His plan for a National Growth Centre was hailed as novel, experimental and imaginative.

It was a pilot scheme which involved three governments entering on an exciting adventure in cooperative federalism.

It was a brave attempt to solve a long-standing problem and a bold venture in selective decentralisation expected to influence the urban settlement pattern in Australia.

The vision was great, but the plans proved difficult to realise as the Whitlam Government was so short-lived.

Whitlam was personally responsible for imagining the rapid and joint development of Albury-Wodonga. He remained an enthusiast and would visit from time to time to hail in endeavours to promote the two cities as one and to upbraid those who set them apart. He was pleased to see that many of the suburbs continued to show their beginnings along the latest New City town planning guidelines. He was proud of the way the district grew as a manufacturing and distribution point. And he would smile quietly at the recognition that even though Albury-Wodonga never reached his population target, it is still ranked in the largest twenty urban cities in Australia.

An early champion of a University of Albury-Wodonga, Whitlam thought it ironic that two universities, one in Albury and the other in Wodonga, endowed him and his colleague Mr Tom Uren separately with honorary degrees for their joint project.