House debates

Tuesday, 28 October 2014

Condolences

Whitlam, Hon. Edward Gough, AC, QC

9:01 am

Photo of Andrew LeighAndrew Leigh (Fraser, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Let me end on a personal note. I was born in 1972. When my mother's pregnancy reached the nine-month mark she pinned an 'It's time' badge onto the part of her shirt that covered her belly. Gough's vision and optimism helped shape my political life.

Canberrans, too, have always treasured Gough. He ensured that ACT residents got Senate representation. Given that he spent 10 years living in Canberra full time as a child at Telopea High and Canberra Grammar, and then as a resident of the Lodge, plus two more decades travelling here as a member of parliament, Canberrans are rightly proud to claim Gough as one of our own.

On the crypt of the great English architect, Christopher Wren, is engraved 'si monumentum requiris, circumspice'—if you seek his monument, look around you. It would be a fitting epitaph for Edward Gough Whitlam.

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