Women’s liberation, gay liberation, and the so-called permissive society, this story charts the groundbreaking and controversial government inquiry into the social changes of the 1970s.
The 1970s was a time of social and cultural transformation in Australia. The rise of women’s liberation, gay liberation, and the so-called permissive society meant that the line between private behaviour and public life was beginning to break down.
There was a new willingness to speak up about experiences of discrimination, and new urgency to push for change, especially to laws around homosexuality and abortion.
The Whitlam government was full of reforming zeal when it was elected in late 1972. But while it couldn’t change the laws around abortion, it did create something much more complex: a Royal Commission on Human Relationships.
This inquiry into family and intimate life would go on to provoke fierce outrage and resistance. But it opened up conversations about private life that we’re still having today.
Special thanks to the National Archives of Australia, who supported this project through the 2012 Frederick Watson Fellowship.
Guests:
Bobbie Burke, Former staff member of the Royal Commission on Human Relationships
Anne Deveson, Writer and broadcaster
Robert Eillicott, Former Minister for Home Affairs in the Fraser government
Elizabeth Evatt, Former Chief Justice of the Family Court of Australia
Gabrielle Hyslop, Daughter of the Royal Commission’s official secretary, Robert Hyslop
Elizabeth Reid, Former advisor on women’s affairs to Prime Minister Gough Whitlam
Faye Roberts, Former staff member of the Royal Commission on Human Relationships
Peter de Waal, Former activist and member of CAMP NSW (the Campaign against Moral Persecution)
Sue Wills, Former activist, researcher for the Royal Commission on Human Relationships, and historian
Publications:
Title: Royal Commission on Human Relationships Final Report, Volumes 1-5
Author: Elizabeth Evatt et al
Publisher: Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra 1977
Title: Royal Commission on Human Relationships Interim Report
Author: Elizabeth Evatt et al
Publisher: Government Printer, Canberra 1976
Title: Australians at Risk
Author: Anne Deveson
Publisher: Cassell Australia 1978
Title: Public Intimacies: Revisiting the Royal Commission on Human Relationships 1974-77
Author: Michelle Arrow
Publisher: in ‘Acts of Love and Lust: Sexuality in Australia from 1945-2010’ edited by Reynolds, Featherstone & Jennings, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, forthcoming, 2013
Further Information:
Women’s Weekly article about the Royal Commission - 28 December 1977 (http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/45656799)