The palace letters [sound recording] : the Queen, the governor-general, and the plot to dismiss Gough Whitlam
Hocking, Jenny2021
Audiobooks
What role did the queen play in the governor-general Sir John Kerr's plans to dismiss prime minister Gough Whitlam in 1975, which unleashed one of the most divisive episodes in Australia's political history? And why weren't we told? Under the cover of being designated as private correspondence, the letters between the queen and the governor-general about the dismissal have been locked away for decades in the National Archives of Australia, and embargoed by the queen potentially forever. This ruse has furthered the fiction that the queen and the Palace had no warning of or role in Kerr's actions. In the face of this, Professor Jenny Hocking embarked on a four-year legal battle to force the Archives to release the letters. In 2015, she mounted a crowd-funded campaign, securing a stellar pro bono team that took her case all the way to the High Court of Australia. Now, drawing on never-before-published material from Kerr's archives and her submissions to the court, Hocking traces the collusion and deception behind the dismissal, and charts the private role of High Court judges, the queen's private secretary, and the leader of the opposition, Malcolm Fraser, in Kerr's actions, and the prior knowledge of the queen and Prince Charles. Hocking also reveals the obstruction, intrigue, and duplicity she faced, raising disturbing questions about the role of the National Archives in preventing access to its own historical material and in enforcing royal secrecy over its documents.
Main title:
Author:
Hocking, Jenny, authorLittrell, Katherine, narrator
Imprint:
[Ashland, Oregon] : Blackstone Publishing, [2021]℗2021©2020
Collation:
7 audio discs (8 hours) : CD audio, digital ; 12 cm.
Notes:
Compact discs.
Performers:
Read by Katherine Littrell.
ISBN:
97816650373279781665037327
Dewey class:
994.062344.94092
Language:
English
Subject:
Hocking, Jenny -- Trials, litigation, etcKerr, John, Sir, 1914-1991 -- CorrespondenceElizabeth II, Queen of Great Britain, 1926- -- CorrespondenceWhitlam, Gough, 1916-2014National Archives of AustraliaAustralian Labor Party -- History -- 20th centuryArchives -- Law and legislation -- AustraliaFreedom of information -- AustraliaConspiracies -- AustraliaAustralia -- Politics and government -- 1972-1975Audiobooks
BRN:
507230
More Information:
Location | Collection | Call number | Status/Desc |
---|---|---|---|
Sandringham Library | Adult Audio Books on CD | ACD 994.062 HOC | Available |