Gough Whitlam's birthplace

[5] Fred Whitlam was working at this time in the Commonwealth Crown Solicitor's Office, in the Attorney General's Department, headed by Robert Garran.

[6] The Whitlams subsequently made their homes in Sydney and Canberra, but there were occasional links back to the family house at Kew.

Biographies refer to the family's holidays in Melbourne and visits to relatives in Kew, and Gough walking with his uncle to his grandparents' house,[7] while another claims the Labor party inquired about holding an event at the house for Gough's 90th birthday, but then owner Mrs Swinnerton, a staunch Liberal supporter, declined saying: "We couldn't have all those Labor people here."

Mrs Swinnerton, who owned the house in the later 20th century, is said to have "ensured everyone in the street, young and old, were aware of the home being the birthplace of Gough Whitlam".

[11] The City of Boroondara separately applied an interim Heritage Overlay on the site, however a subsequent planning panel also determined that the house was not of sufficient significance to warrant preservation.