Site Study: Old Parliament House (Canberra)

The Old Parliament House (OPH) at Canberra, was the centre of the nation’s political life from 1927 to 1988 when it was functioning. It is where the elected politicians pass laws, or legislation, where members discuss urgent motions or matters of public importance. Members can move motions of censure against the government or against individual ministers. During Question Time Members and Senators address questions to ministers and they can also present petitions from their constituents.

The World War I postponed the move of Australia’s parliament from Melbourne. After the war, the Government decided that it would erect a provisional Parliament building. The OPH (then Parliament House) was opened by the Duke of York. He unveiled a statue of his father, King George V in the King’s Hall. The Duke then opened the first federal parliamentary session in Canberra. Britain was then very much the mother country of Australia. History records that only two indigenous Australians were present.

The OPH was replaced by a new Parliament House in 1988 as the old one could not accommodate the politicians, press etc comfortably. When built it was meant to serve Australian politics up to 1977. The OPH is now conserved. It tells the story of Australian nationhood, democracy and achievement. It symbolises Australia’s constitutional, political and cultural heritage. It bears witness to Australia’s growth from an Imperial Dominion to a nation in its own right. In 1992 the building was re-opened. Various spaces in the building are currently used for exhibitions. There are daily tours of the ‘living museum of political history’.

For the construction of the OPH, workers and building materials were drawn from all over Australia to reflect the federal nature of the building. Also timber from each State was used in the interior fitout.

The three storey House is an example of the Inter-War stripped classical style of architecture with symmetrical façade and features. The major axis through the building, aligns with the land axis of the Parliamentary Triangle. The cross-axis features the House of Representatives and Senate Chambers which are placed symmetrically either side of King’s Hall. It contains also the Parliamentary Library and the dining rooms at the back, smaller meeting rooms, and offices. The upper floor consists mainly of offices used by the press and the basement consists of offices and kitchens.

Over the years changes to the ...

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Over the years changes to the original building include: enclosure of the 1927 courtyards; wings added to the south-east, south-west, north-east and north-west corners; construction of an office annexe in the House of Representatives garden and loss of original interiors such as the original Prime Minister's Office and Cabinet Room; and modification of the main entrance steps.

The front steps, chambers and lawns have been the stage for major events in Australian history including: sessions of Parliament during World War II; the funeral of Prime Minister John Curtin in 1945; opening of Parliament by Queen Elizabeth II in 1954; Vietnam peace marches in 1970; and erection of the Aboriginal tent embassy in 1972,which today are adequately captured in the exhibits at OPH.

King's Hall was named after King George V who was the reigning monarch during its construction. The tall columns of the colonnade are inset with bronze plaques commemorating leading figures in the history and establishment of Federation. Also displayed on the columns and the walls are portraits painted by Australian artists of Governors-General, Prime Ministers, Presidents of the Senate and Speakers of the House of Representatives. This captures the politicians who make Australian history.

In conformity with the traditional colours of the House of Lords and the House of Commons at Westminster, London, the carpet and upholstery in the Senate are red and those in the House of Representatives are green. The Speaker's Chair in the House of Representatives is a replica of the original one in the House of Commons. The Royal Arms over the Chair are carved in oak from timber originally built into Westminster Hall in 1399. The hinged flaps of the arm rests are of oak from Nelson's flagship Victory, in the Battle of Trafalgar 1805. The Chair symbolises the Australian Parliament's links with British history and the Parliament at Westminster.

The courtyards feature Lombardy poplars as part of a commemorative planting ceremony in October 1926 by two British representatives of the Imperial Party League. They were removed in late 1995 and replaced with trees cloned from the original poplars.

The House contains exhibits of Australian political history, including some accessible online. Exhibits include: ‘People’s Procession’ (Australian Popular Movements from 1880s to 1950 – capturing Australian democracy showing the ‘behind-the-scene’ workings [by demos, pickets, parades and carnivals, and through letters, leaflets, newspapers, posters and placards] of individuals and organisations that influence major political parties, starting from the Eight Hours processions in the 1880s, to the Ban the Bomb rallies of 1950s); and ‘Sound & Light Show’ illustrating the history of the House of Representatives Chamber, and Australian society and politics from 1927 to 1988.

The latter exhibit captures political personalities, political events, debates, political triumphs and the rise and fall of leaders during the functioning of the House. In chronological order, it placed on record that the Prime Minister, James Scullin, in 1929 during the depression, implemented Bank of England’s advice but drove the economy deeper into depression. Joseph Lyons (Prime Minister 1932-39) dismissed the NSW Premier Lang who refused to repay the British banks. In 1937 both state and federal politicians began appropriating half-caste Aboriginal children (“The Stolen Generation” ).

Then the 150th anniversary of Australia Day in 1938 was marked by the Aborigines plea in a ‘Aborigines Claim Citizenship Rights”, which was rejected. However, the Aborigines had voting rights (1962), citizenship (1960), legal rights and won the 1967 referendum.

The exhibition did not miss the eventful day in 1939 when Prime Minister Menzies stated Australia was automatically at war when Britain declared war on Germany. Conscription was introduced in October 1939. Later in the war against Japan, Prime Minister Curtin looked to United States for help, and stated in essence that Australia had to forget past emotional ties with Britain. Australia soon became a major base for American armed forces.

It recorded too the fact that Menzies opened up central Australia to British atomic bombs in the 1950s, because “nobody lived there”.

After the War, the Chifley Labor Government encouraged immigration from European countries to keep the White Australia Policy. However by late 1960s, the White Australia Policy had been abandoned.

Australia’s fear of communism became a major political issue from 1940s to mid 1960s. In 1944, Robert Menzies created a new conservative party, the Liberal Party and made much of its opposition to communism and tried to link the Labour Party then in power with communism.

The Petrov Affair in 1954 is a sensational event in Australian history. For months Australians devoured stories of espionage during the Cold War era, and charges of political conspiracy. The Royal Commission dimissed the allegations of a communist influence within the Labor Party. The main effect of the Menzies Government’s anti-communist activitist was to reduce Labor Party’s chance of winning the election in 1954. Unfounded allegations prior to elections have since become a tool for political parties to win Government.

The Menzies Government had a policy of anti-communism, belief in the ‘domino theory’ and support the US policy of containment. As a result Australian troops fought against communists in North Korea and also Vietnam. Menzies deception to involve Australia in the Vietnam War surfaced only ten years later after 1965. There were lots of opposition to the Vietnam War. It gave rise to the anti-war and anti-conscription movement.

The exhibit include the most dramatic Aboriginal protests which gained worldwide attention when the Tent Embassy was created on the lawns of Parliament House in 1971.

Australian political history took a turn, when the Whitlam Labor government came to power in 1972. He ended national service and participation in Vietnam, granted independence to Papua New Guinea, and instituted free health care and higher education systems. However, he alienated the mostly conservative Senate, and when the government attempted to finance mining interests with an illicit overseas loan in 1975, the opposition prevented the Senate from functioning. The Governor-General (until then, a largely decorative representative of the Crown overseeing Australian affairs) dismissed the government – a move that shocked many into questioning the validity of Britain’s ultimate hold on Australia.

Needless to say, the Old Parliament House and its exhibits bear witness to the development of Australia’s political history.

Bibliography

National Archives of Australia: Guide number 6 in the series of Research Guides published by the National Archives, “Parliament House 1927 – Records relating to the design, construction and opening of the Provisional Parliament House.”