Gough and Me: My Journey from Cabramatta to China and beyond
When Gough Whitlam moves into her street in Cabramatta in 1957, eight-year-old Christine has little idea how her new neighbour, one of the most visionary and polarising political leaders of Australia, would shape the direction of her life. Born to working-class parents and living in a fibro house built by her truck-driver father, Christine simply dreams that one day she might work as a private secretary like her aunt.
 
But when the reforms Whitlam championed give Christine the chance to go to university, her world expands. She experiences the transformative power of education, struggles to balance motherhood with being the family breadwinner, and faces her own mental health battles. She follows a path forged by Whitlam, from scholarships he fought for, to local community initiatives he generated, and even as far as China, where Whitlam crucially initiated Australia’s relationship when he visited the country in 1973.
 
Written with genuine heart and humour, Gough and Me is a nostalgic and deeply personal memoir of social mobility, cultural diversity, and the unprecedented opportunities that the Whitlam era gave one Australian working-class woman.
"1138684768"
Gough and Me: My Journey from Cabramatta to China and beyond
When Gough Whitlam moves into her street in Cabramatta in 1957, eight-year-old Christine has little idea how her new neighbour, one of the most visionary and polarising political leaders of Australia, would shape the direction of her life. Born to working-class parents and living in a fibro house built by her truck-driver father, Christine simply dreams that one day she might work as a private secretary like her aunt.
 
But when the reforms Whitlam championed give Christine the chance to go to university, her world expands. She experiences the transformative power of education, struggles to balance motherhood with being the family breadwinner, and faces her own mental health battles. She follows a path forged by Whitlam, from scholarships he fought for, to local community initiatives he generated, and even as far as China, where Whitlam crucially initiated Australia’s relationship when he visited the country in 1973.
 
Written with genuine heart and humour, Gough and Me is a nostalgic and deeply personal memoir of social mobility, cultural diversity, and the unprecedented opportunities that the Whitlam era gave one Australian working-class woman.
10.83 In Stock
Gough and Me: My Journey from Cabramatta to China and beyond

Gough and Me: My Journey from Cabramatta to China and beyond

by Christine Sykes
Gough and Me: My Journey from Cabramatta to China and beyond

Gough and Me: My Journey from Cabramatta to China and beyond

by Christine Sykes

eBook

$10.83 

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Overview

When Gough Whitlam moves into her street in Cabramatta in 1957, eight-year-old Christine has little idea how her new neighbour, one of the most visionary and polarising political leaders of Australia, would shape the direction of her life. Born to working-class parents and living in a fibro house built by her truck-driver father, Christine simply dreams that one day she might work as a private secretary like her aunt.
 
But when the reforms Whitlam championed give Christine the chance to go to university, her world expands. She experiences the transformative power of education, struggles to balance motherhood with being the family breadwinner, and faces her own mental health battles. She follows a path forged by Whitlam, from scholarships he fought for, to local community initiatives he generated, and even as far as China, where Whitlam crucially initiated Australia’s relationship when he visited the country in 1973.
 
Written with genuine heart and humour, Gough and Me is a nostalgic and deeply personal memoir of social mobility, cultural diversity, and the unprecedented opportunities that the Whitlam era gave one Australian working-class woman.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781920727543
Publisher: Ventura Press
Publication date: 05/05/2021
Sold by: SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format: eBook
Pages: 336
File size: 735 KB

About the Author

Christine Sykes grew up in the same street as the Whitlam family in Sydney's Cabramatta which she recounted in her  bestselling memoir Gough and Me ( Ventura 2021). She is a champion of creating opportunity for those less fortunate through her work with the public service and more recently with the charity Dress for Success on which her first novel The Changing Room was based. 

Christine's Aunt Peggy was a keen tap dancer and this story is dedicated to her. 
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