Public input sought on future of Kalgoorlie hotel

23/6/93

People living in the Goldfields will have the opportunity to decide the future of Kalgoorlie's controversial Railway Hotel.

The move follows a written request from the Kalgoorlie-Boulder City Council to Heritage Minister Richard Lewis asking that the hotel be removed from the register of heritage places.

Mr Lewis today acted decisively and instructed the Heritage Council to take the necessary steps under the Heritage Act to canvass public opinion on whether the hotel should be removed from the register.

The Minister said he regretted having to take this course of action, especially during the Goldfield's Centenary.

However, he said it was the only way of allowing the people of Kalgoorlie-Boulder to decide the hotel's future once and for all.

Under Section 54 of the Heritage Act, the proposal to deregister the hotel will be advertised and the community will have up to six weeks to comment on whether it should be retained.

"The people of Kalgoorlie-Boulder are rightly frustrated over the derelict state of the hotel and through their local council have made it clear to me that they want this issue settled," Mr Lewis said.

The Minister said he was concerned that deregistering opened the way for the Kalgoorlie-Boulder City Council to carry out a demolition order on the building.

"However, using this section of the Heritage Act is the only option available to the Government to resolve the stalemate that has existed since the hotel was gutted by fire in 1987," he said.

"I have left the hotel's owner and the city council in no doubt that the State Government does not have the resources nor the moral authority to compulsorily acquire the building.

"And I want to make it perfectly clear that if the people of Kalgoorlie-Boulder want the hotel retained then it is up to them to find a way of preserving it without involving the State Government."

Media contact: Paul Plowman (09) 222 9595 : (09) 221 1377