 1955, however, he
became disillusioned with party politics. He disliked what
he saw as the leftward trend of the Australian Labor Party
under Evatt's leadership, but was not attracted to the
breakaway group, the Democratic Labor Party.[2]:p.146
During the decade of the 1950s, he joined the
anti-communist advocacy group established by the United
States' CIA, the Association for Cultural Freedom, joining
its Executive Board in 1957.[3]:p.248
Monarch
Elizabeth II
Governor
Sir Roden Cutler
Preceded by
Sir Leslie Herron
Succeeded by
Sir Laurence Street

Personal details
Born
24 September 1914
Sydney
Died
24 March 1991 (aged 76)

Sydney, New South Wales
In the 1960s Kerr became one of Sydney's leading industrial lawyers. In the 1950s he had become a
QC.[2]:p.144 In 1964 he was one of a group of lawyers (which also included future NSW Premier Neville
Wran) who lent their expertise to the defence of the publishers of the satirical magazine Oz when they were
prosecuted for obscenity.
In 1966 Kerr was appointed a judge of the Commonwealth Industrial Court and, later, to several other
judicial positions.[2]:p.192 During this period his political views became more conservative. He became a
friend of Sir Garfield Barwick, the Liberal Attorney-General who became Chief Justice of the High Court of
Australia in 1964. Kerr was the first chairman of the Law Association for Asia and the Western Pacific
(LawAsia), founded by Justice Paul Toose and John Bruce Piggot in 1966. Kerr served as chairman of that
organisation until 1970.[2]:p.172
Kerr was appointed Chief Justice of New South Wales in 1972. Sir Paul Hasluck was due to retire as
Governor-General in July 1974, and the Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, needed to find a suitable
replacement. His first choice, Ken Myer, declined; he then offered the post to Mr Justice Kerr (as he then
was), who accepted on condition that he could expect to have ten years in the office, and that he could
represent Australia overseas as Head of State.[4] These discussions commenced in September 1973.[5] Kerr
was announced as Governor-General-designate on 27 February 1974,[6][7] by which time he had become Sir
John Kerr. He been knighted in the New Year's Honours of 1974, on the advice of the Premier of New South
Wales, Sir Robert Askin, after Whitlam had declined to endorse his predecessor William McMahon's
recommendation for that honour, which Hasluck had wisely held back pending the outcome of the
December 1972 election.[5] Kerr did not know Whitlam well, although they had shared legal chambers some
years earlier, but he had remained friends with several ministers in Whitlam's government, such as Jim
McClelland and Joe Riordan. Kerr's wife Peggy was a fellow student of Margaret Whitlam during university
days.[2]:p.13 Whitlam seems to have believed that, because of Kerr's former membership in the Labor Party,
he was still politically "reliable", without realising that Kerr's political views had changed and that he had
come to see the role of Governor-General differently from Whitlam.
Governor-General
The Whitlam Government had won a second term in May 1974 following a double dissolution, but failed to
win control of the Senate, where the balance of power was held by two independents. The new parliament
was opened by Sir Paul Hasluck on 9 July, and Kerr was sworn in as Governor-General on 11 July. The
disputed bills that had led to the double dissolution were reintroduced, and, as expected, were again rejected.
The conditions for a joint sitting of the parliament had now been met. On 30 July, Kerr signed a
proclamation convening the historic Joint Sitting of the Australian Parliament on 6 and 7 August. All the
contested bills were passed.
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On 9 September his wife Peggy died after a long illness, aged 59.[8] In early 1975, he married Anne Robson,
who had recently divorced her first husband, Hugh Robson QC, a New South Wales judge and former
colleague of Kerr's. Through her, Kerr acquired two stepchildren.
During 1975 the government was enveloped by a series of ministerial scandals (the "Loans Affair"), which
resulted in the sacking of two senior ministers, Rex Connor and Deputy Prime Minister, Jim Cairns. The
Liberal Opposition Leader, Malcolm Fraser, decided to use the Senate to block the government's budget
bills, thus forcing an early election for the House of Representatives (this is called "blocking supply").
