There’s a lot of love in Canberra – perhaps too much given the “bonk ban” introduced in 2018 (preventing MPs from having sexual relationships with their staff) – and a new tour called Love in the Capital is about to steam things up.
Rest assured dear readers, there aren’t any recent sex scandals about current MPs (it’s too soon) because the tour is part of the Canberra Heritage Festival and focuses on historic political figures
If you’re a sucker for a romance novel or if you like a good scandal (and who doesn’t), She Shapes History is holding three Love in the Capital tours this month.
Founder of She Shapes History, Sita Sargeant (a self-confessed romance novel reader), has fantasised about running these tours for three years but was unsure of the public’s appetite for passion.
“This tour gives such a different view of political figures and it’s amazing how much people don’t know when it comes to really iconic political figures,” Sita said. “Recent affairs aren’t in it because there are so many to choose from, we have too many, and because it’s only a two-hour tour we had to be picky.”
The tour begins at Hyatt Hotel, where Harold Holt (known for his extra-marital affair) and his wife Zara lived for a period. The tour uncovers love at Old Parliament House, West Block, John Gorton Building, finishing at the Kurrajong Hotel, where two former Prime Ministers had affairs (Ben Chifley was there with his mistress when he had a heart attack and later died).
“John Curtin and Ben Chifley had affairs at the Kurrajong, these prime ministers were very respected,” Sita said. “It’s not part of either of their legacies – not like Bob Hawke. Both their biographers have written about these affairs and we’re only covering people that we have very hard evidence by official biographies. There’s nothing in this tour that is word-of-mouth gossip.”
Sita said the tour would challenge people’s perceptions of “people who we think we know”. There’s even a love story not unlike Romeo and Juliet, about two star-crossed lovers from opposite sides of the political spectrum.
Prime Minister John Gorton’s private secretary, Ainsley Gotto, had a relationship with her counterpart – opposition leader Gough Whitlam’s chief-of-staff, Race Mathews. She was a staunch Liberal and the youngest ever, first female, to be chief of staff at age 22.
But political love affairs are not always scandalous. There are wholesome, romantic love stories like Gough and Margaret Whitlam. The statuesque couple (she was six foot one, he was six foot four) were both members of a university drama society and met at a party when their eyes met across a room.
“There’s something really special about her experience of the dismissal,” Sita said. “Whitlam’s chief-of-staff at the time said that he would not have survived the dismissal if not for Margaret. When he felt like he was being abandoned by everyone, she just loved him more and reminded him that he was still loved.”
Sita said that when people talk about the well-known affairs of Bob Hawke and Harold Holt (who was holidaying with his mistress when he famously vanished), no-one considers what their wives were doing.
“Without us realising it, we paint women in a certain way. So many of us thought of Zara Holt as this scorned woman, treated poorly by Harold Holt, but she had a lot of agency and she did a lot in her own right.
“Zara Holt was a self-made millionaire – she saw that there was this gap in the market in Sydney for women like her who were short and plump and didn’t have suitable clothes for them. So she started one and it was this massive success. She’s this great clothing designer and she designed the Australian Olympic uniform in 1960s.”
This article is just a teaser for the tour – there are plenty more scandals that rocked our city and power couples that inspired a nation.
Love In The Capital tours: 13 April, 20 April and 27 April from 3pm to 5pm. Bookings: https://www.environment.act.gov.au/heritage/heritage-festival/nested-content/event-details?eventId=2399159&referredBySearch=true
Canberra Heritage Festival 13-28 April www.environment.act.gov.au/heritage/heritage-festival
