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Canberra Today 24°/28° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Locals anxious to get the ‘Kingo’ heritage listed

The Kingston Hotel in 1937
THE Kingston and Barton Residents Group is anxious to get Canberra’s first traditional style pub, The Kingston Hotel, on the territory’s heritage register.  

The group president Rebecca Scouller says the 83-year-old hotel has a special place in the hearts and minds of many, many Canberrans, which makes it irreplaceable.

Ms Scouller says the Kingston Hotel, in 1963, was the scene for the infamous “36 faceless men”, which saw Labor’s team of Arthur Calwell and Gough Whitlam photographed standing outside in the dark of night waiting for members of the national executive meeting inside to instruct them on American plans to build a base in Western Australia.

The Kingston Hotel was also the focus of intense Cold War activity during the “Petrov Affair” – the defection in April 1954 of a highly placed Russian diplomat Vladimir Petrov.

And, more recently Chief Minister Andrew Barr celebrated the success of the Same Sex Marriage Plebiscite at the Kingston.

“All this points to the importance of the hotel’s diverse clientele and its relaxed and unpretentious atmosphere,” Ms Scouller says.

The ACT Heritage Council has accepted an application to lodge the Kingston Hotel on the territory’s Heritage Register, which means “the Kingo” now has protection under the ACT’s Heritage Act and any development proposals must be referred to the ACT Heritage Council during the application process.

 

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