Life in Beijing in 1975 was not easy and the events leading up to the Dismissal of the Whitlam Government in November piled on the pressure. 

There were practical problems and there was existential angst about the future of the Australian embassy. As we reach the 50th anniversary of events in Canberra, it is important to recognise that they had profound implications not only for the national political system, but also for our international relations.

I had arrived in Beijing in March 1975 as the first Cultural Counsellor and had spent a hectic six months acclimatising, putting in place groundbreaking cultural and scientific initiatives, supporting education exchanges and implementing information programs, while managing schooling for my children, being sensitive to the stresses incurred by my ethnic Chinese husband and finding my place in two cultures, neither of which was sympathetic to a career woman. I was nevertheless committed to my job, believing in the essential correct orientation of the Australian Labor Party’s platform that gave priority to the normalisation of relations with the People’s Republic of China.

From March to October, I had settled my sons in a local school, had experienced two cases of detention by local security offices (on spurious grounds), had seen my husband leave the country to reassure his parents that the family were nevertheless safe in “Red China”, had travelled extensively with visiting........

© Pearls and Irritations