Gough Whitlam's biographer, Jenny Hocking, has revealed hitherto unknown details of the role played by High Court Justice Sir Anthony Mason in the Whitlam dismissal. She discusses Mason's involvement in a video posted on Fairfax websites.
Posts published in “Documents”
Text of a letter from the Queen's Private Secretary to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Gordon Scholes.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Gordon Scholes, wrote to the Queen on November 12 expressing alarm about the actions of the Governor-General. Scholes was the ALP member for Corio, in Victoria. He was first elected at a by-election on July 22, 1967, following the retirement of the Liberal…
Image and full text of the Vice-Regal notice published on November 12, 1975.
At 4.45pm on November 11, 1975, nearly four hours after Whitlam’s dismissal, the Governor-General’s Official Secretary, David Smith, read this proclamation on the steps of Parliament House.
This audio clip of Smith and Whitlam is the first ever broadcast by the ABC shortly after 5pm on November 11. It starts at the end of Smith’s reading of the proclamation and includes Whitlam’s famous words about Kerr and Fraser.
- Listen to Smith and Whitlam
PROCLAMATION
By His Excellency, the
Governor-General of Australia
Text of Malcolm Fraser's letter to Governor-General Sir John Kerr accepting his commission as prime minister.
Following his dismissal of Gough Whitlam on November 11, 1975, the Governor-General released this document outlining his reasons.
Full text of Sir John Kerr’s Statement of Reasons for the dismissal of Gough Whitlam, issued by Government House on November 11, 1975.
I have given careful consideration to the constitutional crisis and have made some decisions which I wish to explain.
This is the official letter handed to Whitlam by Kerr in the Governor-General’s study at Yarralumla at approximately 1.00pm on Tuesday, November 11, 1975.

Text of Sir John Kerr’s letter of dismissal, handed to Gough Whitlam on November 11, 1975.