prime minister In 1968, John Gorton became Prime Minister and they moved into The Lodge. Bettina was the first foreign-born prime minister's wife since Dame Mary Cook (1913–1914). She oversaw a number of restoration projects, and also arranged for the building of the prominent white brick security wall around the property, and established a garden of Australian native plants in the grounds. The indigenous garden she created at The Lodge is now named the Bettina Gorton Garden in her honour. Bettina Gorton was generally a low-profile prime ministerial spouse, but there were some significant exceptions. Her interest in oriental studies was widely reported in South-East Asia, and her speeches during John Gorton's official prime ministerial visits to Malaysia and Singapore and her ability to converse with locals in their own languages made her very popular there. She exhibited her personal collection of batik at The Lodge, and in June 1968 gave a lecture on Indonesian art and culture for the benefit of the Canberra Press Gallery. Gough Whitlam later praised her for making a lasting and valuable contribution to Australia's relations with Indonesia. Confusion long existed over her nationality and eligibility to vote in Australian elections. She had believed herself to be ineligible to vote, as an American citizen. However, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs clarified in 1968 that as the wife of an Australian citizen (married in Oxford, UK in 1935) she was an Australian citizen and British subject. The convoluted chain of events resulting in her holding dual citizenship is detailed in the Australian National Archives. Bettina Gorton's other activities included officially opening Melbourne Airport at Tullamarine on 9 July 1970. In 1969 she came to her husband's defence over an incident sparked by his Liberal colleague Edward St John, a member of the House of Representatives. Gorton had attended a dinner at the American Embassy in Canberra, accompanied not by his wife, but by Geraldine Willesee, the daughter of a Labor senator, Don Willesee. St John criticised this, claiming Gorton had offended the embassy and embarrassed his party. After Labor Senator Lionel Murphy sent a message to the House of Representatives suggesting that St John's comments were an inappropriate breach of the Prime Minister's privacy, St John not only received no support from his Liberal colleagues, but he also became the focus of a poem that Bettina Gorton sent to the press gallery. She adapted a