At the historic handing over of the land to the Gurindji, PM Gough Whitlam is seen toasting the event with champers, the bottle supplied by this blog's esteemed comrade and continual source of news items, background information and photographs , Rob Wesley-Smith , of Darwin . Vincent Lingiari watches on . In an emotional tribute the day of Gough's death, Lingiari 's grandson said Whitlam was a great man and also attached that description to Malcolm Fraser because of the things they had done for Aboriginal Australians . Soil , he said, would be taken from the Northern Territory and given to the Whitlam family for use in the state funeral .
Mrs Margaret Whitlam , deeply involved in the Australian community , advised and at times pulled Gough into line. In tributes which poured in after the announcement of Gough's death, a woman calling the ABC said Mrs Whitlam had played an important part in her husband's reign as PM and had not just been " a handbag". Indeed . Another caller told how she , a migrant in Australia, had been a passenger aboard a plane flying to Perth when the pilot announced that Gough Whitlam had won the 1972 election, causing everybody to cheer and celebrate . They were great days for the nation...Peter Simon.
