Whitlam, in power from 1972 to 1975, withdrew Australian troops from Vietnam and ended conscription, banned sports teams from apartheid-era South Africa, made university study free and opened diplomatic negotiations with emerging communist China.
But his legacy was dominated by the greatest political upheaval in Australian history when in 1975, his centre-left government was sacked by the Queen's representative, Governor-General Sir John Kerr, who appointed conservative leader Malcolm Fraser as a caretaker PM in Whitlam's place.
"Well may we say God save the Queen, because nothing will save the governor-general," Whitlam icily declared on the steps of parliament after Kerr's official private secretary ended his dismissal statement with the then-customary words: "God save the Queen."
Prime Minister Tony Abbott, ordering flags to be flown at half mast, described Whitlam as a "giant of his time".
"He united the Australian Labor Party, won two elections and seemed, in so many ways, larger than life," Abbott said in a statement. "He established diplomatic relations with China and was the first Australian Prime Minister to visit China. China is our largest trading partner. That is an enduring legacy."
Whitlam's four children said he died on Tuesday morning from unspecified causes.
"A loving and generous father, he was a source of inspiration to us and our families and for millions of Australians," his children said.
SOCIAL UPHEAVAL
A sharp-witted though imperious orator, Whitlam swept into power in 1972, ending 23 straight years of conservative rule, on a promise of widespread reform and an "It's Time" pledge to drag Australia from a post-war period of social conservativeness and complacency.
Upon taking power, the classics expert embarked on a whirlwind of change coinciding with growing public unrest over involvement in the Vietnam conflict, which Australia joined in 1965 to support close ally the United States.
He abolished the death penalty, extended welfare to single parents, reformed divorce laws and lowered the voting age to 18, while criticism of his overtures to Beijing was blunted by U.S. President Richard Nixon's own China rapprochement.
Whitlam's November 11th, 1975, dismissal and unfounded rumours of CIA involvement were the culmination of a political drama which began in October with the refusal of the Upper House Senate to pass crucial spending bills.
Whitlam's political notoriety mellowed with time and he was regularly the star of Labor functions as the party's most famous cause celebre, becoming a fond favourite of liberal intellectuals on both sides of politics.
He served as a UNESCO board member, academic, acerbic after-dinner speaker and honorary doctorate of literature, credited with kickstarting Australia's evolution into a more modern and internationalist nation.
Born Edward Gough Whitlam in Kew, Victoria, on July 11, 1916, Whitlam read law at Sydney University and became a successful barrister and Queen's Counsel. He also served in Australia's air force during World War Two.
In 1942, Whitlam married Margaret Dovey. They had three sons and a daughter during a marriage which lasted 70 years until Margaret's death in 2012, aged 92.
