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While in Victoria assisting the Labor campaign for the May 1973 state elections, Gough Whitlam addresses a crowd in the Bendigo Trades Hall, and is presented with a gift.
Curator’s notes
Only a few months after becoming the first Labor Prime Minister in 23 years, Gough Whitlam was in Victoria lending support to the party’s campaign for the May 1973 state elections. While addressing a huge crowd in the Bendigo Trades Hall, Stewart Anderson, the endorsed candidate for Bendigo, presented Gough with a gift of the renowned Bendigo Pottery. After suggesting that Gough might get Al Grassby to fill the vessel with wine from his Riverina electorate, Anderson went on to pay tribute to the occasion. The episode is wonderfully indicative of the mood in the Labor Party at the time.
