On November 11, 1975, Gough Whitlam was removed from office as Prime Minister of Australia. He was dismissed by his own Governor-General, John Kerr, a man who held what was largely believed to be a ceremonial position as the representative of the British Crown. The Dismissal would spark decades of debate in Australia. But recently unearthed records show that Kerr did not act on his own. He had the full support of the country's conservative establishment, encouragement from US and Australian intelligence, and advice from Buckingham Palace.
SOURCES
https://scribepublications.com.au/books-authors/books/the-palace-letters-9781922310248
The Dismissal: 40 years on by Paul Daley
https://dismissed.moadoph.gov.au/hashtag-dismissal-1975.html
The Dismissal - 10th Anniversary by Australia Channel 9
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm8HFJ9ZC8U
The Kerr Palace Letters - National Archives of Australia
https://www.naa.gov.au/explore-collection/kerr-palace-letters
In the 1970s, a Soft Coup Removed Australia’s Left-Wing Prime Minister by Guy Rundle
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/07/gough-whitlam-dismissal-letters-john-kerr-australia
Gough Whitlam’s Government Was the Victim of a Right-Wing Coup by Conor Flynn
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/06/gough-whitlam-australian-labor-party-right-wing-coup-john-kerr
Rundle: proving the CIA-backed conspiracy that brought down Whitlam by Guy Rundle
https://www.crikey.com.au/2015/11/25/rundle-proving-the-cia-backed-conspiracy-that-brought-down-whitlam/
CIA, Kerr, Barwick and 1975 by Humphrey McQueen
https://labourhistorycanberra.org/2016/07/cia-kerr-barwick-and-1975/
Australian House of Representatives Debates - 4 May 1977
http://historichansard.net/hofreps/1977/19770504_reps_30_hor105/
CIA Issue Enters Australian Crisis by Fox Butterfield special to the New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/1975/11/06/archives/cia-issue-enters-australian-crisis-whitlam-says-an-opposition-chief.html
How Australia Won Universal Healthcare - and How Workers Saved it with a General Strike by Anthony O'Donnell
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/08/australia-universal-health-care-whitlam-administration-medibank-medicare-alp-actu-strike