On paper, the Australian Constitution gave the Governor-General wide-ranging powers, including the power
to appoint and dismiss ministers and to dissolve Parliament. However, by 1975, the office was viewed as
having become almost entirely ceremonial, and it was understood that in most cases the Governor-General
was bound to act on the advice of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Whitlam and others held the view that the
Governor-General had no discretion in the exercise of these powers; that they must always be exercised on
the advice of the Prime Minister and never otherwise. Kerr and others disagreed fundamentally with this
view, arguing the Constitution very clearly set out the Governor-General's powers.
In addition to the powers normally exercised only on the advice of the Prime Minister, there are certain
uncodified reserve powers, exercisable on the Governor-General's own initiative. Kerr chose to make a
study of the reserve powers through his earlier professional relationship with Evatt, the author of the
standard work on the reserve powers as they applied to the British Dominions, The King and His Dominion
Governors (1936).[2]:p.8388 Kerr was familiar with this book, and re-read it before accepting Whitlam's
offer of the governor-generalship.
1975 crisis
Further information: 1975 Australian constitutional crisis
In October 1975 the Liberals used their Senate majority to defer voting on the supply bills until Whitlam
agreed to hold an election for the House of Representatives, and a political crisis resulted.[9]:p.231233
Whitlam refused to back down and call an early election, nor would Fraser give in and allow the budget bills
to pass. If this impasse had gone on indefinitely, the government would have run out of money and been
unable to fund its ongoing commitments, public-service, parliamentary and judicial costs. It was estimated
that it would be late-November before this occurred. Whitlam was confident that at least some of the Liberal
senators would back down if he held out long enough. Undoubtedly, he also surmised that public opinion
could swing back his way as a result of Fraser's tactics and that, at an opportune moment, he could call a
half-Senate election (at which government would not be at stake) as a means of breaking the deadlock.
Fraser was also aware of these considerations. He knew that several Liberal senators were uneasy about the
blocking of supply, and might not be relied on for much longeras was indeed confirmed by Liberal
Senator Reg Withers after the dismissal.[10]:p.288 He also saw evidence in the opinion polls that the public
was unhappy about the action of the Senate in delaying supply. For this reason, he was keen to see the crisis
brought to an early conclusion. Intervention by the Governor-General was the only clear remedy in the event
that supply could not be legislated and the prime minister declined to advise an election.
Opposition backbenchers began calling on Kerr to dismiss Whitlam during October. On 16 October, the
Liberal frontbencher, Robert Ellicott (a former Commonwealth Solicitor-General) published with Fraser's
approval a legal opinion which he had prepared for the Shadow Cabinet, arguing that the Governor-General
had both the right and the duty to dismiss the government if it could not obtain supply.[10]:p.277 On 17
October, Whitlam told an interviewer that the Governor-General could not intervene in the crisis in view of
the convention that he must always act on the advice of his Prime Minister. Whitlam said later that he
intended these remarks to protect Kerr, by making clear his view that the Governor-General had no power to
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intervene,[10]:p.284 but Kerr apparently saw them as an attempt to intimidate him, and also as expressing a
view of the reserve powers that he did not share.
Kerr saw himself as an active player in the unfolding political drama. He made it clear in several
conversations with ministers that he did not accept the view that the Governor-General could play no role in
the crisis until supply actually ran out: he saw it as his duty to help prevent things from getting to that stage.
On 30 October, he proposed a compromise solution to Whitlam and Fraser which would have, in effect,
meant a backdown by Fraser (Kerr proposed that the Opposition allow the supply bills to be passed in return
for Whitlam's abandoning plans to call an early Senate election), but Fraser did not agree to this. On 2
November, Fraser offered to pass the bills if Whitlam would agree to call an election before the middle of
1976, but Whitlam in turn rejected that solution. Under the Westminster convention upheld in Australia, it is
the prime minister's prerogative to recommend the timing of an election. It became clear that Kerr had
considerable discussions with Fraser, contrary to Whitlam's specific advice. When Whitlam rejected Fraser's
proposal, it seems, Kerr decided that Whitlam was being intransigent.
