How “Commonwealth of Australia” became “Australian Government” in the official record – what the Gazettes actually show, and what was never announced.
See also the html in “Broadsheet” old-school publishing design, and The Long Game (more history on the Gazette and Duumvirate period).
What the Gazette Is
The Commonwealth of Australia Gazette has been the official publication of the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia since 1 January 1901. It is the instrument through which the government publishes its acts, appointments, proclamations, regulations, ministerial instruments, and administrative notices in the official record. What appears in the Gazette is the authoritative public record of what the government has done. What does not appear in the Gazette was not publicly notified.
For seventy years, from 1901 to 1970, the Gazette carried one masthead:
Commonwealth of Australia Gazette PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY
Those words described both the publication and its constitutional grounding. “Commonwealth of Australia” – the name given by the people in their referendums. “Published by Authority” – the authority of the Crown acting through the constitutional framework the people had approved.
The printer colophon at the foot of each edition read: “Printed for the Government of the Commonwealth by W. G. MURRAY at the Government Printing Office, Canberra.”
The purchase points were “the Government Printing Office, Canberra” and “the Commonwealth Sub-Treasury in each Capital City.”
Everything – title, authority line, printer, purchase points – used the constitutional vocabulary of the Commonwealth.
What the Primary Documents Show – In Sequence
The following is a precise record drawn from Gazettes physically examined for this research, spanning 1970 to 1973.
23 January 1970 – Gazette No. 5 of 1970
Title: Commonwealth of Australia Gazette
Authority line: PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY
Printer: “Printed for the Government of the Commonwealth by W. G. MURRAY at the Government Printing Office, Canberra”
Purchase points: Government Printing Office, Canberra, or the Commonwealth Sub-Treasury in each Capital City.
No “Australian Government” vocabulary anywhere on the page.
This edition, and every other Gazette examined through May, September, and December 1970, is identical in all masthead and colophon details. The constitutional vocabulary is uniform throughout.
1 July 1970 – The Administrative Establishment of the AGPS
This date does not appear in any Gazette examined. It is established from the Australian Parliamentary Library’s agency history document, which states: “On 1 July 1970 the Australian Government Printing Service (AGPS) was established within the Department of the Treasury. The AGPS assumed responsibility for most functions of the Government Printing Office and by May 1971 the Government Printing Office ceased to be a separate record keeping agency.”
This establishment was administrative – within an existing department, under ministerial direction. No dedicated Act of Parliament created it. No parliamentary debate on the naming question has been located. No announcement appeared in the Gazette on or around 1 July 1970 notifying the public that a new body called the “Australian Government Printing Service” had been established within Treasury or that it would take over the functions of the Government Printing Office.
The name itself – “Australian Government” – appeared in the title of this new administrative body from 1 July 1970. The Gazette carried no notice of it.
30 December 1970 – Gazette No. 121 of 1970 (Last Gazette of the Year)
Title: Commonwealth of Australia Gazette
Authority line: PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY (alone – no AGPS reference)
Printer colophon – changed from all previous 1970 editions: “Printed for the Government of the Commonwealth by W. G. MURRAY, Government Printer, Canberra”
The institutional name “Government Printing Office” has been dropped. Murray is now described by title – “Government Printer” – without identifying the institution he prints at. This is the only change from the January 1970 baseline.
No announcement of any forthcoming change.
No reference to the Australian Government Publishing Service.
Content: Customs Tariff alteration notice, signed by Donald Leslie Chipp, Minister of State for Customs and Excise, under the McMahon Coalition government.
The last Gazette of 1970 gave no indication to any subscriber that the next edition would look different.
First Week of January 1971 – Gazette No. 1 of 1971 (First Gazette of the Year)
Title: Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (unchanged)
Authority line – changed: PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY BY THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING SERVICE
Printer: F. D. Atkinson, Government Printer, Canberra (Murray replaced)
No explanation of the change.
No retrospective notice.
No reference to any instrument authorising the change.
The words “Australian Government” appeared in the official masthead of the Commonwealth Gazette for the first time in the Gazette’s seventy-year history. They appeared without announcement, between the publication of two consecutive Gazette editions, over the Christmas-New Year break of 1970-71, under the Gorton Coalition government. Every subsequent Gazette from No. 1 of 1971 onward carries this attribution.
