Meeting with Whitlam remembered

As Australia mourns the death of its 21st Prime Minister, Member for Albany Peter Watson fondly recalls the moment he met Gough Whitlam.

Speaking in State Parliament last Tuesday, Mr Watson paid tribute to Mr Whitlam, whom he first met while representing Australia at the 1974 Commonwealth Games in New Zealand.

As captain of the Australian athletics team, the then 27-year-old Mr Watson was invited to a celebratory lunch and had the choice of sitting on a table with Queen Elizabeth II or the Prime Minister. Mr Watson decided to sit with Mr Whitlam and introduced himself. “You’re a good looking rooster, you should take up politics one day,” Mr Whitlam said to Mr Watson as he shook his hand.

Some 27 years later, soon after Mr Watson was elected as the Member for Albany, he attended a Labor party function where Mr Whitlam was launching his book.

Mr Watson again introduced himself and Whitlam replied: “I told you, you would be a politician”. Mr Watson was taken aback by his amazing memory. “I’d forgotten all about it, he was just an amazing man,” he said.

Mr Whitlam died at age 98 last week.

Albany MLA Peter Watson remembers Gough Whitlam as an amazing, inspirational man.