Kerr's personal relationship with Whitlam by this stage was not strong, he had been upset by suggestions
that the Executive Council had acted improperly during the Loans Affair and, moreover, he was suspicious
that if Whitlam knew he was contemplating dismissing the Government, he (Whitlam) would react by
pre-emptively advising the Queen to dismiss Kerr instead. Whitlam for his part assumed with characteristic
confidence that Kerr would act predictably in the conventional manner of previous vice-regal appointees,
was in full sympathy with the Government's position, and would do nothing to act against him.[10]:p.284 He
therefore made no effort to obtain Kerr's agreement with his position and did not adequately consult with
him during the crisis.
The dismissal
Kerr had another meeting with Fraser (with Whitlam's approval) on 6 November. At this meeting Fraser
increased the pressure on Kerr, advising him that the Opposition would not back down and would not accept
any compromise, warning him that, if he did not take action against Whitlam, then the Opposition would
begin to make direct public criticism of him for having "failed in his duty".[9]:p.237238 Fraser urged Kerr to
bring about an election before the end of 1975. The provisions of the Electoral Act meant that the last date
on which a 1975 election could be announced was 11 November.
On 9 November, Kerr consulted the Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, Sir Garfield Barwick.
[2]:p.341342 Kerr asked Barwick to advise him on whether he had the constitutional power to dismiss
Whitlam, and Barwick advised him, in writing, that he did.[2]:p.342344 He also advised him that at least one
other High Court justice, Sir Anthony Mason, concurred in this view.
Kerr appears to have made up his mind on 9 November to dismiss Whitlam. He felt it necessary not to
disclose this intention to Whitlam and his ministers because of his fear that Whitlam would advise the
Queen to exercise her constitutional power to terminate Kerr's commission as Governor-General.[2]:p.331 In
so doing, Kerr was aware of the precedent set by Sir Philip Game, the Governor of New South Wales, who
had dismissed Jack Lang's government in 1932. Game had warned Lang in advance that if he, Lang, did not
withdraw certain regulations, then he, Game, would dismiss him. This allowed Lang to seek Game's
dismissal if he dared, which he did not.[11]
On the morning of Tuesday, 11 November, Whitlam phoned Kerr and arranged to see him at 12:45 pm after
the Remembrance Day ceremonies. Kerr also arranged for Fraser to come "a quarter of an hour later. Mr
Fraser was not told why I wanted him to come."[2]:p.356 Fraser later claimed that Kerr telephoned
him[10]:p.292 and asked him whether, if he were commissioned as Prime Minister, he would:
pass the budget bills,
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call an immediate double dissolution election for both houses of Parliament, and
make no appointments, initiate no new policies, and conduct no inquiries into the previous
government, before such an election.
Fraser recalled answering "yes" to all these questions. In his memoirs Kerr denied making such a phone call
to Fraser, but Fraser was adamant in all subsequent accounts that he did.
The House of Representatives was suspended at 12:55 pm for the luncheon break. Whitlam arrived at
Government House at 1 pm, 15 minutes late. Fraser had arrived earlier and been shown into another
room.[10]:p.356 Whitlam and Kerr met alone in Kerr's study. Kerr knew that Whitlam intended to ask for a
half-Senate election, one which would need to be conducted without supply,[2]:p.357 that is, unlawfully. So,
after reconfirming that Whitlam's intention was to govern without parliamentary supply, Kerr withdrew his
commission and served on him the letter of dismissal.[12] Kerr claimed Whitlam then sought to telephone
Buckingham Palace to advise Kerr's dismissal, but Whitlam has always denied this. At a press conference
that afternoon he said "The Governor-General prevented me getting in touch with the Queen by just
withdrawing the commission immediately"[2]:p.359[13] In an article in Quadrant magazine (March 2005,
Volume 49, Number 3), David Smith, Kerr's Official Secretary, claimed that Whitlam knew of Kerr's
intentions, the Queen had already made her position of non-intervention known to Whitlam and
Kerr,[10]:p.329 and Kerr had called a double dissolution to be fair to both candidates, sincerely believing that
Whitlam could win back government with the necessary majority in both houses.
