The
official residence of the Governor-General of
Australia Government House, Canberra, commonly
known as Yarralumla is, located in the suburb
of Yarralumla, Canberra.
The house occupies 53
hectares of parkland. One of Canberra's most expensive
and exclusive areas the suburb of Yarralumla, which
has grown up around Government House & is the
site of many foreign embassies.
The Governor-General
presides over meetings of the Federal Executive Council,
holds ceremonies to present honors such as the Order
of Australia, receives visiting heads of state and
other dignitaries and the credentials of ambassadors
to Australia, and entertains people from all walks
of life at Government House,. It was in his study
at Yarralumla that Sir John Kerr dismissed Gough Whitlam
as Prime Minister of Australia on November 11, 1975.
Queen Elizabeth II,
Australia's head of state, stays at Government House
during hervisit to Canberra.
The Australian government
was located in Melbourne during the formation of
the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901 and 1927,
and the official residence of the Governor-General
(the representative of the Crown in Australia) was
Government House,
Melbourne. When Canberra was designated as the site
of the future capital of Australia in 1913, the
government bought "Yarralumla," a homestead
built by the Campbell family in 1891, for use as
a permanent Government House.
Due to First World War
and postwar economies, nevertheless, actually the
government did not move to Canberra until 1927,
and it was only then that the Governor-General began
to use Yarralumla. Between 1927 and 1930 the Governor-General
continued to be based at Government House, Melbourne,
and stayed at Yarralumla only when the Parliament
of Australia was sitting.
The government, as an
economy measure during the Great Depression, returned
Government House, Melbourne, to the state government
of Victoria, and Yarralumla became the Governor-General's
only official residence in 1930. The first Governor-General
Sir Isaac to live there permanently.
Since the 1920s the
house has been renovated and extended a number of
times, but the basic structure of the 1891 house can
still be seen. The critics said that the house lacked
distinction, and there were proposals to build a new,
grander Government House. In recent years, however,
Yarralumla has become generally accepted, and it seems
unlikely that it will be replaced for many years.
