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.