Australia's 21st prime minister and a titan of the Australian Labor Party, Edward Gough Whitlam, has died, aged 98.

Mr Whitlam leaves a legacy of unprecedented and unmatched change in Australian politics.

Arguably, he was as much lauded for his reformist leadership and eloquence as he was lambasted for his autocratic style and profligacy.

But it is for being at the centre of Australia’s most ferocious political storm, the ‘Dismissal’, that Gough Whitlam will forever be remembered.

Born in the Melbourne suburb of Kew on July 11, 1916, Edward Gough Whitlam was the son of Martha and senior public servant Frederick Whitlam.

When he was 10 years old, his father, then the Commonwealth deputy crown solicitor, was transferred to Canberra and the family moved to the national capital.

Young Gough sat the leaving certificate four times in Canberra and is distinguished as having been the only prime minister to have grown up there.

In his twenties, Gough Whitlam studied Arts and Law at the University of Sydney and began his long married life with Margaret Dovey, the daughter of Justice Wilfred Dovey. The same year they married, 1942, he signed up to the Royal Australian Air Force and served as a navigator and bomb aimer, based mainly at the RAAF base at Gove, in Arnhem Land.

By the time World War II came to an end, the Whitlams had two sons, Antony and Nicholas, and Gough Whitlam had joined the Australian Labor Party.

His embrace of the political party was inspired by a Curtin government move to extend Commonwealth powers for post-war reconstruction, a move that failed when the required referendum was voted down. "My hopes were dashed by the outcome and from that moment I determined to do all I could to modernise the Australian Constitution," he said later.

After the war, he finished his studies and was admitted as a barrister in 1947. The family built a home in Cronulla, in Sydney’s south, and he was very active in local community organisations. He also became well known for winning the Australian National Quiz Championship in 1948 and 1949. His work as a barrister took on greater prominence when he filled in for his father-in-law as counsel assisting the Commissioner in the New South Wales Liquor Royal Commission.

Gough Whitlam during his wartime service with No 13 Squadron, RAAF. (AWM image number P04697.001) ( Australian War Memorial )

Entering Parliament

But politics had become his passion. Mr Whitlam stood for council and state seats for the ALP without success. In 1952, it was a case of third-time lucky for the future PM, when he won a by-election for the southern Sydney federal seat of Werriwa with a record vote of 66 per cent.

His political colleagues in Canberra dubbed him "the young brolga" for his imposing height and commanding manner and, particularly in ALP circles, he had to overcome a reputation of being a "silvertail".

But he was also recognised as an articulate contributor to debate, with a ready wit.

In 1960, the Member for Werriwa became the deputy leader of the opposition under Arthur Calwell. Party reform became Gough Whitlam’s priority, particularly after the notorious 'faceless men' episode of 1963.

The two leaders were photographed waiting outside a Canberra hotel, while inside the members of the ALP federal council – "the 36 faceless men" - met to decide crucial party policy.

Prime minister Robert Menzies used the incident to great effect in a snap election later that year.

In 1967 Mr Whitlam became leader of the opposition and was able to push on with his ideas to modernise the party.

"It is a high privilege to be elected to lead the Labor Party at so decisive a time in its history and the history of the nation," he said. His private secretary, John Menadue, laid out a timetable: "This year, the party; next year, the policy; 1969 – the people".

Mr Whitlam's plan to reform ALP processes and its platform became known as "the Program" and triggered significant battles within the party. But, with support from the rank-and-file, he achieved some success. Notably, parliamentary leaders were finally represented at the party’s national conference and on its executive.

Gough Whitlam during a visit to 5th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (5RAR) in Phuoc Tuy Province, Vietnam. 1966. (AWM image number CUN/66/0619/VN) ( Australian War Memorial )

But the key political issue had become the war in Vietnam. Anti-war demonstrations plagued the Coalition government. 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.

"The important thing is, we ought to be trying to bring about an end to hostilities in South Vietnam. We will not achieve this by continuing an attack on North Vietnam," he said.

Labor’s opposition to the war in Vietnam and a new focus on health policy reform raised its standing with voters. The 1969 election saw the ALP gain 17 seats, coming within four seats of victory.

'Men and women of Australia!'

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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.

"Men and women of Australia! The decision we will make for our country on the 2nd of December is a choice between the past and the future, between the habits and fears of the past and the demands and opportunities of the future," he famously proclaimed in his opening policy speech.

Finally, on December 2, 1972, after 23 years in the wilderness of Opposition, the ALP won and Gough Whitlam became Australia's 21st prime minister.

Sorry, this video has expired 'It's time': Whitlam's historic Blacktown speech

Then the action really began

Straight away breaking with convention, Gough Whitlam and his loyal deputy Lance Barnard were appointed as a "ministry of two".

They immediately moved to finalise the withdrawal of troops from Vietnam and release all draft-dodgers from prison. They recognised the People’s Republic of China and established the Department of Aboriginal Affairs, raising the issue to Cabinet level.

During the Whitlam government's three years in office, a record number of bills were enacted, and change swept through the nation.

In the education sector, university fees were abolished and needs-based funding for government schools was brought in. The health system was forever changed, with the introduction of Medibank, now known as Medicare.

