One of the privileges of being a High Commissioner is being invited to represent Britain at great state occasions that tell the story of a country. Yesterday I was in Sydney for the State Memorial Service for former PM Gough Whitlam who passed away at the grand old age of 98. All seven living Australian Prime Ministers were present.
Speakers including former Labor colleagues, actress Cate Blanchett, and his son Tony vividly captured the impact Whitlam achieved, despite his short term of office from 1972-5. Like John Kennedy in the USA, he epitomised the modernising zeitgeist of the baby boomer era. It was a time when Australia was changing rapidly, with the expansion of universities, a flourishing of the arts, and other domestic social reforms, as well as re-engagement with China. It is also remembered for the very controversial dismissal of Whitlam’s government by Governor General John Kerr, when they were unable to get their budget through the Senate – one of the pivotal moments in Australian constitutional history.
Whitlam was much beloved by indigenous Australians for his activism on their behalf, particularly on land rights. Noel Pearson, one of Australia’s finest orators, paid a magnificent tribute, notable for the poetry of his language as well as the heartfelt substance.
Appropriately the service ended with William Blake’s wonderful hymn Jerusalem. Whitlam’s field of operation was “Australia’s red and pleasant land” rather than “England’s green and pleasant land”, but he certainly strived to build Jerusalem.