After a four-year legal battle by the historian Jenny Hocking, the National Archives releases letters between the monarch and the governor general, Sir John Kerr. Follow live updates
And now Fricker takes us through what the letters will include.
While everyone is focused on the dismissal, he adds that there is a lot of other material in them. The cover the entirety of his tenure as governor general, from 1974 to 1977.
The director general of the National Archives, David Fricker, is speaking now.
He says the archives released 20,000 records a year but received 40,000 requests a year:
I acknowledge the perseverance and dedication of Prof Jenny Hocking. And I want to say again on public record that, while for the past few years, for good reasons, I think, Jenny and I have been in opposite corners throughout this court case, however, never once have we disagreed on the value of the records or the extent to which they might illuminate the understanding of what is a tumultuous period in Australia’s history.
And from a personal point of view, I hope that, by making these records available to everybody, it will in fact improve Australia’s appreciation of its constitution and of our Australian democracy.
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