There are few parliaments that have such a dramatic view as Australia's second parliament to house its elected politicians, and so few that let the public in.
The Old Parliament building may have been a 'make-do' affair, with its limited 50-year shelf-life, but the new Parliament House has made up for that earlier understatement in spades. Dominating the skyline of Canberra with its enormous flagpole, this grand palace to democracy – at the very heart of the capital – was the most expensive building in the world, when completed in 1988. Over 1 billion Australian dollars were lavished on it.
It sits in the centre of the State Circle ring road on Capital Hill, right where the original 1911 plans for Canberra, by architect Burley Griffin envisaged it. The building was designed by architects Mitchell/Giurgola in 1978, with its two grey wings shaped like a boomerang and partially buried into the earth. In its centre is a white-framed entrance that hints at the appearance of the Old Parliament. And these two parliaments, old and new, line up along a line striking out from the Parliament House, along the ANZAC Parade to the War Memorial – and beyond to Mount Ainslie. A spectacular view.
Topping it off is that enormous flag pole, over 76 metres high, flying a national flag that is the size of a tennis court. It may all be very grand, but it's also very accessible. Many of its 4,700 rooms are open to the public, including galleries for viewing the parliamentary debates in the House of Representatives. A popular room for visitors is the Great Hall, with its polished wood floor and huge tapestry of a painting by Arthur Boyd, Australia's greatest impressionist.
Parliament House also has its own viewable art collection, a permanent photographic exhibition and exhibits covering everything from the role of women in parliament to the Magna Carta. It all makes for an intriguing visit. And how could you come to the Australian capital, and not visit the Parliament that it was designed and built to house? A building which Canberra had to wait so long for, in order to finally complete its transition from 'village' to national Capital.
