As the country entered the final week of its second election campaign in only 17 months, almost everybodyand everythingwent to the hustings. Prime Minister Gough Whitlam's Labor government triumphantly produced a glowing testimonial from the country's only Nobel-prizewinning author, Patrick White. The Wildlife Protection Council eagerly proclaimed that a Labor victory was the last hope for the kangaroo.
Opposition Leader Billy Snedden's Liberal-Country party coalition got an equally rousing endorsement from the country's top football coach, Ron Barassi, and tried to ignore the polls that showed Labor gradually inching ahead.
As the first votes were counted, however, it looked as if...
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