Hotel Kurrajong is a Hotel in the Australian capital of Canberra. The Hotel was built in 1925 by the Commonwealth's chief architect, John Murdoch. Murdoch also designed the nearby Australian Parliament House, which is nearby the Hotel. Hotel Kurrajong was first built to house the administrative and political staff who had been transferred from Melbourne to Canberra when Canberra was declared the new Australian Capital. In 1927 the hotel housed guests who had been invited to witness the official opening ceremony of parliament. The Hotel originally only housed politicians until the great depression in which it was forced to transform itself into a public hotel in order to avoid closure. It became associated with the labour party, who would use the hotel as accommodation for labour party memb