When Whitlam had left, Kerr summoned Fraser[2]:p.364 and asked him the same questions which Fraser
claims to have answered that morning. When Fraser answered affirmatively, Kerr then commissioned him as
Prime Minister.
Kerr later put forward five propositions to justify his actions:
The Senate had the right under Section 53 of the Constitution to block supply.
The Government had an obligation to obtain supply through Parliament.
If the Government could not obtain supply, it had either to resign or call an election.
If the Government refused to do either of these things, the Governor-General had a right and a duty to
act to intervene.
Since the Prime Minister could at any time advise the Queen to terminate the Governor-General's
commission, the Governor-General had a right to dismiss the Government without advance warning
of his intention to do so..
After the dismissal

The news that Whitlam had been dismissed spread across Australia during the afternoon, resulting in angry
protest demonstrations by his supporters. Over the following month, leading to the double dissolution
election scheduled for 13 December 1975, Whitlam and ALP supporters constantly and intensely denigrated
Kerr, no doubt in the belief that the electorate would prove sympathetic to the deposed Labor government.
In the ensuing election campaign, the Australian Labor Party's focus was predominantly on the asserted
illegitimacy of the dismissal (with the slogan of "Shame Fraser, Shame"), while the Coalition focused on
criticism of Labor's economic management. Some expected a major backlash against Fraser in favour of
Whitlam (who had launched his campaign by calling upon his supporters to "maintain your rage"), based on
opinion polls in October and early November which had shown disapproval of Fraser's tactics. Once the
election was called, however, the majority focused on the economy and responded to the Liberals' slogan
"Turn on the lights". Despite the passion of die-hard Labor supporters, furious at what they saw as an
establishment plot to destroy a Labor government, Labor suffered its greatest-ever loss (7.4% down on its
1974 vote) at the hands of the Coalition, which continued to hold power until 1983.
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Labor supporters continued to voice criticism and demonstrate against Kerr. He found the personal attacks
on him and his wife (whom Whitlam and others accused of having been a sinister influence) deeply
wounding. For the rest of his term as Governor-General, Kerr was rarely able to appear in public without
encountering angry demonstrations.[14] On one occasion his life was thought to be endangered when he was
unable to leave a speaking engagement in Melbourne except by having his car drive through an angry
crowd. Labor parliamentarians, federal and state, refused to accept his legitimacy as Governor-General,
shunning official functions where he was in attendance. Near the end of his term, he famously appeared
drunk when he presented the 1977 Melbourne Cup.[15]
Resignation
Concern about his health may have been one reason why he cut short his five-year term and stood down in
December 1977. In fact, his resignation had already been proposed as early as March 1977, during the
Queen's visit. Fraser denounced Kerr's detractors as "a hostile and bitter minority" whose actions were
unjustified.[2]:p.423 Kerr was appointed to the post of Ambassador to UNESCO, an office which he felt
unable to take up because of continuing bitter attacks on him both inside and outside the Parliament.[2]:p.424
Bill Hayden, the new leader of the Labor Party, now in opposition, was one of the critics of the UNESCO
appointment. In the Parliament he stated, "The appointment of John Kerr as Ambassador ... is not just an
indecent exercise of the rankest cynicism. It is in every respect an affront to this country."[2]:p.428
According to historian Phillip Knightley, "The remaining years of Sir John Kerr's life were miserable ones.
He was subject to relentless harassment whenever he appeared in public."[16]:p282 He therefore moved to
London "where he could be seen most days, usually the worse for wear, at one or other gentleman's
club."[16]
Kerr died in Sydney in 1991, survived by his three children and his second wife. The family withheld
announcement of the death until after he was buried. This ensured the then Labor government would not be
put in the position of deciding whether to offer a state funeral, an honour that would normally be considered
automatic for a former Governor-General. The second Lady Kerr died in 1997, survived by the two children
of her first marriage.
