John Kerr

The Right Honourable Sir John Robert Kerr, AK, GCMG, GCVO, QC (September 24 1914 - April 7 1991), Australian judge and 18th Governor-General of Australia, dismissed the Labor government of Gough Whitlam on 11 November 1975, sparking one of the most significant constitutional crises in Australian history.

After the Dismissal

The news that Whitlam had been dismissed spread across Australia during the afternoon, triggering immediate protest demonstrations. Over the following weeks Kerr was the subject of intense vilification by angry Labor supporters, led by Whitlam who made a series of eloquent speeches attacking Kerr. In retrospect Whitlam's decision to focus his attack during the campaign on Kerr rather than on the Liberal Party was seen by Labor strategists to have been a mistake.

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Kerr gained vindication of a sort when Fraser won an overwhelming victory in the December elections. Since Whitlam had campaigned almost exclusively on the issue of the iniquity of Kerr and Fraser in plotting the downfall of his government, he could not then deny that the election results represented an endorsement by the electorate of Kerr's actions. But Kerr seems to have gained little satisfaction from this. He found the personal attacks on him and his wife (whom Whitlam and others accused of having been a sinister influence) deeply wounding, though they can hardly have been a surprise. A number of his oldest friends never spoke to him again. The residents of the street in Balmain where he had been born posted him thirty pieces of silver (a reference to Judas Iscariot).

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For the rest of his term Kerr was unable to appear in public without encountering angry demonstrations against him. On one occasion his life was in danger when he was unable to leave a speaking engagement in Melbourne except by having his car drive through an angry crowd. Labor MP's refused to accept his legitimacy as Governor-General, shunning all official functions where he was in attendance. There is ample evidence that this situation took a toll on Kerr's nerves. He made three long trips overseas during the remainder of his term. He already had a reputation as a drinker, and this tendency appears to have become more pronounced. When he appeared at the 1977 Melbourne Cup he was visibly intoxicated. Concern about his health may have been one reason why he cut short his five-year term and resigned in December 1977. Fraser offered Kerr a post as ambassador to UNESCO, an offer which he subsequently withdrew under public pressure. After leaving office Kerr lived mainly in Europe until his death in London in 1991.

Related Topics:
Melbourne - 1977 - Melbourne Cup - UNESCO - London - 1991

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