Australian Parliament House, ACT

Green represents the House of Representatives (lower house) and Red represents the Senate (upper house). In Australia we have moulded our parliamentary system on both the British and American models.  Each member in the House of Represents represents one of Australia's electorates, and is said to represent the 'people'. The members of the Senate are made up of various representatives from Australia's six states and two territories and is said to represent the 'states'. The Senate scrutinises the Government in the lower house and assists in reviewing bills, making for a fairer and more democratic decision making process.

Our next day began with a tour in the Parliament House of Canberra, the meeting place for members of parliament. The building was completed in 1988 being only a very recent structure, prior to that all parliament meetings were held in the “Old Parliament Building” from 1927 to 1988 which sits between Parliament house and the Australian war memorial. Television doesn’t do the Parliament House’s architecture any justice. The structure was uniquely designed to sit under the ground, architectural firm Mitchell/Guirola and Thorp explained that the building could not be built on top of the hill, as it would impose on the people. The front of the building feels like a welcoming place, the forecourt is made of red Christmas bush granite and a 196 square foot Aboriginal art mosaic, the boomerang shape of the structure in the ground tops off the Australiana feel. Walking inside takes you to a large foyer made up of marble and limestone with white, green and gold colours to represent the flora and fauna of Australia. The tour took us around the great hall, house of representative’s chamber and the senate chamber. Our tour guide took us through the history and structure of Australian politics, and how everything functions when members of parliament meet up in the house. Another highlight of the parliament house was the hallway filled with art, mostly with well-detailed portraits of prime ministers in the past. The most intriguing painting was Tom Roberts’ “The Big Picture”, a painting of his that was completed in 1903. This 3x5 metre painting depicts the opening of the first parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, which included separate portraits of 269 members including the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York, the Governor General, each State Governor, Members of the new Commonwealth Parliament and other distinguished guests. Without seeing the picture its difficult to appreciate but imagine 269 people detailed right down to age, height, weight, place of birth and even hat size inside a dark building on a canvas it would be difficult to know where to start. After our tour of Parliament house we strolled past old Parliament house and further down to the Canberra Contemporary Art Museum, which entertained us with many diverse works of modern art. We run into a great collection of Torres Strait Island art, which was nice to see it getting recognition and appreciation in the galleries throughout the country. We saw the rest of the day out in the Canberra botanical gardens, its wide variety of plant life made it the perfect place to unwind and read a book with the company of a few magpies.

Sir Henry Parkes, known as the 'Father of Federation'

We were surprised to find free parking the day we visited, only to be told when asked by military looking guys with guns patrolling the grounds, that it was a public holiday, Labour Day. So no 'pollies' were around.

Tom Roberts (1856–1931) Opening of the First Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia by H.R.H. The Duke of Cornwall and York (Later King George V), May 9, 1901, 1903, oil on canvas.