Webinar Recording: The Palace Letters: the Queen, the Governor-General and the Plot to Dismiss Gough Whitlam
Originally presented Sunday 12 September 2021 at 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM. The recording is here https://youtu.be/qBqWUHxyIjA
Professor Jenny Hocking waged a ten-year campaign and a four-year legal battle against the National Archives of Australia to release the secret letters between the Queen and the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, regarding Kerr’s 1975 dismissal of the Whitlam government.
After four years of legal struggle, in a landmark 6:1 decision last year the High Court of Australia found in Jenny’s favour, overturning the Queen’s embargo over the Palace letters and leading to their release. It was a tremendous victory for our history and for transparency at the highest levels of governance.
Jenny will speak about her book The Palace Letters and her fight for public access to the Queen’s letters about the greatest constitutional crisis in our history. Court-room drama meets political intrigue in this high paced political thriller, stretching all the way from Yarralumla to Buckingham Palace via the High Court of Australia. The Age described it as ‘riveting Australian history’.
Full abstract and brief biography. 