Diana Killen, aged in her early 20s, was working in a new educational section of the National Library by the shore of Canberra’s Lake Burley Griffin when word hurtled through the building that Gough Whitlam and his government had been sacked.

She and colleagues abandoned their desks and hurried 700 metres up the road to the lawn opposite the old white wedding cake of a building that was Australia’s parliament house.

There, they were absorbed within a roiling throng of disbelief, excitement and outrage as offices across the national capital emptied and thousands of their inhabitants rushed to take part in the greatest show in town.

It was 50 years ago next month: Tuesday, November 11, 1975.

Killen says she has never been “a protesting sort of person” and did not join the chanting and tu

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