Gough Whitlam's preserved Cabramatta family home unveiled as Anthony Albanese marks 50 years since 'It's Time' victory
Anthony Albanese has marked 50 years since Gough Whitlam's election victory by visiting the former prime minister's family home which has been restored thanks to a government grant, as he responded to a question about whether his public housing home will also be preserved.
The 50th anniversary of Gough Whitlam's election triumph has been marked with the unveiling of his restored family home in Sydney.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Friday visited the Albert Street, Cabramatta abode of the former Labor leader, where he paid tribute to the Whitlam Government's "program of transformation, modernisation and reform".
In June last year the then Coalition government provided a $1.3 million grant to purchase and restore the mid-century home dubbed the "Lodge-in-waiting" so it could be "treasured for future generations".
Mr Albanese noted the home was where Mr Whitlam and wife Margaret returned to the night of his sweeping election victory on December 2, 1972.
"This is the place where Gough first took up the weight of history – and first knew the great privilege of office," he said.
"The responsibility and opportunity of government that Whitlam understood so well, the chance to change the nation for the better.
"This may be the house Gough lived in – but all of us live in the Australia he helped to build. I salute the efforts of all those who have worked to acquire and preserve this house to educate and inspire future generations."
The Whitlam Institute within the Western Sydney University has been given custodianship of the house, which is set to be open to the public.
Mr Whitlam's victory amid the "It's Time" campaign ended more than two decades of Coalition rule in Australia.
This morning I went to Gough Whitlam’s family home to celebrate the anniversary of a famous victory, and the home's preservation. [1/4] pic.twitter.com/jzUorcd9Uu
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) December 2, 2022
He served for less than three years after being dismissed as prime minister by then governor-general Sir John Kerr on November 11, 1975, prompting him to deliver his "Well may we say God Save the Queen because nothing will save the governor-general" speech.
Mr Whitlam died in October 2014.
"The Whitlam Government changed our nation, modernised our nation, laid the foundations for the best healthcare system in the world, opened up educational opportunities, changed the way that investment happened in our suburbs, advanced Indigenous reconciliation, and changed our relationship with the world," Mr Albanese said.
"It is a very proud moment to be here for this restoration and the preservation, for all time, of a part of Australia's history.
"And it is important that we recognise our history, that we preserve it, and that we honour it for all Australians. And the Whitlam Institute and Western Sydney University will be able to do that into the future."
Mr Albanese was asked whether the public housing unit where he grew up in Camperdown, Sydney's inner west, will be next to be preserved.
"Well, it is public housing already, of course. It is still there. But I do drive past there very regularly," he responded.
"And there's a lovely person lives there and it is now her home. And I think that it is important that we recognise our history."