The Death of a Great Australian

Don Dunstan was a Labor member of the South Australian parliament for over twenty-five years and premier for ten during the late 1960s and throughout the1970s. As premier he presided over a period of significant reform and political and cultural reinvigoration in South Australia. His involvement in political life, across many arena, continued until his death on 6 February 1999. He was described in a newspaper report at the time of his death as 'one of the two great post-war Labor renaissance leaders'.1 On the occasion of the memorial service to commemorate Dunstan the Adelaide Festival Centre was adorned with a banner that read 'Don Dunstan 1926-1999 — A Great Australian'. Dunstan had long been associated with homosexuality. The representation of this association in public responses to his death is the subject of this article.