Gough Whitlam visiting the Echo Wall on diplomatic trip to China
National Archive of Australia
Australian Labor prime minister Gough Whitlam at the Echo Wall during his historic visit to China in 1973. Photograph: D Thomas/National Archives of Australia
Australian Labor prime minister Gough Whitlam at the Echo Wall during his historic visit to China in 1973. Photograph: D Thomas/National Archives of Australia
This is a black-and-white photograph of the Australian Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam during his historic visit to China between 31 October and 4 November 1973. Dressed in a long coat, Whitlam has his ear to part of the circular Echo Wall in the Temple of Heaven in Beijing. Further along the wall, others are doing the same. Among a small crowd watching Whitlam is Australia’s first ambassador to China, Stephen Fitzgerald, dressed in a coat and tie. Beside him, with her arms crossed, is a Chinese interpreter.
The party led by Whitlam to China in 1973 included his wife Margaret and the Minister for Northern Development, Rex Patterson. The itinerary included a state banquet at the Great Hall of the People, hosted by Premier Zhou Enlai; a meeting with chairman Mao Zedong; and talks with King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia, who was living in exile in Beijing at the time. Sightseeing included a visit to the Great Wall of China. The Echo Wall seen in the photograph surrounds the Imperial Vault of Heaven in the Temple of Heaven in Beijing. Also known as the Whispering Wall, the acoustic properties of this round structure allow a person whispering along the inner wall to be heard around the other side. NAA
Albanese and Wong evoke Whitlam in bid to defrost China relations
by Katharine Murphy
Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong re-enact the famous picture of Gough Whitlam at the Echo Wall at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing. Photograph: Reuters
Labor duo shrug off Arctic weather in Beijing to use re-enactment of their hero’s famous 1973 photo op to plot a new course out of the cold
Albanese and Wong were acutely conscious of walking in Gough Whitlam’s footsteps. They were making history for their country but they were also re-enacting a seminal moment in the history of the modern Labor party; the moment when Whitlam visited the Echo Wall flanked by Australia’s first ambassador to the People’s Republic.
Fifty years on, Albanese echoes Whitlam in Beijing. The Prime Minister has set off in Gough Whitlam’s footsteps with a Temple of Heaven tour before his high stakes meeting with Xi Jinping, as part of a two day itinerary echoing much of the historic 1973 Beijing visit.
(https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/nov/06/albanese-and-wong-evoke-whitlam-in-bid-to-defrost-china-relations ” “Guardian”)
