SA: South Australians farewell Don Dunstan

AAP General News (Australia)
02-12-1999
SA: South Australians farewell Don Dunstan

ADELAIDE, Feb 12 AAP - Some 5,000 people crammed into Adelaide's Festival Theatre and
spilled over into Elder Park today as South Australia farewelled former Premier Don Dunstan.

Current and former political leaders as well as long standing colleagues and friends of Mr
Dunstan addressed the public memorial service.

Former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam told how he first met Mr Dunstan in 1953 and suggested
the most fitting monument to him was the Adelaide he helped create.

SA opposition leader Mike Rann said prizes in the arts and other disciplines should be
dedicated to Mr Dunstan and also suggested the Festival Centre Playhouse be renamed the
Dunstan Playhouse.

Former ATSIC chair Lowitja O'Donoghue who described Mr Dunstan's life as one marked by
great achievements.

"Yet he was a man of the people, he had the common touch," Dr O'Donoghue said.

Today's service also featured a performance by the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and a
Shakespearean reading.

The service was relayed to the crowd outside on a giant television screen and was broadcast
live on ABC radio and commercial television.

AAP tjd/vm/it/de

KEYWORD: DUNSTAN LEAD

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