"Conversations between the Queen, British prime ministers and governors-general should remain private, Buckingham Palace said, as letters released after a four-year court battle proved the monarch played no part in the controversial sacking of the Australian prime minister Gough Whitlam in 1975.

The letters, kept secret for 45 years, showed the contentious decision was taken alone by the governor-general Sir John Kerr, as the palace maintained the long-standing convention of such correspondence remaining private to safeguard relationships and the ability to govern."

Speculation over Kerr’s removal of Whitlam, who had failed to pass a budget and would not resign or call an election, has fuelled the republican movement in Australia for decades.

The trove of 211 letters, running to 1,200 pages with attachments, between Kerr and the Queen’s private secretary, Sir Martin Charteris, was finally released by the National Archive of Australia following legal action. It showed Kerr did not inform the Queen of his intentions.

In a letter to Charteris on 11 November 1975, the day of Whitlam’s sacking, Kerr wrote: “I decided to take the step I took without informing the palace in advance because under the constitution the responsibility is mine, and I was of the opinion it was better for Her Majesty not to know in advance.”

so, with the Queen not involved in the dismissal, is there any point in having a non-Australian as head of state?

At the same time, it could be argued that the system worked because Kerr was the Queen's representative.

I am not fussed either way.

Our system rarely has a crisis.

Chris,

The whole point of the Labor conspiracy scaremongering is precisely to point the finger at outside monarchist forces interfering in Australian government.

The reality that Labor now has to face is that Kerr dismissed the Whitless Labor government for its incompetence and arrogance and there was now outside interference.

yes,I agree.

That is what I argued in a university essay.

I was biased to the Whitlam govt before university, but once I researched issue I changed my mind.

The really hilarious part of the story is that, while the conspiracy theorists claimed Britain had inappropriately interfered in the process, it turns out Whitlam contacted the palace begging them to interfere on his behalf.

Whitlam always denied that he'd asked the palace to come to his aid, but, alas, that turns out to be just another of the myriad lies around the entire episode.

In the end, the process handed the final decision over to the people where it always ultimately resides, as it should be in a democracy. And the people spoke rather forcefully.

yes, ALP was crushed at next federal election