12. Old Parliament House

As I mentioned on facebook, I have realised that in the time (or less) that it takes me to get out of my driveway at home, in Canberra, I can be somewhere interesting. 

Last weekend I took myself to Old Parliament House and joined a volunteer led tour. I was the only one on the tour. When that ended, I looked around the various exhibitions. I was surprised by the size of Old Parliament House and impressed by the smell of the wood and the sponginess of the carpet but surprised by how small some of the offices were. Party rooms were set up to reflect different eras. Due to the fire at the door, which set of the sprinklers in the building, part of the building was still closed for repairs. 





King George got a statue because he was King in 1927 when Old Parliament House was built.


This picture and the next are of the Prime Minister's office (after the extension in the 70s)
What everyone said and how they voted in parliament was recorded in books.
It was interesting to find out that there were lights and alarms throughout the building to let people know when I vote was taking place and they had about 3 minutes to get there to vote in person.

The door to the board room was thick to make it sound proof.

This was a gift and a decoration from a pottery company who had it left over when they closed. I liked it.
The press room was on this level. There was a bell to alert the press of a press release and the piece of paper, containing the release, would be placed in the pigeon holes of whichever press agency was wanted to release it. Members of the press would rush to the pigeon holes when the bell rang to get the scoop.

The chair was a gift from the UK. Part of it made from recycled materials.

I was surprised to see Monique Ryan here but perhaps I shouldn't have been as beat the treasurer.






After Parliament house I met a friend from work and her daughter at the Jetty, 1 minute away. So, so convenient! It was another very warm summer-like summer's day 🌞

If you would like to know more - check these out.

The Building · Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House (moadoph.gov.au)

Home — Museum of Australian Democracy: Collection (moadoph.gov.au)


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

24. The National Zoo and Aquarium

Image
Instead of the dawn service at RMC that I was thinking of attending on Anzac Day, I slept in and went to the zoo with a friend and a couple of teenagers. I don't think there could have been a more perfect day for it. At the beginning, I was quite excited that there were animals out and about instead of hiding away but as we walked further into the zoo, more of them seemed to hide from us. The aquarium was similar in size to how I remember the reptile house at Melbourne zoo.  Beautiful cat. Emu in a ball gown? I don't think I'd ever thought about it but antlers grow back. Travel guides stayed at this zoo one episode and got me interested in doing the same. The accommodation is around $1600 per night and the animals (on the TV show anyway) are practically in your room. Thankfully, having now been to the zoo and seen the animals (plus guests bathrooms), I've lost interest in that. 😜
Read more

11. Australia Day

Image
On a lovely, warm, summer's night, (last night) I ventured out to the Jetty again to see Lights on the Lake . (I was a bit hot because I was afraid of getting cold like I did last time.) As I'd been there twice before, I felt like a local and didn't follow the crowd, that arrived at the same time, up the hill but walked directly down the hill, past people picnickers and the stalls and kept going until I easily stopped, and not directly in front of anyone, right at the front of the crowd. There was no pushing, no shoving, no arguing and although there were a few, I didn't notice many children. There were, however, a lot of international visitors. It was a bit like going to see something at Docklands but without the aggro. The tourist came to watch 😉 The show began with a welcome to country and throughout, contained images from Australia. This morning I listened to podcasts about how Australia day should be a day of mourning from someone who is an advisor on the voice to
Read more