1. Ainsley Gotto was an Australian public servant and entrepreneur, who was the private secretary to John Gorton, the Prime Minister of Australia in the late 1960s.
16 Facts About Ainsley Gotto
1. 2.
Ainsley Gotto's parents were Sidney Gotto, a flight lieutenant in the Royal Australian Air Force, and his wife, Lesley Webster.
3.
Ainsley Gotto lived with her parents and went to school in Melbourne, then lived in London before returning to Melbourne.
4.
In 1961, the family moved to Canberra, where Ainsley Gotto studied a secretarial course at Canberra Technical College, qualifying for her certificate with the highest typing speed in the class.
5.
Ainsley Gotto 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.
6.
Ainsley Gotto began work as a typist at the Department of Immigration, but left after a few months to work for a private firm.
7.
In 1966, Ainsley Gotto was appointed as secretary to William Aston, then government chief whip.
8.
Ainsley Gotto stayed on to work for Dudley Erwin when he replaced Aston as whip.
9.
In Jenny Hocking's biography of Gough Whitlam, Hocking mentioned that those looking for scandal between Gorton and Ainsley Gotto were "looking in the wrong place", and that Ainsley Gotto was in fact in a relationship with Race Mathews, her counterpart in Whitlam's office.
10.
When Gorton stepped down as Prime Minister in March 1971 and became Minister for Defence, Ainsley Gotto stayed in his service, but resigned from the public service in 1972.
11.
Ainsley Gotto later returned to work for Gorton in his retirement, and helped his widow, Lady Nancy Gorton, with arrangements after his death in 2002.
12.
Ainsley Gotto then returned to Britain where she worked at personnel agencies in London, and later in Monaco.
13.
Ainsley Gotto 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.
14.
Ainsley Gotto married lawyer Nick Carson in July 1993 and lived in Double Bay, Sydney.
15.
In 2015, Ainsley 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.
16.
Ainsley Gotto died eleven days after her 72nd birthday, at Wolper Jewish Hospital in Woollahra, Sydney, on 25 February 2018, due to complications from cancer.