Jenny Hocking

Professor Jenny Hocking is Emeritus Professor at Monash University and the inaugural Distinguished Whitlam Fellow with the Whitlam Institute at Western Sydney University. She is the author of eight books including the two-volume biography of Gough Whitlam - Gough Whitlam: A Moment in History (Melbourne University Press, 2008) and Gough Whitlam: His Time (MUP. 2012) - short-listed for several awards, including the Prime Ministers Awards for Literature, The Age Book of the Year and the National Biography Award, and winner of the Fellowship of Australian Writers' Barbara Ramsden Award. Her latest book The Palace Letters was published by Scribe in October 2020 and her essay ‘Archival secrets and hidden histories - Reasserting the right to public access' appeared in Griffith Review Issue 67 'Matters of Trust' (2020). Jenny Hocking's case against the National Archives of Australia seeking access to the 'Palace letters' relating to the dismissal of the Whitlam government succeeded at the High Court of Australia, which found in her favour in May 2020 in a 6:1 decision. As a result of Professor Hocking's successful legal action the National Archives released the Palace letters in July 2020. She is a frequent media commentator and public speaker on biography, Australian politics, the Whitlam dismissal and an Australian Republic.