Archive (Series) - WHITLAM, Gough

Archive (collection) - Subject Files, Kew Historical Society, 1958-present

Provenance

Various Parties

Purpose/Function

Reference, Research, Information

Arrangement

Arranged by Secondary Values (value of records to users)

Content

Gough Whitlam was a Prime Minister of Australia between 1972 and 1975. Famous for his social reforms and controversial removal by the Governor-General, Whitlam was first born in Kew in 1916, at a property that sat at 46 Rowland Street. The house, known as ‘Ngara’, became the center of a fight between the Boroondara Council and the Victoria Heritage Register in efforts to preserve it and save it from demolition. The property was purchased in 2014 and was planned to be demolished on the 21st of October but would be saved by the coincidental death of Whitlam that same day. For the next two years, the council would fight to keep it standing while the Victorian government declared it not historically important enough, since Whitlam would only occupy the residence for the first 18 months of his life. Eventually in 2016, it would be demolished in favour of a new mansion on the spot, more reflective of the area. The file includes: Many newspaper articles on the demolition of the home.

Back to top