When Australia's 21st Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, was swept into power in December 1972, there were expectations of radical and rapid change. Australia had been under the control of a conservative Liberal government for 23 consecutive years, and Whitlam's promises of social change were eagerly awaited. Whitlam, despite his failures as a negotiator, managed to implement a wide range of reforms and changes, many of which made Australia the country it is today. But is that enough to say he succeeded? Even Whitlam today admits that he regrets having done "too much, too soon", and perhaps Whitlam's government was too socially progressive a government for its time, which may have been an omen of the Things to come for Julia's most recent Labor government. Gillard, which has been called by some the most incompetent government since Whitlam. Gough Whitlam has written and published more books about himself than any other Australian Prime Minister to date. This essay will demonstrate that Whitlam was a successful leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), who had the ability and charisma to lead Australia into an era of prosperity; he did, however, succumb to some serious errors of judgment which ultimately led to his downfall, but his ultimate goal was to transform Australia, which he achieved. Whitlam's mistakes were seen as being due to his failure to follow the advice of senior officials on how to transform his amateur government into a competent one and his inflexible approach to the hostile Senate that the Australian public gave him and which often led to his government. being called the worst in Australian history and a failure. The period of the 60s, 70s and 80s in Australia was a ...... middle of paper ...... r the way in which it changed Australia and brought it was born from a childhood dominated by British culture and transformed itself into a mature country with its own culture, social policy, national anthem and set of foreign policies. So it can be seen that although Whitlam had problems throughout his tenure, from the public relations disaster of the Khemlani loan affair to the blocking of supplies and his dismissal by a governor-general in whom he was foolishly confident, his policy agenda and the changes he implemented while in government, Australian society and the ALP changed. Whether it is the introduction of free universal healthcare, the removal of the death penalty, the move towards a more multicultural nation, the improvement of indigenous rights, the introduction of no-fault divorce or the introduction of the Australian national anthem, Whitlam did not fail in his goal. , which would transform Australia.