Tributes have been pouring in for former prime minister Gough Whitlam, who died aged 98 on Tuesday.
The Australian flag is flying at half-mast over Parliament House and the day's sitting program has been replaced with condolence motions starting at noon (AEST) with a tribute from Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
"Gough Whitlam was a giant of his time," Mr Abbott said.
"He united the Australian Labor Party, won two elections and seemed, in so many ways, larger than life."
"Gough Whitlam recognised the journey that our country needed to take with Indigenous Australians.
"The image of soil passing from Gough Whitlam’s hand to Vincent Lingiari’s is a reminder that all Australians share the same land and the same hopes."
Australia has "lost a legend": Shorten
Opposition leader Bill Shorten says the Labor Party lost a giant, while Australia has lost a legend.
Mr Shorten said Mr Whitlam redefined Australia and in doing so 'changed the lives of a generation.'
"His vision, his ambition, offered Australia a new sense of what it might be," he said speaking at a regular caucus meeting in Canberra.
"Our country is different because of him."
Mr Whitlam was the nation's 21st prime minister and he lived during the lifetimes of all 27 other Australian prime ministers.
Other Labor MPs joined in on social media. "Vale Gough Whitlam - a legend who shaped modern Australia," Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese tweeted.
Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen described Whitlam as a "Labor Hero".
"A loss to the nation. RIP Gough," he wrote on Twitter.
Western Sydney MP Ed Husic thanked Whitlam for "dreaming big and believing our country could always strive for better".
Deputy opposition leader Tanya Plibersek said Mr Whitlam was an inspiration.
She recalled his generosity in guiding younger members of the party and advice offered over a cup of tea at his Sydney home.
Ms Plibersek also paid tribute to his legacy and policies, some of which - like free university education - were controversial.
"He is the iconic figure for making brave policies stand," she told Sky News.
"He's an inspirational figure in that way."
Prime Minister Gough Whitlam addresses reporters outside the Parliament building in Canberra after his dismissal by Australia's Governor-General, 11 Nov 1975. Whitlam's name will be considered in the naming of any new electorates(Getty)
Whitlam a 'big man': Malcolm Fraser
Malcolm Fraser says Gough Whitlam did not carry any bitterness in his heart and he came to value the friendship of his former arch-rival.
Despite their political differences, Mr Fraser says Australia today is a much richer place in the wake of Mr Whitlam.
He's told ABC radio Mr Whitlam was enormously proud of Australia and the role it could play in the world.
"He was far too big a man to carry any bitterness or sadness in his heart," Mr Fraser told ABC radio.
"While Gough turned his antagonism, if you like, on certain people he never seemed to me to bear any personal animosity.
"We met occasionally at international forums and little by little the ice seemed to break between us and we did establish a rapport, I suppose, friendship."
Mr Fraser said Australia today was a much richer place in the wake of Mr Whitlam.
"He was enormously, I believe, proud of Australia and the role Australia could play in the world," Mr Fraser told ABC radio.
"He had aspirations probably too large for our immediate resources but aspirations that I think touched the hearts and minds of a great many Australians.
"He certainly left an indelible mark on Australian history."
Malcolm Fraser says despite their political differences he valued the friendship of Gough Whitlam. (AAP)
He transformed Australia: Julia Gillard
In an article for the Guardian, former prime minister Julia Gillard has described Mr Whitlam as a great leader and a great person.
"Gough will live always in our nation, which he transformed throughout his long public life," she wrote.
Mr Whitlam lived on in Australia's universities, its health system, its suburbs, its family law, its relationship with China and its multicultural society, she said.
"I honour Gough as a man of the highest political courage. A giant of his era. He was truly prepared to commit and see what happens. He transformed Australia and we are in his debt."
Australian Greens leader Christine Milne said Mr Whitlam was a champion for the environment and his passion for social justice, education and the arts was legendary.
"He was a larger than life figure whose leadership profoundly changed the nation for the better," she tweeted.
Palmer United Party leader Clive Palmer sent his condolences to the Whitlam family.
"He was a man of integrity who achieved a lot for our nation. He must never be forgotten by Australians," he tweeted.
Governor-General Peter Cosgrove also expressed his condolences to the Whitlam family.
"Mr Whitlam was a towering leader of his time who made a significant contribution to the life of our nation and his legacy endures today," he said in a statement.
"Lynne and I extend our deepest sympathies to the Whitlam family at this sad time."
'Great man left indelible mark': Rudd
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd (right) talks with former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam at the launch of a biography on Mr Whitlam in 2008 (AAP Image/Paul Miller)
"His broad vision for the nation embraced universal access to university education based on ability rather than privilege," Mr Rudd said in a statement.
"He embraced universal health care based on physical need rather than the ability to pay.
"Gough’s instinctive embrace of Indigenous Australians, and their rights to land, particularly at a time when racism was still alive and well in our country, has made him an unassailable hero in the hearts and minds of our Aboriginal brothers and sisters."
Gough gave Australia 'a new destiny': Keating
Former prime minister, Paul Keating said Mr Whitlam gave Australia a new destiny.
"Gough Whitlam changed the way Australia thought about itself and gave the country a new destiny..."
"He snapped Australia out of the Menzian torpor – the orthodoxy that had rocked the country asleep, giving it new vitality and focus. But more than that, bringing Australia to terms with its geography and place in the region."
"Along his journey he also renovated the Labor Party, making it useful again as an instrument of reform to Australian society."
These sentiments were echoed by former Liberal prime minister, John Howard.
"Gough Whitlam was Prime Minister when I entered Parliament in 1974. His ready wit, eloquence and prodigious recall gave him an easy mastery of the Parliamentary arena," he said in a statement.
"Fundamental to his policy attitudes was Gough Whitlam’s belief that an activist and interventionist national government was always the appropriate response to Australia’s challenges.
"Whilst there will always be debate on such a proposition, Whitlam’s commitment to it permeated his actions in government."
Bob Hawke has also paid tribute to the former Prime Minister, saying Australia has lost one of the brightest stars ever to light its political firmament.
"Very simply, Australia is a significantly better country because of the life and work of Gough Whitlam," he said in a statement.
"I remember him not only with immense respect but also with great affection."
'Great champion' for Indigenous rights
The National Land Council paid tribute to Mr Whitlam, calling him a "great champion of the rights of Australian’s Indigenous peoples".
“Although it was the government of Mr Malcolm Fraser which passed the Northern Territory Land Rights Act in 1976, the substance of that law was in fact the creation of Mr Whitlam’s Labor government," said NLC chairman, Mr Samuel Bush-Blanasi.
“The Northern Territory Land Rights Act set the stage for the High Court’s Mabo decision many years later.
“And in August 1975, only three months before his removal as Prime Minister, Mr Whitlam heralded land rights legislation in the Territory when he famously handed back the lease of Wave Hill Station to Aboriginal Traditional Owners.
Gough Whitlam formally handed back land to the Gurindji people, pouring soil into the hands of elder Vince Lingiari,
“Mr Whitlam was a great friend of Aboriginal people and land councils in the Northern Territory. In fact, his last visit to the Territory was in 2004 when he attended a dinner in Darwin to farewell the NLC’s long –serving former chairman, Mr Galarrwuy Yunupingu.
A man who made us laugh
The lead singer of The Whitlams has paid tribute to the late prime minister who inspired his band.
"It was our great fortune that Gough Whitlam, this supremely talented man, decided to dedicate his whole life to public service," Tim Freedman told AAP on Tuesday.
"He improved us, made us laugh, and was one half of a magnificent inspiring marriage with Margaret."
