The Old Parliament House, sitting astride the Parkes area of Canberra, was never meant to be a permanent building. It was built in 1927 to 'last 50 years', until the new parliament building could be built. That deadline was missed by over a decade, with Australia's parliament only making the move to Capital Hill in 1988. In the intervening six decades, the Old Parliament saw plenty of parliamentary rough-and-tumble – and was the epicentre of 'The Dismissal' in 1975, Australia's worst constitutional crisis.
Now it's a more peaceful place – the Museum of Australian Democracy since 2009 – and somewhere that Australians come to, in part, to walk the corridors and chambers of power. For those who watched the nation's political history unfold over those tumultuous decades, that's a thrilling prospect. It is also a visit worth making for those less familiar with Oz-politics, and who only heard its echoes on the neighbourhood 'island-continent'.
The Old Parliament House is also a beautiful and elegant example of how to display political power, without overplaying your hand. It stretches out easily, a long white line of uncluttered chambers and annexes, comfortable in its place half-way between Capital Hill and Mount Ainslie. In part, that's because of the brief given to its designer, Johns Smith Murdoch – to create a building that was functional and not permanent. He kept the grandeur and fuss to a minimum, while sticking to a neo-classical design. The building was completed, Parliament inaugurated, and the politicians moved in, in 1927.
On your visit, you too can tread the green carpet of the House of Representatives chamber (or the red of the Senate). You can visit the Prime Minister's office, left as it was when it was vacated in 1988 by Bob Hawke. The Museum also explores what democracy means in the wider world, and displays important symbols of world democracy – like a piece of the Berlin Wall, or the writing set of George Washington, the first US President. And if you want to try your hand at a little practical democracy, the Hand On Democracy exhibit lets your family get involved, in some democratic role-playing. Aimed at kids, there is one question left unanswered – will they vote for it?
