Tuesday November 11 will be the 50th anniversary of the dismissal of the Whitlam government by the then Governor-General Sir John Kerr. It was a dramatic day in our federal political history, with Malcolm Fraser appointed prime minister. Fraser then led the Coalition to a landslide victory in the subsequent election.

The debate about – and in some quarters, the rage over – what Kerr did continues today, with opinions divided over its impact on Australian political history.

To talk about their memories of the time, we’re joined by journalist Niki Savva, who was a reporter working in the parliamentary press gallery, and David Solomon, press secretary to Prime Minister Gough Whitlam during the crisis.

On the atmosphere on November 11, Solomon recalls the mood of Whitlam office:

We expected […] this would be a good day. This was the day when the governor-general would agree to a half-Senate election and that, we thought, would be the circuit breaker in the problem over getting supply. Of course, during the time, it turned totally on its head. And we finished up wondering just what had happened and why, and........

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