Out Of Empire: Edward Gough Whitlam Essay, Research Paper

“OUT OF EMPIRE: EDWARD GOUGH WHITLAM”

“More than any other part of the old Empire, Australia

remains inhibited and limited by its nostalgia for past

associations and pretensions which the British nation, and

in particular, the British monarch have long since

abandoned. Nothing has done more to retard Australia’s

relations with Britain or to distort the very real and

substantial nature of that relationship than the obsessions

of the Australian conservatives with the British connection

and their manipulation of the monarchy and their

exploitation of the perquisites and privileges associated

with it.”

- Edward Gough Whitlam, 1985

Gough Whitlam was perhaps Australia’s most controversial

Prime Minister ever, and the Australian with arguably the

most reason to resent our country’s ties with Britain. For

on Remembrance Day, 1975, the Governor General, Sir John

Kerr, invoked his reserve powers to dismiss Whitlam as Prime

Minister, something he could only do because he was

supposedly acting on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II. Thus, it

is to be expected that out of all of Australia’s leading

figures, Whitlam would have the most reason to feel

strongly, one way or the other, about our “mother country”.

Today, Whitlam declares himself to be a Republican, but he

confesses he only came to this way of thinking after his

dismissal, when he and the nation saw for the first time

just how much power the Queen and her representatives really

had, despite their lack of control over day to day running

of the Government. At the onset of his career, Whitlam was

quite proud of his Queen – he had, after all, fought in the

Airforce during the Second World War to defend Britain as

well as Australia – but he always thought the Conservative

parties held far too much attachment for time-honoured

traditions which there was no longer a place for in

Australia. Australia needed to move on, to recognise that

Britain’s place was to be occupied by another country – the

United States – and that further, Australia needed to stop

accepting so many British migrants and start looking at what

peoples from other countries could offer Australia. Whitlam

always believed in change – his campaign slogan reflected

this – and this attitude seems to stem largely from his

sensitivity to how the rest of the world sees Australia.

Much of what he later said or wrote reflected this.

Edward Gough Whitlam was born on July 11, 1916, into a

middle class family. His father worked for the Victorian

State Government and then the Federal Government, ultimately

becoming a Commonwealth Crown Solicitor (now titled

Australian Government Solicitor), and his mother, as was the

practice then, stayed at home.

Whitlam’s upbringing was quite sound. He was encouraged to

work hard and his parents sent him to reputable private

schools. His family, however, did not push him into

politics; indeed, Whitlam himself admitted years later that

he became involved because he was “so disillusioned or

alienated by what the non-Labour interests were doing”.

(Farmer, 1984)

In the early days of his career, Whitlam did not seem to

have a view about how closely Australia was tied to Britain.

Indeed, it was not an issue. The Labour party spent more

time arguing amongst themselves than with the Opposition, a

situation for which Whitlam was partly responsible. As he

moved up the ladder, though, Whitlam began to focus on

housing, education and wealth, and these issues earned him

much support. By the time he had been elected Leader of the

Labor Party, he was ready to start broadening his outlook.

(Emy et al, 1993)

Much was happening on the International arena. The Second

World War had by no means been the war to end all wars, and

at that time, Australia herself was embroiled in the bloody

battle being waged in Viet Nam. This was due to the ANZUS

Treaty, a pact that required that Australia support the

United States in matters of war. It was on this topic that

much can, at last, be learnt as to Whitlam’s attitude

towards Britain.

Several members of the Coalition objected to Britain being

omitted from the ANZUS Treaty. A few from the Labor party

agreed with them, and still others thought it unfair that

France was left out too. Whitlam did not comment on Britain

(whether this was because he was a little unsure himself as

to how he felt, or whether he wisely realised that this was

not the place to let his feelings be made clear is not

known), but he was adamant that France should not be allowed

the honour of being part of such a treaty since the “ANZUS

pact is properly limited to those countries that govern

themselves or which govern territories under trust to the

United Nations”. In other words, that the treaty was only

for those who did not presume to tie another country to her

apron strings. (Whitlam, 1985)

Whitlam’s attitude towards Britain became clear when he was

elected Prime Minister in 1972 and was at last free to make

his opinions more known. His campaign slogan was “It’s

Time!” and he intended to deliver on his promise of change.

He declared his intent to “put our [Britain's and

Australia's] relationship on a more mature and contemporary

basis and to reflect the development of a more independent

Australian identity in the world.” Despite this bold

statement, Whitlam had wisely refrained from outlining his

proposed changes to Australia’s relationship with Britain

during his pre-election speeches, preferring instead to

promise vaguely of new things, but his restraint only made

him the more eager to act as soon as he was elected.

Whitlam kept his promise. During his time in office he

made several changes that had little effect on the lives of

Australian people, but which nevertheless were significant

enough to demand royal approval, and thus reflected how

Australia was slowly loosening her ties. To begin, he

arranged for Queen Elizabeth to always (when in Australia)

be introduced as the Queen of Australia, and not the Queen

of England, as had heretofore been the practice. He

replaced “Commonwealth of Australia” with simply “Australia”

in as many titles and instances as possible and arranged for

several titles in the Honours list to be dramatically

altered to give almost all of them Australia in the title,

and nothing of a British or Commonwealth flavour. He

campaigned for new Australian citizens not having to swear

allegiance to the Queen, but this bill was not approved

until 1983. But the change that most Australians will

remember, was that of Australia’s national anthem, from “God

Save the Queen” to “Advance Australia Fair”.

