HISTORICAL FACTS: Malcolm fraser | History Defined

Former Australian national rugby coach Alan Jones on trial for indecent assault claims

The 85-year-old has pleaded not guilty to 20 charges

The Independent UK · Aug 3

Your say: week beginning July 27

Every day, we publish a selection of your emails in our newsletter. We’d love to hear from you, you can email us at [email protected].

The Conversation · Jul 26

Mystery persists decades after ocean yachting tragedy

A coronial investigation into the deaths of five men who went missing while sailing from Hobart to Sydney in 1979 has released findings.

AAP · Jul 10

Gough Whitlam believed John Kerr’s wife played a key role in The Dismissal. Did she?

The Dismissal still looms as Australia’s greatest political crisis, 50 years on. The familiar story centres on four figures. Governor general Sir John Kerr – who, on November 11 1975, sacked prime minister Gough Whitlam. Malcolm Fraser, the opposition leader who blocked the budget to force the election he would…

The Conversation · Nov 9, 2025

The ‘golden tonsils’ of John Laws fall silent, aged 90

John Laws was one of the most influential, commercially successful yet polarising figures in the history of Australian radio broadcasting. He has died at the age of 90.

The Conversation · Nov 9, 2025

In a world with democracy in decline, we have much to learn from those who rallied against Whitlam’s dismissal

In 1975, few Australians believed the dismissal of a democratically elected government was business as usual

The Guardian - AU · Nov 7, 2025

'Pandemonium': how Whitlam's sacking changed history

Insiders who had a front-row seat to the extraordinary political turmoil of the Whitlam dismissal have told their stories, 50 years on from the saga.

AAP · Nov 7, 2025

Grattan on Friday: November 11 1975 – watching history being made, from the best seats in the house

In his just-released memoir, historian and former diplomat Lachlan Strahan recalls being picked up from his Melbourne primary school by a neighbour on November 11 1975, the day Gough Whitlam was sacked as prime minister. His politically active mother “was so upset she didn’t trust herself behind the wheel”.

The Conversation · Nov 6, 2025

Politics with Michelle Grattan: Niki Savva and David Solomon on The Dismissal

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…

The Conversation · Nov 4, 2025

Half a century ago, the Great Barrier Reef was to be drilled for oil. It was saved – for a time

At the end of the 1960s, there was every expectation the Great Barrier Reef would be drilled for oil.

The Conversation · Sep 2, 2025