On November 10, 1975, a Canberra schoolgirl was playing the quaint old game of elastics with her sisters when she fell and hurt her ankle.

In a response that speaks of the era, her army officer father told the 10-year-old to tough it out.

But the next day her ankle blew up and her mum took her to Woden Valley Hospital, where a fracture was diagnosed.

As she sat in casualty having her leg plastered, she watched the dismissal of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam by the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, play out on television.

The girl was Sam Mostyn, and 50 years on she marvels at the fact that she is now the Governor-General.

Asked if that 10-year-old girl could have imagined herself in the role, she responds, “It would’ve been preposterous.”

Watch the inside story of the brutal politi

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