His children are: Gabrielle Kibble, a town planner and later NSW State Director of Planning;[17][18] Kristin
Johnson, a psychiatrist;[19] and Philip Kerr, a solicitor.[20]
Honours
John Kerr was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) on 1 January 1966
for services as President of the Law Council of Australia.[21] This was done on the recommendation of the
Australian Government, then led by Sir Robert Menzies.[5]
In 1972, the Prime Minister William McMahon had recommended Kerr for a promotion within the order to
Knight Commander (KCMG), to be announced in the 1973 New Years Honours. In view of the impending
federal election scheduled for 2 December 1972 and the knowledge that the Labor Party's longstanding
policy was not to support Imperial Honours, Governor-General Sir Paul Hasluck chose not to forward such
recommendations to the Queen, pending the result of the election. After Gough Whitlam's election, Hasluck
asked him if he were willing to endorse McMahon's recommendation for Kerr's knighthood, but he declined.
Kerr was appointed KCMG in the New Years Honours of 1974, for services as Chief Justice of NSW, on the
recommendation of the UK Foreign Secretary on behalf of the Premier of New South Wales Sir Robert
Askin.[5][22]
In 1974 he was made a Knight of the Order of St John of Jerusalem.[23]
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On the establishment of the Order of Australia on 14 February 1975, as Governor-General he was made
Principal Companion of the Order (AC).[24] When the category of Knight was added to the Order on 24 May
1976, he was made Principal Knight of the Order (AK).[25]
In 1976 he was elevated to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG).[23] He
had asked Gough Whitlam for this appointment shortly after becoming Governor-General in 1974, but was
rebuffed.[4]
On 30 March 1977 he was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO), an award
within the personal gift of the Sovereign, for services as Governor-General.[26] This award was made by the
Queen during an official visit to Australia, and was conferred on board the Royal Yacht Britannia in
Fremantle Harbour.[5]
He was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 1977 on the instigation of Malcolm Fraser.[23] (This was another
appointment he had unsuccessfully sought from Whitlam in 1974.[4]) The formal recommendation went
through the UK Prime Minister, James Callaghan, who felt unable to support Fraser's other
recommendation, that Kerr be elevated to the peerage.[5]
References
1. Jenny Hocking, Gough
Whitlam: His Time, p. 135
(http://books.google.com.au
/books?id=7J3XmpRFD3sC&
pg=PT68&lpg=PT68&
dq=john+governor+general+ali
son+kerr&source=bl&
ots=857AVYrf63&
sig=SumvOwEWqKW_avNuf
yEzsff-y2s&hl=en&
sa=X&ei=rv0BUoOGOYLykQ
Wmo4CYCQ&
ved=0CC8Q6AEwATgK#v=on
epage&
q=john%20governor%20gener
al%20alison%20kerr&f=false);
Retrieved 7 August 2013
2. Sir John Kerr, Matters for
Judgment, Macmillan Australia
1978
3. 2003: Killing Hope: U.S.
Military and CIA Interventions
Since World War II, revised
edition, London:Zed
Books/Claremont, South
Africa:Spearhead ISBN
1-56751-252-6
4. Barry Jones, A Thinking Reed,
p. 200
5. Gough Whitlam, The Truth of

the Matter, pp. 229233
(http://books.google.com.au
/books?id=bQTtYL3KKgcC&
pg=PA229&lpg=PA229&
dq=fancy+nancy++kerr+canbe
rra&source=bl&
ots=MrIyxKovt-&
sig=gh7hlc5UEiE0KdMXUnj
wBVvnYfs&hl=en&
sa=X&ei=8QdTUnwJcefkgXm64DgBA&
ved=0CDMQ6AEwAw#v=one
page&q=fancy%20nancy
%20%20kerr%20canberra&
f=false). Retrieved 20 April
2014
6. "Virtual Reading Room".
Vrroom.naa.gov.au. Retrieved
23 April 2010.
7. "Museum of Australian
Democracy". Moadoph.gov.au.
Retrieved 23 April 2010.