Whitlam did not escape criticism for his moves. After

less than a year, rumours began to fly that Whitlam had

little time for Royalists. Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen even

declared that Whitlam had ordered the Queen’s picture be

taken down from the walls of Parliament and his own be put

up instead, a rumour that would dog Whitlam throughout his

career. (Reid, 1976)

Although Whitlam never really made it clear while in

office, in his second book “The Whitlam Government” he

outlined the two major problems, as he saw them, of having

Queen Elizabeth. Firstly, it was that she was not solely

Queen of Australia, but she was first and foremost, Queen of

the United Kingdom. Whitlam was infernally frustrated at

the “difficulty the Queen’s Governments outside the United

Kingdom [eg Australia] can have in dealing with other

Governments in whose eyes the Queen, in her communications

and on her visits, is solely the Queen of the United

Kingdom”. (Whitlam, 1985)

Secondly, and this matter is almost certainly laced with

personal feelings of injustice at his own treatment, Whitlam

resented the way the Head of State had no real power in

times of crisis, to wit, his dismissal by Sir John Kerr.

Whitlam regrets that the Queen “has to be represented by

persons of lesser experience and competence. She is at the

mercy of fallible deputies.” (Whitlam, 1985) There can be

no doubt at to which “fallible deputy” Whitlam is referring

to, and indeed, he later writes that November 11, 1975, was

the day he became an ardent supporter of the republic.

(Whitlam, 1979)

However, it must be understood that Whitlam had nothing

personal against Queen Elizabeth II. He actually found her

to be a delightful person and “the most experienced and

competent head of state in the world”. (Whitlam, 1985) But

he was eager to distance Australia from Britain, for he

intended for another country to take Britain’s place.

Instead of a mother country, he wanted a big brother – the

United States of America.

Since Australia had felt the threat of invasion from

Indonesia only a few years earlier, the sheer isolation and

helplessness of our country was brought home to many

Australians. The nation’s security became a matter of great

import, and since both World Wars had shown Britain’s

comparative weakness it was indeed a logical move for

Australia to turn to someone else to guarantee to protect

us. Whitlam was keen for the US to be that someone and was

quite instrumental in bringing it all about. Later,

detractors would say that it was inevitable, but Whitlam

himself feels he deserves much of the credit. (Whitlam,

1979)

Whitlam even went so far as to adopt many of the United

States’ foreign policies (which, at the time, were often in

great contrast to Britain’s), with the very notable

exception of Viet Nam, where he withdrew Australia’s troops

within seventy-two hours of being elected to office as Prime

Minister. He was, however, very particular, about copying

the US’ attitude towards migrants.

Although the “White Australia Policy” had apparently been

eliminated in the Sixties, there were still very few

Southern Europeans and other “non-whites” being allowed into

the country. Whitlam resented Third World countries seeing

Australia as a “white, imperialist puppet, flaunting an

immigration policy designed to consolidate white supremacy

in the South-Western Pacific”. (Foley & Wilson, 1990) He

increased the number of migrants from all over the world

allowed in, and abolished the easy, assisted passages

already in place for the British. He demanded immigration

policy be founded on “the avoidance of discrimination on any

grounds of race or colour of skin or nationality”.

(Whitlam, 1985)

Throughout his career, Whitlam seems to be very concerned

as to how the rest of the world sees Australia. This is

important to him, and the closest he comes to revealing his

attitude towards Britain before his term as Prime Minister.

At Port Moresby, on 17 January 1971 Whitlam actually tells

his listeners that “What the world sees about Australia

is…that we run one of the world’s last colonies”. Whitlam

was not very keen for Australia to be seen as an object of

derision in the eyes of the rest of the world, and this

attitude is responsible for a great proportion of his moves

to loosen Britain’s ties.

However, the question must be asked as to why Whitlam took

more of an interest in foreign affairs than any other Prime

Minister. Obviously, the events taking place in the world

demanded it of course, but Whitlam’s involvement far

exceeded the mere demands. By his own admission, it is

known that a large part of Whitlam’s interest was due to the

fact that internationally, Whitlam was Prime Minister of

Australia and no-one, from his own party or the Opposition,

could hinder his foreign policies. For throughout Whitlam’s

terms, he did not have the power in the Senate (despite

numerous sly and devious attempts to obtain it) and

consequently several of his reforms were blocked, which he

found very frustrating. Internationally, however, there

were no such problems. Hence, it is possible that Whitlam

only had such a view about Britain and the rest of the world

because it was the only matter he could have a view and do

something about.

Nevertheless, Gough Whitlam had a view. Since he was born

during the First World War and fought in the Second, it was

obvious he had grown up pledging his allegiance to Britain

with an open heart. But as his career progressed, and his

view had to be not so much how he personally felt, and more

about the good of the nation, his opinion changed. When he

came to office he felt it was time for change for Australia,

a time to move on. To grow up and spread her wings.

Secondly, he felt Australia needed to adopt a different

ally, one who had advanced over the years in the way Britain

had not, and Australia could. ie the United States.

Thirdly, Whitlam felt Australia should severe ties with

Britain because the attachment to the Queen implied things

about Australia to other countries that were neither true

nor fair. Lastly he resented Australia’s ties to Britain

because the Opposition rejoiced in them. Gough Whitlam was

a politician, after all.