Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Going Back in Time at Old Parliament House

After a delicious lunch at Maple and Clove, we headed over to explore Old Parliament House or the Museum of Australian Democracy, meeting Cath and co there.


Old Parliament House opened in 1927 and served as the home of Federal Parliament until 1988. From the Kings Hall, we enter the House of Representatives, the green room, take a seat before moving on.



Down the corridor we enter the Finders Keeps collection. Here there are five displays of personal collections related to Australian Democracy. Tim Fischer's ties, Neville Bonner's personal items, Anne Picot donated protest t-shirts and Kay Patterson's collection of Parliament House souvenirs and the kids favourite was using the old telephones rescued by technician Neil Baker.

We wander further along ending up in the Prime Ministers Office as seen in the photo. This office was occupied by three Prime Minsters from 1972 to 1988 - Gough Whitlam,  Malcolm Fraser and finally Bob Hawke. We all sneak a look through the secret peek hole in the bookcase!
Continuing on we visit the all important Cabinet Room where secret meeting were held between the Prime Minister and his senior ministers. Leaving the dark cabinet room behind, we ascend a flight of stair to the Press Gallery. This warren of rooms was home to the political journalists and has been recreated to reflect the era. Very interesting to see ashtrays, old recording devices, typewriters and a recording studio too! 
With the afternoon ticking by, we scooted through the Senate, the red room, bypass an area that looked packed of information we didn't have time to read before finding the kids play areas. Needless to say the kids spent a very long time dressing up...

Eventually we dragged them out of the olden day clothes and said goodbye to Old Parliament House before returning home.


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