8. Legislative Council of New
South Wales, 17 September
1974, Death of Her Excellency
Lady Kerr, Wife of the
Governor-General: Address of
Condolence, p. 1014
(https://www.parliament.nsw.g
ov.au/Prod/parlment
/hanstrans.nsf/V3ByKey
/LC19740917/$file
/442LC015.PDF). Retrieved 19
April 2014
9. Paul Kelly, Paradise Divided,

10. Ayres P Malcolm Fraser: A
Biography William Heinemann
Australia 1987, ISBN
0-85561-060-3
11. Dismissal of a NSW Premier
(http://www.schools.nsw.edu.a
u/nswconstitution
/html/dismissal
/bgr/invest1.html)
www.schools.nsw.edu.au
12. "Kerr's letter terminating
Whitlam's commission".
Australianbeers.com. Retrieved
23 April 2010.
13. The recording of the quote is
attributed to David Butler in 20
Questions left by Remembrance
Day, Current Affairs Bulletin,
1 March 1976
14. Jonathon Dimbleby The Prince
of Wales: A Biography, p.226
15. Pick the best of those you
never forget
(http://www.smh.com.au
/opinion/pick-the-bestof-those-you-never-forget20090612-c61v.html), Sydney
Morning Herald, 13 June 2009
16. Phillip Knightley, Australia
Biography of a Nation,
Vintage, London 2000
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17. "High rise and heritage, a town

planner's dilemma, Sydney
Morning Herald, 9 February
1988 (http://news.google.com
/newspapers?nid=1301&
dat=19880209&
id=OitWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=dQDAAAAIBAJ&
pg=2389,5641679). Retrieved
20 April 2014
18. "Planning chief attacks
draconian harbour laws",
Sydney Morning Herald, 19
October 1989
(http://news.google.com
dat=19891019&
id=ejVWAAAAIBAJ&
sjid=9ecDAAAAIBAJ&
20 April 2014
19. NLA Catalogue

(http://catalogue.nla.gov.au
/Record/2553539). Retrieved
20 April 2014
20. Sydney Morning Herald, 2
May 1976
(http://news.google.com
dat=19760502&
id=Cf5jAAAAIBAJ&
sjid=iuYDAAAAIBAJ&
20 April 2014
21. "It's an Honour: CMG".
Itsanhonour.gov.au. 1 January
1966. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
22. "It's an Honour: KCMG".
Itsanhonour.gov.au. 1 January
23. "Former Judges of the

Northern Territory".
Supremecourt.nt.gov.au.
Archived from the original on
13 October 2009. Retrieved
23 April 2010.
24. "It's an Honour: AC".
Itsanhonour.gov.au. 14
February 1975. Retrieved
23 April 2010.
25. "It's an Honour: AK".
Itsanhonour.gov.au. 24 May
26. "It's an Honour: GCVO".
Itsanhonour.gov.au. 30 March
Books, letters, articles

Kerr, John Robert (1979). Matters for Judgement. Sun.
Whitlam, Edward Gough (1979). The Truth of the Matter. Penguin.
Kelly, Paul (1995). November 1975. Allen and Unwin.
Kelly, Paul (2000). Paradise Divided. Allen and Unwin. ISBN 1-86508-291-0.
Kelly, Paul (1976). The Unmaking of Gough. Angus & Robertson.
Freudenberg, Graham (1977). A Certain Grandeur: Gough Whitlam in Politics. Macmillan.
Horne, Donald (1976). Death of the Lucky Country. Penguin.
Hasluck, Paul (1972). The Office of Governor-General.
Dimbleby, Jonathan (1994). The Prince of Wales: A Biography. New York: William Morrow and
Company. ISBN 0-688-12996-X.
Ayres, Philip (1987). Malcolm Fraser: A Biography. William Heinemann Australia.
ISBN 0-85561-060-3.
Blackshield, Tony; George Williams (2010). Australian Constitutional Law and Theory: Commentary
and Materials (5 ed.). Annandale, NSW: Federation Press. pp. 470480. ISBN 978-1-86287-773-3.
House of Representatives Hansard, 11 November 1975
Legal offices
Preceded by
Sir Leslie Herron
Chief Justice of New South Wales

19721974
Succeeded by
Sir Laurence Street
Government offices
Preceded by
Sir Paul Hasluck
Governor-General of Australia
19741977
Succeeded by
Sir Zelman Cowen
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