Ainsley Gotto

Ainsley Gotto (14 February 1946 – 25 February 2018) was an Australian public servant and entrepreneur, who was the private secretary to the John Gorton, the Prime Minister of Australia in the late 1960s.

Ainsley Gotto
Born	(1946-02-14)14 February 1946 Annerley, Queensland, Australia
Died	25 February 2018(2018-02-25) (aged 72) Woollahra, New South Wales, Australia
Education	Canberra Technical College
Occupation	Public servant, secretary, stage actress, entrepreneur
Known for	Private secretary to Prime Minister John Gorton
Home town	Brisbane

Early life

Gotto was born in the Brisbane suburb of Annerley on 14 February 1946.[1] Her parents were Sidney Gotto, a flight lieutenant in the Royal Australian Air Force, and his wife, Lesley Webster.[2]

She lived with her parents and went to school in Melbourne, then lived in London before returning to Melbourne.[3] In 1961, the family moved to Canberra, where Ainsley studied a secretarial course at Canberra Technical College, qualifying for her certificate with the highest typing speed in the class.[4] Gotto also worked as a stage actress for the Canberra Repertory Society, appearing in the lead roles of several plays, but gave up amateur theatre to concentrate on her secretarial career.[5][6]

Gotto began work as a typist at the Department of Immigration, but left after a few months to work for a private firm.[7] After a year, she returned to government work at the Trade Commissioner Service.[8] In 1966, Gotto was appointed as secretary to William Aston, then government chief whip.[3] She stayed on to work for Dudley Erwin when he replaced Aston as whip.[3]

Secretary to John Gorton

In January 1968, Gotto—then aged 21—was announced as the new personal private secretary to the Prime Minister, John Gorton.[3]

On 13 February 1969, Gorton appointed Gotto's former boss, Dudley Erwin, as Minister for Air, in the reshuffle following Paul Hasluck's appointment as Governor-General.[7] Gorton subsequently appointed Gotto as principal private secretary, and came to rely on her for political advice.[3] On 11 November 1969, Erwin was left out of Gorton's second ministry.[8] On 13 November, Erwin's explanation for his dismissal was: "It wiggles, it's shapely and its name is Ainsley Gotto."[9][10]

In his biography of Gorton, Sir John Gorton: He Did It His Way, Ian Hancock argues that although Gotto had some influence over the prime minister, this was over-estimated and resented by his senior colleagues.[11] In Jenny Hocking's biography of Gough Whitlam, Hocking mentioned that those looking for scandal between Gorton and Gotto were "looking in the wrong place", and that Gotto was in fact in a relationship with Race Mathews, her counterpart in Whitlam's office. Most of the media were aware of the relationship but did not report on it. Mathews also told Whitlam, who tolerated the relationship on the proviso there was no "pillow talk".[12]

When Gorton stepped down as prime minister in March 1971, Gotto stayed in his service when he became Minister for Defence, but resigned from the public service in 1972.[13] She would later return to work for Gorton in his retirement, and helped his widow, Lady Gorton, with arrangements after his death in 2002.[12]

Later life and death

After leaving the public service, Gotto worked for Bill Pollock at the Canadian recruitment company Drake International in Australia between 1972 and 1978.[13] She then returned to Britain where she worked at personnel agencies in London, and later in Monaco.[7] In the early 1980s, she worked as a television presenter for Granada Television in Britain.[14][15][16]

Gotto worked in a variety of business ventures including an interior design consultancy on the Gold Coast, and her own company, Ainsley Gotto International.[13] She served as the National President of the Australian chapter of Women Chiefs of Enterprises International, a non-profit organisation for women entrepreneurs, from 2001 to 2003.[17] In early 2008 she returned to Parliament House as chief of staff to then shadow finance minister, Senator Helen Coonan.[14]

Gotto married lawyer Nick Carson in July 1993 and lived in Double Bay, Sydney.[7][18] The marriage ended in divorce in 2007.[19]

In 2015, Gotto donated her official and personal papers to the National Library of Australia, to be released only on her death or if she agreed to their earlier release.[20]

Gotto died eleven days after her 72nd birthday, at Wolper Jewish Hospital in Woollahra, Sydney, on 25 February 2018, due to complications from cancer.[8]

References

1. "Family Notices". Telegraph. Queensland, Australia. 18 February 1946. p. 4. Retrieved 25 February 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
2. "GOTTO-NUTTING, Lesley". Death Notices. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 25 February 2018. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
3. "Ainsley Gotto, career girl". The Canberra Times. 42 (11, 904). Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 23 January 1968. p. 1. Retrieved 25 February 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
4. "Technical College Passes". The Canberra Times. 36 (10, 098). Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 15 December 1961. p. 34. Retrieved 25 February 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
5. "Dress rehearsal at Rep". The Canberra Times. 39 (11, 154). Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 13 May 1965. p. 25. Retrieved 25 February 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
6. "Ainsley Gotto". AusStage. Archived from the original on 19 August 2016. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
7. "It's all Gotto go, says Ainsley". The Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney, Australia: Fairfax Media. 9 March 1997. Archived from the original on 25 February 2018. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
8. Benns, Matthew (25 February 2018). "Ainsley Gotto, former private secretary to prime minister John Gorton has died aged 71". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
9. "'It Wiggles, It's Shapely' It Cost Aussie Cabinet Job". The Toronto Star. 13 November 1969. p. 1.
10. Barnes, Allan (14 November 1969). "Ainsley's Champagne Toast Turns Sour". The Age.
11. Smith, Tony. "It was his way that did it". The Drawing Board. Australian Review of Public Affairs. Archived from the original on 6 September 2015. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
12. Carroll, Brian (2011). Whitlam. Dural Delivery Centre NSW: Rosenberg Publishing. ISBN 192171946X.
13. "Papers of Ainsley Gotto". National Library of Australia. Archived from the original on 25 February 2018. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
14. Grattan, Michelle (28 May 2008). "Old hand returns to the political arena". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 25 February 2018. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
15. Jones, Judith (29 September 2016). "David Highet". Granadaland. Archived from the original on 25 February 2018. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
16. "Ainsley Gotto". British Film Institute. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
17. "Our History". Women Chiefs of Enterprises International. Archived from the original on 19 February 2017. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
18. "Girls in gold greet boys who've sold". Sydney Morning Herald. 7 July 2002. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
19. McGuinness, Mark (1 March 2018). "Stylish, sunglassed, Sobranie-smoking, Volvo-sports-driving 'mere slip of a girl'". The Sydney Morning Herald (No. 56282). Retrieved 22 March 2018.
20. "Secrets inside PM's office to be made public on death of former staffer". The Daily Telegraph. 25 October 2015. Archived from the original on 12 June 2017. Retrieved 25 February 2018.

Further reading

• Papers and biography at the National Library of Australia
• Ian Hancock, John Gorton: He Did It His Way, Hodder, 2002