But what led the then-prime minister to deliver what is now known as the misogyny speech? That's what a new Canberra Theatre Centre production hopes to unpack.
Co-produced with Sydney Theatre Company, the production of Julia will see its world premiere in the capital in March, the Canberra Theatre Centre announced on Thursday evening.
Written by one of Australia's most celebrated playwrights, Joanna Murray-Smith, and starring Justine Clarke, the one-woman show will embody the life and career of Gillard in the lead-up to the historic moment.
While a lot has been written about Gillard and the Misogyny Speech - with even more written this week with the release of her new book, Not Now, Not Ever - Murray-Smith said she was interested in the untold story.
"It isn't a judgement on her prime ministership because I feel there are a lot of savvier political commentators than me and I was interested in doing that," Murray-Smith says.
"What I wanted to do was try and understand who Julia Gillard is beneath the public profile. And I felt as if she was, in a way, perhaps the most enigmatic of the prime ministers in recent times.
"It is very, very hard to get a sense of who she is. She had to use so much of her energy in simply dealing with the vitriol and sexism that was directed towards her through her entire political career, but particularly when she was prime minister."
It seems fitting that the world premiere of Julia will happen just a few kilometres away from where the inspirational history took place. "It's the heartland of the story," Murray-Smith said.
And while it does include different political plot points, particularly those that led directly to the speech - such as an opposition bid to remove the then-lower house speaker Peter Slipper, who had sent sexist text messages - Murray-Smith wanted to create a psychological portrait of a woman in the public eye. It was a process that involved a lot of research and even an interview with the woman herself.
"She was not going to endorse the play, but she was not going to stop me writing it because I said, if she didn't want me to write it, I would not write it," Murray-Smith said.
"But she adamantly indicated that she was fine for me to write the play and ultimately, although probably somewhat reluctantly, she agreed to be interviewed by me. It's a very strange thing to hypothesise about who someone is when they're both a public figure and alive.
"It's my version, and although there are quotes from the people who populated the world she was in, I use no direct quotes of hers at all. Everything she says [in the play] is fictional."
The Canberra Theatre Centre director Alex Budd said they were committed to producing new work of world-class quality, and he expected Julia to be a historic piece of Australian theatre.
"Murray-Smith's acerbic wit and dramatic imagination combine seamlessly with Hansard to create a thrilling play that weaves a period of our national capital's history and art together to create Julia: an intimate, compelling and unmissable insight into the person behind the public mask, and a reflection on the role of women in contemporary politics," Budd said.
Julia will be at the Canberra Theatre from March 18 to 25. Tickets go on sale on October 13 from canberratheatrecentre.com.au.
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