7 December 1972 – Gazettes Nos. 125, 126, 127 and 127A
The Duumvirate had commenced on 5 December 1972 with the swearing in of Gough Whitlam as Prime Minister and Lance Barnard as Deputy Prime Minister, together holding all twenty-seven ministerial portfolios between them.
Gazette No. 125 (large weekly Gazette):
Title: Commonwealth of Australia Gazette.
Authority line: PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY BY THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING SERVICE.
Content: Almost entirely instruments signed by outgoing McMahon government ministers – Ivor Greenwood as Attorney-General, Don Chipp as Minister for Customs and Excise, Phillip Lynch as Minister of State for Labour and National Service, Malcolm Mackay as Minister for the Navy. These instruments had been prepared under the outgoing government and were working through the publishing cycle. The new government was in office but the old government’s scheduled instruments were still being published.
Printer: F. D. Atkinson, Government Printer, Canberra.
Constitutional vocabulary throughout instrument text: “Commonwealth of Australia,” “Great Seal of the Commonwealth of Australia,” “Governor-General in and over the Commonwealth of Australia.” Uniform. No deviation.
Gazette No. 126 (small special Gazette, same date):
The first Gazette instruments signed by a Duumvirate minister. Two instruments signed by “E. G. WHITLAM, Prime Minister and Minister of State for Customs and Excise,” dated 6 December 1972 – the day after the Duumvirate commenced:
Customs Tariff Alteration Notice No. 9 (1972) – wine tariff amendments, operative from 7 December 1972.
Excise By-law No. 69 – wine excise by-law, operative from 7 December 1972.
These are the first published acts of the Whitlam Duumvirate government in the official record. They concern wine tariffs.
Constitutional vocabulary: the publication is the “Commonwealth Gazette.” The printer is “F. D. ATKINSON, Government Printer, Canberra.” The instruments use standard Commonwealth form.
Gazette No. 127 (one page, same date):
A single Statutory Rules notification under the Defence Act. One instrument. No ministerial signature visible.
Gazette No. 127A (Wednesday 13 December 1972 – mid-week special):
Three instruments signed by “LANCE BARNARD, Minister of State for Primary Industry,” dated 12 December 1972. Apple and Pear Stabilization determinations – average export returns, stabilization payments, and export duty rates for the 1972 apple season by variety.
This is Barnard’s first appearance in the Gazette record, signed eight days into the Duumvirate. The instruments are routine agricultural determinations.
14 December 1972 – Gazettes Nos. 128, 129, and 129A-E
Gazette No. 128:
Large weekly Gazette. Almost entirely instruments signed by McMahon government ministers, still working through the publishing cycle. No Whitlam or Barnard signatures.
Gazette No. 129:
Single instrument. Fisheries Notice No. 39 signed by “LANCE BARNARD, Minister of State for Primary Industry,” dated 12 December 1972. Prawn fishing prohibition in Queensland waters from 1 January to 14 March 1973.
Gazettes Nos. 129A through 129E (19 December 1972 – five editions in one day):
These five editions, all published on the day the full Whitlam Ministry was sworn in, contain the most substantive instruments of the entire December 1972 sequence.
Gazette 129A – Abolition and Establishment of Departments:
Under section 64 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia, the Governor-General in Council approved:
The abolition of six departments: Education and Science; Environment, Aborigines and the Arts; Interior; National Development; Social Services; Trade and Industry.
The establishment of sixteen new departments: Aboriginal Affairs; Capital Territory; Education; Environment and Conservation; Media; Minerals and Energy; Northern Development; Northern Territory; Overseas Trade; Science; Secondary Industry; Services and Property; Social Security; Special Minister of State; Tourism and Recreation; Urban and Regional Development.
The renaming of two existing departments: Department of Labour and National Service became the Department of Labour (National Service removed from the name). Department of Shipping and Transport became the Department of Transport.
The constitutional invocation in this instrument: “in pursuance of section 64 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia.” The constitutional name and section are stated explicitly.
Gazette 129B – Minister and Department Substitution Order:
An Order under section 19B of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901-1966 directing that references throughout all Acts and instruments to old ministerial titles and department names be read as references to the new titles. A bulk substitution of ministerial and departmental references throughout the entire Commonwealth statute book, by a single Order, on the day of swearing in.
Gazette 129C – Creation of Permanent Head Offices:
Sixteen new Permanent Head offices created under the Public Service Act 1922-1972.
Gazette 129D – Acting Permanent Head Appointments:
Acting permanent heads appointed to new departments. Instrument signed by Whitlam as Prime Minister – his first signature as Prime Minister of the full Ministry.
