Gough Whitlam helped build the city of Liverpool

This is how former Liverpool mayor Joe Durrant will remember Gough Whitlam.

Mr Durrant, 84, first met the man in 1965. It was a day where a great friendship began.

‘‘I was standing in council, as a councillor, when I first met the Member of Werriwa at a Labor Party meeting,’’ Mr Durrant said.

‘‘I was very impressed with him. He was a thorough gentlemen and he had a lovely wife, who was just as strong as him.

‘‘He was very approachable. He had Australia at heart. He was an Australian politician and not a world statesman.’’

Mr Durrant, who was the mayor of Liverpool from 1973 to 1974, shared countless number of fond memories with Mr Whitlam.

‘‘We were very good friends,’’ he said.

‘‘As a prime minister and the member for Werriwa he did a lot of things, particularly for Liverpool. He was Mr Liverpool.’’

Friendship aside, Mr Durrant also looked to Mr Whitlam as a mentor and inspirational leader.

‘‘He influenced me the way in which he handled himself when he was dismissed [as prime minister],’’ he said. ‘‘Heavens above, the man was a gentleman!’’

He vividly recalls Gough Whitlam’s dismissal by the governor- general.

‘‘People went crazy,’’ he said.

‘‘I remember at the Liverpool old town hall, we had crowds of people inside and outside chanting ‘we want Gough, we want Gough, we want Gough’.’’

Mr Durrant particularly admired one quality of Mr Whitlam.

‘‘One thing I can’t do, I can’t remember people’s names,’’ he said.

‘‘But Gough could meet you 10 years ago and he would come up to you and remember your name. He had that knack of remembering people’s faces and their names.’’

His praise for Mr Whitlam continued.

‘‘Gough helped build this city,’’ he said. ‘‘If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t see the Liverpool we see today and it would still be a country town. He was a fantastic bloke. That’s the sort of man he was. You couldn’t have found a nicer gentleman than Gough Whitlam.’’