New Zealand Listener

The radical reformer

Fifty years ago this month, Gough Whitlam folded his 194cm frame behind the Australian prime minister’s desk and launched the comet that shot the nation out of its closeted torpor.

Propelled into office 23 days before Christmas by restless younger voters in the summer of 1972, the Labor Party ended 23 years of successive conservative coalition governments. They stretched back until just a

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from New Zealand Listener

New Zealand Listener1 min read
Friday May 10
Ruby is a bright but out-of-place scholarship student at Maxton Hall private school, trying to slip through unnoticed to her dream of studying at Oxford. But when she becomes witness to a secret, she attracts the unwanted attention of millionaire hei
New Zealand Listener2 min read
The Sauce
I love the ideas stage: deciding where the book’s going to go in terms of the story, putting together the recipes and testing them. Also, getting ready to shoot and collecting the props – it just brings out that whole creative side of me, which I lov
New Zealand Listener3 min read
‘Almost Locals’ At Last
It is nice to be known. I have been known to sheep. I have been known to chickens. I have been known, though often ignored, by cats. At my best, I have been known by respectable people I respected. And in my lesser moments, I’ve been known by various

Related Books & Audiobooks