Gazette 129E – The Full Ministry:
Three instruments.
First: Governor-General’s notification that Whitlam resigned as Duumvirate Prime Minister and was immediately reappointed as Prime Minister of the full Ministry. The Duumvirate formally ended at this moment on 19 December 1972.
Second: Twenty-five new members sworn as Executive Councillors.
Third: The complete ministerial appointments for all twenty-seven portfolios, covering Whitlam, Barnard, Cairns, Hayden, Crean, Murphy, Willesee, McClelland, Patterson, Bishop, Daly, Cameron, Uren, Jones, Beazley, Stewart, Cavanagh, Wriedt, Bryant, Connor, Grassby, Johnson, Enderby, Bowen, Everingham, Cass, and Morrison.
The constitutional vocabulary throughout all five 129-series Gazettes: “the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia,” “section 64 of the Constitution,” “section 19B of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901-1966,” “Governor-General in and over the Commonwealth of Australia,” “the Great Seal of the Commonwealth.” Not one use of “Australian Government” in any instrument text. The constitutional vocabulary is used in full, without reduction or substitution.
Two of the five editions – 129C and 129D – required immediate correction, republished as Gazettes 132 and 133 the following day. The speed of the transition on 19 December produced errors requiring same-week formal correction in the official record.
20-21 December 1972 – Gazettes Nos. 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135
Gazette No. 131 – Administrative Arrangements Order:
The foundational instrument defining every department and the Acts each minister administers, signed 19 December 1972 by Hasluck, countersigned by Whitlam as Prime Minister.
Notable allocations: The Attorney-General’s Department (Murphy) administers the Acts Interpretation Act 1901-1966 and the Privy Council (Limitation of Appeals) Act 1968 – the very Act that had begun closing the Privy Council appeal pathway.
The Department of the Special Minister of State administers the “Commonwealth Gazette and Commonwealth Directory” – the Gazette itself is placed under a specific minister from the first day of the new government.
The Department of Labour administers the National Service Act 1951-1971 – the conscription machinery remains in the administrative arrangements as an administered Act even after the Duumvirate had effectively suspended its operation.
Constitutional vocabulary throughout: “COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA – ADMINISTRATIVE ARRANGEMENTS – ORDERED BY HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL.” Every departmental reference uses “Commonwealth.” No “Australian Government” vocabulary in instrument text.
Gazette No. 134 (21 December 1972):
Four interim orders under the Companies (Foreign Takeovers) Act 1972, signed by Frank Crean as Treasurer, dated 21 December 1972 – his second day as Treasurer. All prohibit pending foreign acquisitions of Australian companies by British and South African corporations.
Gazette No. 135 (21 December 1972):
National Health Act 1972 Proclamation signed by Hasluck, countersigned by Barnard as Minister for Health. An Administrative Arrangements amendment adding the International Sugar Agreement Act 1969 to the Department of Northern Development’s portfolio.
Barnard signs here as “Minister of State for Defence, acting for and on behalf of the Minister of State for Science” – his first post-Duumvirate signature, now in his specific Defence portfolio.
29 December 1972 – Gazette No. 136 (Last Gazette of 1972)
One instrument. Lionel Murphy as “Minister of State for Customs and Excise” signs a Customs Tariff alteration notice dated 28 December 1972.
Murphy’s first appearance in the Gazette record as a full ministry minister is in this, the last Gazette of 1972. His most consequential Gazette act – signing the Proclamation that renamed the Gazette itself – will be on 27 June 1973. Six months separates these two appearances by the same man in the official record.
29 June 1973 – Gazette No. 78 of 1973
The second-last Commonwealth of Australia Gazette before the name change.
Title: Commonwealth of Australia Gazette.
Authority line: PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY BY THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING SERVICE.
Content: Three Customs Tariff alteration notices signed by Lionel Murphy as “Minister of State for Customs and Excise,” dated 26 June 1973. All three operative “on and from the first day of July, One thousand nine hundred and seventy-three.” Murphy is signing instruments operative from 1 July 1973 – the date his own Proclamation of 27 June 1973 will rename the Gazette – and publishing them in the last-but-one Commonwealth of Australia Gazette.
30 June 1973 – Gazette No. 79 of 1973 (Last Commonwealth of Australia Gazette)
Title: Commonwealth of Australia Gazette.
Authority line: PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY BY THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING SERVICE.
