Gough's former home saved from demolition

Extract from the Geelong Advertiser

November 17, 2015 7:31am

AAP

Gough's former home saved from demolition

Ladies and gentlemen, well may we say God Save the Queen, because a Melbourne council has saved the house where Gough Whitlam was born.
The Kew house, known as Ngara, where former prime minister Gough Whitlam was born and spent the first 18 months of his life, was facing the wrecking ball after an application for heritage status was rejected earlier this year.
But a vote by Boroondara Council on Monday night has saved the property, after newly elected mayor Jim Parke used his deciding vote to break the deadlock among councillors to save the house.
It is now included in a permanent Heritage Overlay.

In July, the house was deemed not of cultural heritage significance by the heritage council because it did not relate sufficiently to Whitlam's role as prime minister.

"The association between the birth and approximately the first 18 months of Gough Whitlam's life does not constitute evidence of a special association between Whitlam and the place," the ruling said.
But Boroondara council said the length of time was irrelevant as the home represented the only time Mr Whitlam lived in Victoria.
"A short amount of time does not diminish the importance," Councillor Judith Voce said at the council meeting on Monday.