The night before the dismissal of his government, Gough Whitlam attended the Melbourne Lord Mayor’s Banquet.
The Opposition Leader, Malcolm Fraser, was there also. The two men would travel back to Canberra together on Whitlam’s plane later that evening.
The Lord Mayor was the Liberal Party’s Ron Walker, then aged 36. Walker went on to a career in business and was also a chief fundraiser for the Liberal Party.