Inside ex-prime minister’s rundown home: Gough Whitlam’s dilapidated former home is put on the market – featuring an overgrown garden, broken cupboards and stained carpets
- Home owned by Gough Whitlam during prime ministership has hit the market
- Whitlam sold the house the year he quit politics and it has fallen into disrepair
- Property has cracked cupboards, a stagnant pool and overgrown gardens
A dilapidated home once owned by one of Australia’s most famous prime ministers has been listed for sale.
Former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam was controversially sacked from office by then-Governor-General John Kerr during Australia’s constitutional crisis in 1975.
Mr Whitlam owned an architect-designed four-bedroom home at Cabramatta, in Sydney’s southwest, at the time of his historic ousting – known in Australian political circles as ‘The Dismissal’.
Mr Whitlam, then the Member for Werriwa, and his wife Margaret bought the property in 1956 and owned throughout the prime ministerial years starting in 1972.
The former home of Australia’s most famous prime minister, Gough Whitlam, has fallen into disrepair with cracked cupboards and the original wallpaper now peeling
Former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam gave Australia free healthcare, free education, Aboriginal land rights and ended conscription before he was sacked in 1975. He is pictured with his late wife Margaret Whitlam in 2001
For the time, the designer residence was state-of-the-art, boasting a huge patio with a built-in barbecue, a carport and a glittering background pool – a rare luxury in 1975.
But pictures have now shown how the historic house has fallen into disrepair.
The pool is green and stagnant, the cupboards are broken and the carpets are stained.
The once-trim gardens are now overgrown and neglected and the historic house is being sold as a deceased estate.
But the original wallpaper, fireplaces and appliances all still remain.
Ray White Canterbury director Manuel Roussakis has listed the 670sqm property at No. 32 Albert Street – saying the house is a ‘true slice of Australian history’, according to realestate.com.au.
The architect-designed home in Cabramatta still has its original carpets though they are now stained, and the ceiling paint is peeling
Photos show the gardens of Gough Whitlam’s former home are overgrown and need a good trim
The crisis that led to Whitlam’s sacking was arguably the most dramatic event in Australia’s political history and it has been analysed by countless books, dramatised in documentaries, and referenced in popular culture over the decades since.
The Whitlam Government gave Australia free university education, free healthcare, ended military conscription, granted Papua New Guinea its independence and began handing traditional lands back to Aboriginal people – all groundbreaking acts at the time.
The Whitlams sold the home in 1978 in the year Gough quit politics – just three years after The Dismissal.
The original fireplace and inbuilt bookshelves still grace the living room though the carpet needs to be ripped out. Gough Whitlam would have stacked his books on those shelves
The home had a good strong design for its day, with a patio, carport and pool area outside the lounge, with floor to ceiling windows letting in all the light
The original wallpaper, light fittings and lino. The Whitlams sold the house in 1978 when Gough quit politics after The Dismissal
‘I might have to pitch the idea to Anthony Albanese,’ Mr Roussakis said.
‘They should buy it, as it is a significant home that he lived at during his entire political career including the dismissal.’
‘It was well ahead of its time and is very different to most homes from that period in the area.’
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