A first look at the newly released 'Palace letters' reveals then governor-general Sir John Kerr dismissed the Whitlam government before telling the Queen, because 'it was better for Her Majesty not to know'.
The newly released 'Palace letters' have revealed Sir John Kerr sacked the Whitlam government in 1975 without giving advance notice to the Queen,The 211 letters exchanged between Sir John Kerr and the palace at the time of the dismissal are this morning being released by the National Archives of Australia, in Canberra.
Many hoped the the correspondence would answer some of the questions surrounding Australia's biggest constitutional crisis — and already, it it seems they will. He revealed, in one letter, Sir John wrote that he had to act without giving Gough Whitlam a chance to call an election, because he feared he would be sacked himself, and that would have put the Queen in a difficult position."History will doubtless provide an answer to this question, but I was in a position where, in my opinion, I simply could not risk the outcome for the sake of the monarchy.
Gough Whitlam was dismissed as prime minister by then governor-general Sir John Kerr, before the Queen was notified.
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