Charles William Bush (1919-2004), John Robert Kerr (detail), 1979-1980, Historic Memorials Collection, Parliament House Art Collection. View full image

Governor-General, 11 July 1974 to 8 December 1977

Of all Australia’s Governors-General, John Kerr (1914-1991) is the most well-known, the most significant, and the most controversial, his achievements as a barrister and judge eclipsed by the notoriety of his dismissal of the Whitlam Government.¹

Born in Balmain, Sydney to a working-class family, Kerr studied law at the University of Sydney, graduating with the university medal in 1936. He was admitted to the Bar in 1938 and married Alison Worstead the same year. In 1942, Kerr joined the Citizen Military Forces, rising rapidly to the rank of temporary colonel in the Directorate of Research and Civil Affairs.² His career as an industrial lawyer prospered after his return to the bar in 1949. Kerr took silk in 1953 and became prominent in professional bodies such as the NSW Bar, the Law Council of Australia and the Law Association for Asia and the Pacific. His interest in politics also developed, though his sympathies changed. Initially a protégé of HV Evatt,³ Kerr was at various times approached to stand as a candidate for the Labor, Democratic Labor, and Liberal parties. In 1966, he was appointed to the Commonwealth Industrial Court, and led major inquiries into administrative law, parliamentary remuneration, and pay and conditions of the armed forces. In 1972, he became Chief Justice of NSW and in 1974 he accepted Prime Minister Whitlam’s offer of the position of Governor-General.

As Governor-General, Kerr convened the first, and to date only, joint sitting of the Australian Parliament, when the Senate again refused to pass six government bills which had triggered the 1974 double dissolution.

Kerr was present at the 1975 independence celebrations for Papua New Guinea, receiving the Australian flag, lowered for the last time, from Papua New Guinea’s first Governor-General Sir John Guise.⁴

However, his term is remembered for his decision in November 1975 to use his reserve powers to dismiss the Whitlam Government after 18 months of turbulence and deadlock between the two Houses, and to appoint Opposition Leader Malcolm Fraser as caretaker Prime Minister, the first (and only) such use of these constitutional powers by an Australian Head of State. The dismissal sparked fierce public protest at the time and continues to be subject of passionate debate.⁵

Under continued public pressure, Kerr resigned as Governor-General on 11 July 1977. He was appointed Ambassador to UNESCO in 1978 but relinquished the position due to public outcry. He held no further public office. After living in London for some years, Kerr returned to Sydney where he died in 1991, survived by his second wife Lady Anne, whom he had married in 1975, and three children from his first wife who had died in 1974.

Charles William Bush
Melbourne-born Charles Bush (1919-1989) enrolled at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School at age 14. There he met fellow student Phyllis Waterhouse with whom he rented a studio and later married. In 1941, he was deployed for fulltime duty with the Militia, serving in the artillery survey unit in the World War II. By 1943, he was appointed an official war artist, capturing scenes in Papua and New Guinea, and in Timor. In 1949, he was awarded a British Council grant enabling him to travel to London where he studied with Bernard Meninsky. Bush exhibited at the Royal Academy and toured Europe before returning to Melbourne in 1953, where he became Drawing Master at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School. Bush also accepted commissions as a freelance art critic and advisor and in 1962 founded the Leveson Street Gallery, one of the first artist-run galleries in Melbourne, with his wife and their friend, June Davies. Bush was a prolific artist and master watercolourist. His love for seascapes and the Australian bush won him many awards, most notably the Crouch Prize on three occasions and two Wynne Prizes. His work is held in many regional, state and national collections.⁶

John Robert Kerr
by Charles William Bush
1979-80
Oil on canvas
90 x 120 cm
Historic Memorials Collection, Parliament House Art Collection

References
1. Information in this biography has been taken from: B Carroll, Australia’s Governors-General: From Hopetoun to Jeffery, Rosenberg Publishing Pty Ltd, Kenthurst, NSW, 2004; J Kerr, Matters for Judgement: An Autobiography, Macmillan Company of Australia, South Melbourne, 1978; G Whitlam, The Truth of the Matter, 3rd edition, Melbourne University Press, Carlton, 2005; P Kelly and T Bramston, The Truth of the Palace Letters: Deceit, Ambush and Dismissal in 1975, Melbourne University Press, Carlton, 2020; J Hocking, The Palace Letters: The Queen, the governor-general, and the plot to dismiss Gough Whitlam, Scribe Publications Pty Ltd, Brunswick, Vic, 2020; J Waterford, ‘Kerr, Sir John Robert (1914–1991)’, Obituaries Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University; P Edwards, ‘Kerr, Sir John Robert (1914–1991)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 2021; C Madden, ‘The dismissal: 45th anniversary’, FlagPost, Parliamentary Library blog, 11 November 2020. Websites accessed May 2021.
2. Waterford, op. cit. See also G Sligo, The Backroom Boys: Alfred Conlon and Army’s Directorate of Research and Civil Affairs, 1942–46, Big Sky Publishing, Newport, NSW, 2013.
3. GC Bolton, ‘Evatt, Herbert Vere (Bert) (1894–1965)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 1996, accessed 27 May 2021.
4. Kerr, op. cit., p. 168.
5. G Barwick, Sir John Did His Duty, Serendip Publications, Wahroonga, 1983; G Bolton, Paul Hasluck: A Life, UWA Publishing, Crawley, 2014, pp. 464–65; Kelly and Bramston, op. cit., pp. 188–93; Hocking, op. cit.
6. Information in this biography has been taken from: D Keys, ‘Bush, Charles William (1919–1989)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 2007; ‘Charles William Bush’, Australian War Memorial. Websites accessed 15 April 2021.