Gough arrives for wife’s memorial service

Former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam has arrived at a church in Sydney where a memorial service for his wife Margaret is about to begin.

Mrs Whitlam died last week aged 92.

Mr Whitlam arrived at St James Church in the CBD in a wheelchair, followed shortly afterwards by his Liberal successor Malcolm Fraser and his wife Tammy.

Bells are pealing and roads have been closed as leading political figures file into the church, including former Prime Minister Bob Hawke and his wife Blanche, Foreign Minister Bob Carr and his wife Helena and former NSW Premier Neville Wran and his wife Jill.

Cheers erupted from the crowd outside the church as Prime Minister Julia Gillard and partner Tim Mathieson got out of their official car.

Former PM Kevin Rudd and his wife Therese Rein, former NSW Premier Nick Greiner, Governor General Quentin Bryce, NSW Governor Marie Bashir, and Paul Keating and his former wife Annita have joined the mourners.

Clergymen in white robes, one holding a cross, have also entered the historic sandstone church.

A small but enthusiastic crowd is watching the arrival of dignitaries from the street.

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