'In December 1972, Gough Whitlam led the Australian Labor Party to power after twenty-three years of unbroken conservative rule. On November 11, 1975, the Governor-General of Australia, Sir John Kerr, dismissed him. Within the Westminster system, this was the first time since 1783 that the Crown or its representative had dismissed a government which had not broken the law and which commanded a majority in the lower house of the parliament.' (Introduction)