Bill McAuley, a newspaper photographer and veteran of many campaigns, recalls Gough Whitlam’s 1972 electoral bid as the most exciting he ever covered. He photographed the Labor leader many times, and was ‘chuffed’ when Whitlam recognised him. ‘Gough Whitlam had become one of my heroes: in my opinion, a great man’, McAuley writes in his forthcoming autobiography. ‘In 1975 after the governor-general dismissed Gough and his government, I took a photograph of him in the ABC television studios when he made his statement to the Australian public. He looked wistful and shell-shocked, but his indignation came through loud and clear as he cried foul.’
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2010
© Bill McAuley
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