Margaret Whitlam was a beloved public figure and a feminist icon, but to her husband Gough she was, quite simply, the love of his life.
Margaret passed away in St Vincent’s Private Hospital where she’d been undergoing treatment since falling in her Sydney home in February. She was 92 years old.
She is survived by her husband, their children Antony, Nicholas, Stephen and Catherine, five grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
We have put together this collection of pictures to pay tribute to this remarkable Australian woman.
Margaret met Gough in 1945 a party hosted by former AWW editor Alice Jackson.
Margaret thought Gough was “quite the most delicious thing” she’d ever seen.
“She was a remarkable person and the love of my life,” Gough said in a statement.
Gough and Margaret would have celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary next month.
Margaret swam breaststroke for Australia at the 1938 Empire Games.
Margaret had four children, Antony, Nicholas, Stephen and Catherine.
The Whitlam family said Margaret was “an outspoken advocate for women’s rights”.
Margaret was beloved by the Australian people.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard said Margaret was a “national treasure”.
Margaret never forgave John Kerr for her husband’s dismissal.
Gough and Margaret with Queen Elizabeth in the 1970s.
“What am I to do? Stay in a cage and say nothing?” Margaret famously wrote in 1973.
Margaret remains one of Australia’s most popular ‘First Ladies’.
Margaret was 92 years old when she died.
