Former Australian first lady Margaret Whitlam, one of the country's most respected figures, died on Saturday aged 92. Gough Whitlam, the only Australian prime minister to be sacked from the job, paid tribute to his wife in a statement, saying she had "encouraged and sustained" him during almost 70 years of marriage.
"She was a remarkable person and the love of my life," the 95-year-old said. A champion of women's rights, social issues and the arts, Margaret Whitlam helped redefine the role of the first lady in Australian politics, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said. "She accompanied Gough through the entire span of his journey in public life and the years after, including those painful days in and after 1975," she said.
"Through her own independent activism and advocacy, she also helped redefine the role of first lady, giving it a new and deeper significance in the life of our nation." Former Labour prime minister Gough Whitlam is the nation's only leader ever to be sacked by the representative of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, governor-general Sir John Kerr, who dismissed him on November 11, 1975.
Gillard said Margaret Whitlam was "a remarkable woman, rightly loved and revered as a national treasure." "Indeed Margaret's own self-confident and forthright example inspired many women that they too could lead lives of greater ambition and purpose," said Gillard. Margaret Whitlam passed away at a Sydney hospital after being admitted following a fall at her home last month.
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