As I write this letter, the home of former prime minister Gough Whitlam has now been purchased by the Whitlam Heritage Home Fund to be developed as a house museum.

As a Chifley historian and the former co-ordinator of the Chifley Home in Bathurst, this city and Bathurst Regional Council can certainly act as an informed exemplar for the future Whitlam house museum.

Chifley Home was the first home of a former prime minister to be acquired and opened as a house museum in Australia (by the then Bathurst City Council back in the early 1970s) - a marvellous legacy.

READ ALSO:

The continuing work by council in showcasing the home and its collection has also benefited from the knowledge of community public historians along with valued members of Ben and Elizabeth Chifley's family.

When Gough Whitlam, as prime minister, stood on the verandah of Chifley Home on March 24, 1973 to open the house as a public museum, he said: "One of the sources of Chifley's ability to inspire affection was the simplicity of his lifestyle. This cottage - his only real home in or out of office - symbolised it. It is a great thing for us all to be here at Ben Chifley's home - not just this cottage, but in this city which was so very much his city."

Along with Chifley Home, the pending Gough Whitlam house museum will join two other homes of former Australian prime ministers in public ownership: Home Hill in Devonport in Tasmania (home of 1930s prime minister Joseph Lyons) and the home of Australia's wartime prime minister, John Curtin, in Perth.

In my role as lecturer in history and politics at CSU, the homes and domestic worlds of leaders resonate strongly with students and contemporary audiences.

They are fascinated by how the residences, collections and gardens can tell of a prime minister's life but also of Australia at that moment in history.

Chifley Home has been a leader in interpreting the life of a former Australian prime minister from their community; so again, I was pleased and endorse the words of the editor in highlighting that Chifley Home could act as a mentor for the new Gough Whitlam house museum - in many respects, I feel that Gough would like that!