On 11 November 1975 Prime Minister Gough Whitlam and his Labor government became the first (and only) government in Australian history to be dismissed by the Governor-General. Sir John Kerr, who was earlier appointed Governor-General by Whitlam, justified his actions by arguing that the government couldn’t pass Bills, including its own Budget Bills, through the Senate. After the dismissal, an election was held and the Whitlam government was defeated. The dismissal was a controversial decision, and people still debate whether it was the correct thing for a Governor-General to do.

Aboriginal communities
Abuse
Agriculture
Ancient Australia
Art
Australia as a nation
Australian Quarantine Service
bacteria
bacterial pneumonia
banned
barbed wire
bars
Bathurst Plains
bushrangers
church services
closed
coach
Colonial
Colonial Australia
Commonwealth Serum Laboratories
contagious
coronavirus
COVID
COVID 19
Cox
Darkinjung
deadly
death rates
Dharawal
disease
doses
Environment
Europe
face masks
fencing
first wave
flocks
generations
Geography
global
Gold
Goulburn
Government
grazing
Gregory Blaxland
Gundungurra
health
healthy young adults
homestead
hotspots
Indigenous
Indigenous Australia
Indigenous Australia: Australia as a nation: Sport: Women
Indigenous life before Europeans
Indigenous: Colonial
Industry
infections
influenza
island
Land
lockdown
Making a nation
mask
masks
medical facilities
Migration
Migration Experiences
militia
missions
Movement of Peoples
mutate
Ngunawal
old people
pandemic
Panter
pathways
Politics
poor health
public transport
Racism
Rape
Retaliation
Revenge
ridges
Rights and freedoms
Science and technology
scientists
second
settlers
skilled
Snowy
Spain
spike
Sport
sporting events
spread
theatres
third
virus
viruses
Wanaruah
War
William Charles Wentworth
William Lawson
Women
young children
War migration

Quizzes

Theme

Can you pass the test to become an Australian citizen?

Defining Moments discovery quiz

Australian involvement at Gallipoli

Australia’s environmental history

Indigenous Australian rights

20th century Australian history

Australian colonial history

Australian rights

Australia’s colonial past