Gough Whitlam 1916-2014. A true social justice reformer who changed Australian culture and embraced equal opportunity for all. Vale Gough...

Prime Minister Gough Whitlam pours soil into the hand of traditional land owner Vincent Lingiari, 1975 by Mervyn Bishop

“In a rapid program of reform it called ‘the program’, the Whitlam government created Australia’s national health insurance scheme, Medibank; abolished university fees; introduced state aid to independent schools and needs-based school funding; returned traditional lands in the Northern Territory to the Gurindji people; drafted (although did not enact) the first commonwealth lands right act; established diplomatic relations with China, withdrew the remaining Australian troops from Vietnam; introduced no-fault divorce laws; passed the Racial Discrimination Act; blocked moves to allow oil drilling on the Great Barrier Reef; introduced environmental protection legislation; and removed God Save the Queen as the national anthem.”

www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/21/gough-whitlam-dies-at-age-98 

..........

He was my hero, the reason I could go to Uni and art college, he tripled funding for the arts in his first 3 days in office and set up the Australia Council who funded Inkahoots to establish our original screenprinting studio.

I know he was 98 but I can't stop crying.

+

Robyn McDonald
(Inkahoots co-founder)