Gough Whitlam's Impact On Australia In The 1970s

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The 1970s was a decade of change for Australia. Many issues were talked about including immigration, war, sexual morality, the role of women and the environment. Gough Whitlam had a huge role on shaping Australia and made some amazing changes. Whitlam was Australia’s prime minister from 1972 to 1975. During his time as prime minister he changed rights involving women’s equal pay and maternity leave as well as removing Australian troops from the Vietnam war, introducing free university education and lowered the voting age. In July 1973 he appointed Elizabeth Reed to be the Advisor on Women’s Affairs, this was the first position in the world and was very controversial as no women in Australian parliaments were in leadership positions. The Vietnam …show more content…

The Mixtures is an Australian band formed by …. ‘In the Summertime’ was originally made by a British rock band called Mungo Jerry but due to the 1970 radio ban that stopped Australian radio stations from playing major labels released by Australia and Britain, the Mixtures decided to make a cover version. The song is about what some Australians did in the summer, how they felt and lived. In the song it says “We love everybody but we do as we please” and “We’re always happy Life’s for livin’ yeah, that's our philosophy”. You can tell from the lyrics that the song could be about life as a hippie, as they love everybody and they are always happy. In the chorus it says, “Sing along with us, Dee dee dee-dee dee, Dah dah dah-dah dah, Yeah we're hap-happy, Dah dah-dah, Dee-dah-do dee-dah-do dah-do-dah, Dah-do-dah-dah-dah, Dah-dah-dah do-dah-dah”. These words show us how relaxed and happy they were, so the song was probably influenced by the Youth Movement. The Youth Movement began in the 1960s but later became the hippie subculture. Hippies believed in communal living and were all about free