The Proclamation on the front page:
“WHEREAS it is provided by sub-section 2(2) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1973 that sub-section 4(2) of that Act shall come into operation on a date to be fixed by Proclamation: NOW THEREFORE I, SIR PAUL MEERNAA CAEDWALLA HASLUCK, the Governor-General aforesaid, acting with the advice of the Executive Council, hereby fix the first day of July, One thousand nine hundred and seventy-three as the date on which that provision shall come into operation.”
Signed by Governor-General Sir Paul Hasluck, 27 June 1973. Countersigned by Lionel Murphy, Attorney-General.
The last Commonwealth of Australia Gazette published, on its own front page, the instrument that renamed it. It announced its own supersession and went to print for the last time.
A companion Proclamation on the same page brought the Evidence Act 1973 into operation on the same date – 1 July 1973. Both Proclamations signed by Hasluck on the advice of Murphy.
2 July 1973 – Gazette No. 80 of 1973 (First Australian Government Gazette)
Title: Australian Government Gazette.
Authority line: Published by Authority by the Australian Government Publishing Service.
No. 80. Not No. 1. The numbering sequence continued unbroken from the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette it replaced.
Content: One instrument. An appointment under section 10 of the Judiciary Act 1903-1969, signed by Governor-General Hasluck, dated 27 June 1973, Executive Minute No. 46, countersigned by Murphy. Appointing Sydney as the principal seat of the High Court of Australia from 13 August 1973. The first act recorded in the first Australian Government Gazette concerned the highest court in the land.
The same date – 27 June 1973 – on which Hasluck signed the Proclamation renaming the Gazette, he also signed the instrument appointing Sydney as the High Court’s seat. Both instruments countersigned by Murphy. Both on the same day.
5 July 1973 – Gazette No. 81 of 1973 (First Regular Weekly Australian Government Gazette)
Title: Australian Government Gazette.
The first regular weekly edition under the new name.
The vocabulary collision visible within a single document:
The Proclamations and formal instruments in this edition use the constitutional vocabulary throughout. The Cities Commission Act appointment reads: “I, Sir Paul Meernaa Caedwalla Hasluck, the Governor-General in and over the Commonwealth of Australia.” The Customs Proclamation opens: “Commonwealth of Australia to wit.” The Great Seal is “the Great Seal of the Commonwealth of Australia.”
The income tax instrument in this edition applies to “every person (other than a company) who is a resident of Australia.” Not every man or woman of the Commonwealth. Not every subject of the Crown. A “resident of Australia” – a geographical description, applied from the first regular week of the new Gazette to the tax return obligation of every man and woman in the country.
The two vocabularies – the constitutional “Commonwealth of Australia” in formal instruments, and the new geographical “Australia” in administrative instruments – are operating in parallel within the same document in its first regular weekly issue. The split is visible on the face of the primary record.
What the Gazette Record Establishes – The Verified Facts
Fact 1: The words “Australian Government” did not appear in the official masthead of the Commonwealth Gazette at any point from 1901 through December 1970. For seventy years the constitutional vocabulary was uniform.
Fact 2: The Australian Government Printing Service was established within the Department of the Treasury on 1 July 1970, administratively, without a dedicated Act of Parliament and without any announcement in the Gazette.
Fact 3: The Gazette masthead changed between the last edition of 1970 (Gazette No. 121, 30 December 1970) and the first edition of 1971 (Gazette No. 1 of 1971), over the Christmas-New Year break, without announcement in either edition, without any notice to subscribers, and without any reference to an authorising instrument. This occurred under the Gorton Coalition government.
Fact 4: The printer attribution changed simultaneously – W. G. Murray at the Government Printing Office replaced by F. D. Atkinson as Government Printer – without announcement.
Fact 5: Every Gazette from No. 1 of 1971 through No. 79 of 1973 carries the split masthead: “Commonwealth of Australia Gazette” as the title and “AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING SERVICE” as the publisher. Two different vocabularies in the same masthead for two and a half years.
Fact 6: The Whitlam Duumvirate commenced 5 December 1972. Whitlam’s first published act in the Gazette record was wine tariff adjustments, signed 6 December 1972, published 7 December 1972. Barnard’s first published act was apple export duty determinations, signed 12 December 1972.
Fact 7: Five Gazettes were published on 19 December 1972 – the day the full Whitlam Ministry was sworn in. Two required same-day correction and were republished the following day. All five used exclusively constitutional vocabulary in their instrument text – “Commonwealth of Australia,” “section 64 of the Constitution,” “Great Seal of the Commonwealth” – throughout.
