Demolition of Whitlam birthplace on hold
Gough Whitlam’s childhood home in suburban Melbourne has been saved from demolition – for now – after intervention from the Victorian government.
Planning minister Matthew Guy on Thursday applied for an interim protection order to stop the destruction of the former prime minister’s family home in Kew.
The house, named Ngara, was sold to an investor last year for $3.3 million and demolition work was due to begin on Tuesday, the day Mr Whitlam died aged 98.
Boroondara Council had granted a demolition order for the house in April, while an application for heritage protection had been refused.
That application has now been granted by the Heritage Council.
The demolition will be on hold for about four months while the issue of heritage protection is examined.
On Wednesday, Mr Guy said he could not intervene in the matter but 24 hours later stepped in to protect the building.
“Yesterday I applied for an Interim Protection Order, under the Heritage Act, for the birthplace of Gough Whitlam,” Mr Guy said.
“I am advised that the Heritage Council has today made an Interim Protection Order.”
Mr Whitlam’s parents sold the house when he was one and the family moved to Sydney.
Mr Guy said Mr Whitlam was “widely acknowledged to be one of the most significant Australian political leaders of the 20th century”.
“As his birthplace, it is likely that the cultural significance of this house will become recognised more strongly as time passes.”
Neighbours condemned the original decision to pull down the house.
“A true sense of the area’s heritage will be lost,” Dianna Clare told News Limited.
Fellow resident Victor Abel told Fairfax: “I cried when I heard it was going to be demolished.”
– with agencies