Gough Whitlam dies aged 98

May his memory inspire leaders for years to come.


Efa

I can't say I like the way he went about things, but I loved the way he had a vision for the country. Our current political leaders have no big picture ideal and as such only live poll by poll with the sole view to get re-elected. Gough had the guts and drive to drag Australia out of the 1950's and into the modern age and put us on the world stage for largely the first time. 
 
Vale Gough Whitlam.

No surprise a “quiet achiever” wouldn‘t appreciate the way Gough went about things…
But otherwise, near exactly what I was going to say.

When he gave the "Nothing will save the Govenor General" speech on the steps of old Parliament House, Norman Gunstan was right there.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9hZ7kjgFh4

first met him at the south melb footy ground late nov early dec 72.

they even had this mini blimp thing floating around.

met him (an audience ) in about 1999 for about 10 mins at the ballarat uni.

contacts got me this chance meeting on the morning of.

all primed to ask him about juni  & jim , rex conner , kemlani.the drunk GG and "the prefect' fraser.

all I did was dribble on incoherently after calling him his eminence !

he chuckled and then went on to describe the Australia he envisioned.

I felt uplifted and also a bit sad after leaving knowing Australia is the loser for not re electing him back in 75

bugger...bring back my socialist party now!

you listening bill?

A PM with vision. You don't see them very often....

To quote Michael Pascoe from The Age.

 

So why does his inevitable and any-day-now-for-the-past-several-years death strike such a chord?

I think it's partly because of the invidious comparison with what our nation has become.

The optimism, the positivity, the change, the opening up, the justice, the independence, the betterment of the nation, the internationalisation that Whitlam sought and represented has been replaced after four decades with a more general negativity, with so little ambition, with a conservative determination to uphold the status quo or even return to some earlier imagination of it, with white-bread nationalism resplendent.

I fear we don't mourn Gough, but ourselves.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/we-dont-mourn-gough-whitlam-we-mourn-ourselves-20141021-1195kc.html#ixzz3GmjspiIJ
 
Thank you Gough.
 
RIP

Nah, not that sad (not talking politically at all). If i make it to 98 i'll consider it a pretty good outcome.

Disagree. Depends on how they go. Are they fit and healthy and ready to go another decade before being cruelly struck down by cancer? Murdered? Car accident? Or do they die of 'old age'. Makes a big difference to the sadness factor.

 

98 for some people is a lot easier/harder than for others. I wouldn't generalise.

 

Nah, not that sad (not talking politically at all). If i make it to 98 i'll consider it a pretty good outcome.

Disagree. Depends on how they go. Are they fit and healthy and ready to go another decade before being cruelly struck down by cancer? Murdered? Car accident? Or do they die of 'old age'. Makes a big difference to the sadness factor.

 

98 for some people is a lot easier/harder than for others. I wouldn't generalise.

 

He was talking about how he feels, not how you feel.

When he gave the "Nothing will save the Govenor General" speech on the steps of old Parliament House, Norman Gunstan was right there.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9hZ7kjgFh4

such a classic Australian moment - to be right there as it was happening and actually engage the crowd with Whitlam next to him.

Sad indictment on our education system, that of the 7 young guys under 30 that I supervise at work, only the one that grew up in Canberra knew who Gough Whitlam was. None of the other 6 knew he was our Prime Minister and none of the seven knew he had been sacked by Sir John Kerr. truly sad state of affairs considering how much of Australia's current standards of living came from him. In addition to all those mentioned above, one other thing Gough did was release large tracts of crown land for housing developments for an ever expanding domestic housing market, leading to our spreading urbanisation.

I hear he raised the Titanic, cured the plague and created the Panama Canal just by breathing on it.

I think you'll find it was Howard who raised the boat issue.

I hear he raised the Titanic, cured the plague and created the Panama Canal just by breathing on it.

Would you like some lemon & lime with that bitters?

A great man with a lot of faults.

 

I hear he raised the Titanic, cured the plague and created the Panama Canal just by breathing on it.

Would you like some lemon & lime with that bitters?

 

Nothing bitter in me over the man, but the eulogising in here is taking on mythological status.
Albie's statement was the best one "A great man with a lot of faults".

You'll like this one, then.

Mrs Wim has been lucky enough to meet a lot of well known people.  PM's, singers, actors, directors...

She reckons she's met just two people who had, if you'll forgive the phrase, an aura of greatness about them.

Weary Dunlop was one of them.

 

 

I hear he raised the Titanic, cured the plague and created the Panama Canal just by breathing on it.

Would you like some lemon & lime with that bitters?

 

Nothing bitter in me over the man, but the eulogising in here is taking on mythological status.
Albie's statement was the best one "A great man with a lot of faults".

 

The day after he died, people are being pretty complimentary eulogising him?

Funny that.

 

 

 

Wait till he's cold.

That's all.

Nah, not that sad (not talking politically at all). If i make it to 98 i'll consider it a pretty good outcome.

That's a bit Michael Slater isn't it? Come on. Go for the three figures!

You'll like this one, then.

Mrs Wim has been lucky enough to meet a lot of well known people.  PM's, singers, actors, directors...

She reckons she's met just two people who had, if you'll forgive the phrase, an aura of greatness about them.

Weary Dunlop was one of them.

Never had the privilege of meeting Gough, but I had lunch with Weary Dunlop twice. And Mrs Wim is spot on regarding him.

You'll like this one, then.

Mrs Wim has been lucky enough to meet a lot of well known people.  PM's, singers, actors, directors...

She reckons she's met just two people who had, if you'll forgive the phrase, an aura of greatness about them.

Weary Dunlop was one of them.

And it was his 'aura', relates John Faulkner, that Whitlam claimed kept setting off the metal detectors!! 

 

I have to say the state funeral was an inspiring service.