Fact 8: The Acts Interpretation Act 1973 (No. 79 of 1973), assented to 19 June 1973, amended the foundational interpretive statute to define “‘Australia’ or ‘the Commonwealth'” as including, when used in a geographical sense, a new territorial qualification absent from the Constitution. Section 4(2) renamed the Gazette, deferred to Proclamation.
Fact 9: The Proclamation was signed by Governor-General Hasluck on 27 June 1973 on the advice of Attorney-General Murphy, fixing 1 July 1973 as operative date. It was published on the front page of the last Commonwealth of Australia Gazette – No. 79, 30 June 1973 – the edition the Proclamation itself rendered obsolete.
Fact 10: The first day of the Australian Government Gazette was 1 July 1973 – the first day of financial year 1973-74. The Gazette was numbered No. 80. There was no No. 1. The numbering sequence was unbroken from the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette.
Fact 11: The first instrument published in the first Australian Government Gazette concerned the High Court of Australia. It was signed the same day as the Proclamation renaming the Gazette, by the same Governor-General, countersigned by the same Attorney-General.
Fact 12: From the first regular weekly edition of the Australian Government Gazette (No. 81, 5 July 1973), formal constitutional instruments continued using “Commonwealth of Australia” vocabulary while administrative instruments began using “residents of Australia” vocabulary. The two vocabularies operated in parallel within the same publication.
Fact 13: The Statute Law Revision Act 1973 (No. 216 of 1973), assented to 19 December 1973, operative from 31 December 1973, substituted “Australian Government” for “Commonwealth” terminology throughout hundreds of Commonwealth Acts. Parliament was told by both the introducing minister and the Attorney-General that the changes effected no change in substance in the law.
Fact 14: No announcement, notice, or explanation to the men and women of the Commonwealth was published in the Gazette at any transition point – not when the AGPS was established in July 1970, not when the masthead changed in January 1971, and not when the Gazette title changed on 1 July 1973. Each transition was silent in the official record that carries it.
What the Record Does Not Show
In the interests of precision, the following items were anticipated but not found in the Gazettes examined:
The conscription abolition instrument does not appear as a published Gazette notice in any of the December 1972 editions examined.
The China recognition instrument does not appear as a Gazette notice in the December 1972 editions.
A founding instrument for the AGPS was not located in any Gazette edition.
An explanation of the January 1971 masthead change was not found in any Gazette edition before or after the transition.
An announcement of the 1 July 1973 Gazette renaming – beyond the technical Proclamation on the front page of No. 79 – was not found in any edition.
The Question the Record Raises
The Gazette of the Commonwealth of Australia was the official record of the Government of the Commonwealth for seventy years. Its masthead carried the constitutional name of the Commonwealth for seventy years. That name derived from the Preamble of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900, in which the people agreed to unite in one indissoluble Federal Commonwealth.
The words “Australian Government” entered the official masthead of the official record of that Commonwealth between the last edition of 1970 and the first edition of 1971, over a Christmas-New Year break, without announcement, without parliamentary debate on the naming question, without public notice, and without any reference in the Gazette itself to an authorising instrument.
The Gazette title was formally renamed on 1 July 1973 by Proclamation, pursuant to ordinary legislation, timed to the financial year start, carrying no serial reset – No. 80, not No. 1.
The Constitution from which the Commonwealth derives its authority was not amended. The Preamble was not changed. The referendum the Constitution requires for its amendment was not held.
The men and women of the Commonwealth were not informed of any of these transitions in the official publication that exists for the purpose of informing them of the government’s acts.
The Gazette published what it published. It did not publish what it did not publish. That absence is also part of the record.
Published by Authority.
Whose?
Sources: Commonwealth of Australia Gazette Nos. 5 (January 1970), 121 (December 1970), 125-136 (December 1972), 78-81 (June-July 1973) – primary documents examined for this research. Acts Interpretation Act 1973, No. 79 of 1973 (primary document). Proclamation by Governor-General Sir Paul Hasluck, 27 June 1973 (primary document, Gazette No. 79). Statute Law Revision Act 1973, No. 216 of 1973. Australian Parliamentary Library agency history, Department of the Interior series. Australia.gov.au, Publications page (AGPS operational dates). Wikipedia, “Australian Government Publishing Service” (operational dates and closure). No speculation, inference, or unverified claim has been included in this article.
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