Whitlam Institute Schools Program launches new online exhibition

High School students with Gough at a schools program seminar

The Whitlam Institute this month launches a new on-line exhibition on events and issues which remain unresolved to this day. Follow our timeline of events from January to the shattering conclusion on 11 November 1975 of the most extraordinary political and constitution crisis in the history of Australia's Federation. Dismissal timeline

Leading political analyst and author, Paul Kelly, from The Australian newspaper describes the events of November 1975 which brought the Whitlam Government to a close as "the most dramatic event" in Australia's political history.

In his book November 1975 The Inside Story of Australia's greatest political crisis (Allen and Unwin 1995) Paul Kelly says the 1975 crisis is "a reminder that Governor-Generals, like Presidents bring their characters to their offices. Ultimately, it is these personal qualities that dominate - the frailties, ego and prowess. Fraser, Whitlam and Kerr each deployed massive institutional power on calculations of personal psychology. These were ambitious men, with flaws to match their vigour, their triangular rivalry is unmatched for its intensity and brinkmanship."

The timeline now available is just the start of a research project which will see new materials and new views posted by historians and the Whitlam Institute team in the months ahead.