The Labor government established Legal Aid, created a national Family Court, and brought in the world’s first no-fault divorce procedures. The voting age was lowered from 21 to 18 and welfare payments were introduced to support mothers and the homeless.

The Racial Discrimination Act 1975 ratified the UN convention. The Aboriginal Land Rights Act passed, and the prime minister officially handed over the title deeds of traditional lands in the Northern Territory to the Gurundji people at Wattie Creek. "I want to promise you that this act of restitution which we perform today will not stand alone," he said.

In the arts, Mr Whitlam launched the construction of the National Gallery of Australia and bought Jackson Pollock’s Blue Poles for $1.3 million – setting a record for the highest price paid for a piece of modern art. He established both the Australian Film Commission and the Australia Council.

Gough Whitlam listens at the Echo Wall in the Temple of Heaven, Beijing, 1973. ( National Archives of Australia: A6180, 14/11/73/209 )

On foreign affairs, he became the first prime minister to visit communist China, resuming relations after 24 years of diplomatic disengagement. He travelled widely, also visiting Indonesia, India, Japan, the USSR, 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 the Whitlam government was not spared from criticism and scandal. While a record number of bills passed the parliament, 93 were knocked back by a hostile Senate.

Labor won a double-dissolution election in 1974 but bore heavy criticism for its handling of the economy. A perfect storm of dire economic conditions emerged. Commonwealth spending surged, wages exploded, industrial disputes escalated, inflation soared, and unemployment rose. The government cut tariffs by 25 per cent and boosted the Australian dollar by 25 per cent against the US greenback.

Downfall and dismissal

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And indeed money was at the centre of the scandal which eventually led to the Whitlam Government’s dramatic downfall.

The beginnings of the "Loans Affair", as it became known, came in late 1974 when senior ministers in the government considered circumventing the Loans Council to raise $US4 billion from the oil-rich nations of the Middle East.

A London-based intermediary was engaged, Tirath Khemlani, who promised to secure the money from OPEC sources. Treasury officials opposed the deal but, in any case, Mr Khemlani never followed through with the money and the plan was officially abandoned.

However, minister for minerals and energy Rex Connor secretly kept in contact with Mr Khemlani and continued to pursue the loan. Treasurer Jim Cairns also signed a letter to a Melbourne businessman officially seeking foreign funds. In parliament he denied having done so, or claimed he did not remember signing such a letter. Mr Whitlam was forced to sack them both.

But that didn't put an end to the political grief. Far from it. The "Loans Affair" gave opposition leader Malcolm Fraser justification to block the budget bills in the Senate, and in October 1975, without supply, Parliament entered its worst stage of political deadlock.

A Stewart McCrae cartoon satirises the Whitlam government's struggles to get on top of the Australian economy ( Stewart McCrae, National Library of Australia collection )

The opposition hoped to force Mr Whitlam into calling an election, but he refused. Instead, on Remembrance Day - November 11 - the deadlock was broken in an explosive move by then governor-general Sir John Kerr.

For the first, and so far only, time in Australian history, the head of state used his constitutional powers to dismiss the government of the day. With a simple stroke of the Governor-General's pen, Gough Whitlam was no longer prime minister. Malcolm Fraser was appointed caretaker PM while the country reeled from the episode – now known simply as "the Dismissal".

Standing on the steps of Parliament House, the deposed leader made his now famous declaration: "Well may we say 'God save the Queen' - because nothing will save the governor-general". For Mr Whitlam, Malcolm Fraser would go down in Australian history as "Kerr's cur".

The governor-general’s stunning move triggered angry public debate. Gough Whitlam maintained to the end that the crisis was political rather than constitutional, and could have been resolved, through political negotiation, in his government’s favour.

But a double-dissolution election a month later resoundingly confirmed Malcolm Fraser as prime minister and ended three years of extraordinary transformation under Whitlam’s Labor government.

Gough and Margaret Whitlam at the opening of Parliament, February 12, 2008 ( AAP Image/Alan Porritt )

Later life

Gough Whitlam returned to the rank of opposition leader for the next two years, and stayed on in parliament until 1978.

Among his many appointments in the years following, he was sent to Paris as the Australian ambassador to UNESCO and was made chairman of the National Gallery of Australia Council. He and his wife, Margaret, were also part of the bid team which won Sydney the 2000 Olympic Games.

A keen author, he recounted his time in office in several books and remained an active participant in Labor party politics. At times, he joined forces with his old political foe, Malcolm Fraser, to campaign for causes such as an Australian republic.

In early 2010, at the age of 93, the former prime minister moved into an aged care facility in Sydney’s Elizabeth Bay. He was reported to have declined physically but still be mentally alert and in good spirits.

His wife of 70 years, Margaret Whitlam, who was one of Australia’s most influential and much-loved political wives, died in March 2012.

"She was a remarkable person and the love of my life," Gough Whitlam said in a statement.

"We were married for almost 70 years. She encouraged and sustained me and our four children, their families, and many other people in a life full of engagement with Australians from all walks of life."

Until the end, Gough Whitlam was revered as the Labor party’s elder statesman, a man of vision and energy. Famous for his "crash through or crash" style, he came to embody a period in Australian history which, for better or for worse, was one of rapid and unparalleled change.

Edward Gough Whitlam is survived by his four children, Antony, Nicholas, Stephen and Catherine.