RIP, mate! Patria remembers Gough Whitlam.

Flags in Patria were lowered to half-mast today in memory of Gough Whitlam, Australia's 21st prime minister and a titan of the Australian Labour Party, who died at the age of 98.

Born in 1916, Mr. Whitlam served in the Royal Australian Air Force during World War II. He was first elected to the Australian parliament in 1952. In 1966, as deputy opposition leader, Mr Whitlam visited Vietnam to tour the 1st Australian Task Force area. He visited again as opposition leader in 1968, and criticised the Gorton government’s successive troop increases at the behest of US president Lyndon B Johnson. Momentum for political change grew and Gough Whitlam seized on the mood, leading the ALP to the next election, in 1972, with the simple yet galvanising campaign slogan "It’s Time" - which was emblazoned on t-shirts worn by celebrities campaigning with the would-be PM.

The Whitlam government immediately moved to withdraw troops from Vietnam and release all draft-dodgers from prison. The voting age was lowered from 21 to 18 and welfare payments were introduced to support mothers and the homeless. University fees were abolished and needs-based funding for government schools was brought in. Mr. Whitlam became the first Aussie prime minister to visit communist China, resuming relations after 24 years of diplomatic disengagement. He travelled widely, also visiting Indonesia, India, Japan, Russia, North America and Europe. He changed Australia's stance on apartheid South Africa at the United Nations, and banned that country’s sporting teams from touring.

But Mr. Whitlam's tenure as Prime Minister lasted only three years. In 1975 he was booted out of office on trumped-up charges by the Governor-General (the Queen's representative and mostly ceremonial head of state in Commonwealth countries such as Australia and Canada). "Well may we say God save the Queen, because nothing will save the governor-general", Whitlam famously said after being sacked.

Patria, need it be said, supports the efforts in Australia and Canada to sever the antiquated ties with the British monarchy and become republics, even if such a referendum was defeated in Australia in 1999 and is unlikely to ever take place in Canada. It should be noted that Australian Governors-General apparently have more cojones than their Canadian counterparts.

Below is one of Mr. Whitlam's campaign ads from 1972.