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ORIGINS: ‘NEW’ PARLIAMENT HOUSE MARKS 25 YEARS

DAVID ADAMS marks the 25th anniversary of Australia’s ‘New’ Parliament House…

PICTURE: David Adams

Canberra celebrated its 100th anniversary earlier this year but it’s not the only anniversary being celebrated in the Australian capital this year. In May, Parliament House also marked 25 years of existence.

Situated on Capital Hill, the New Parliament House is the second to be built in Canberra since Federation. It replaced an earlier building which opened in 1927 – prior to this Federal Parliament had met in the Victorian Parliament House – and served as the home of the country’s federal parliament until 1988. That building now houses the Museum of Australian Democracy.

Designed by Mitchell/Giurgola and Thorp architects with onsite work overseen by Romaldo Giurgola, what was initially referred to as “New” Parliament House was created to nestle into the hill on which it sits with an 81 metre high stainless steel flagpole rising above. The architects had earlier won a competition to design the building – a process which was begun by the Fraser Government as far back as 1978 and which attracted 329 entries from 28 different countries.

As many as 10,000 people were involved in its construction and at the time of its building, the 7.5 hectare site was the largest construction site in the southern hemisphere.

The building was opened on 9th May, 1988, by Queen Elizabeth II. Features include the forecourt mosaic, based on an Aboriginal dot painting representing a wallaby and possum dreaming, the Great Hall Tapestry – one of the largest tapestries in the world – based on a painting by artist Arthur Boyd and a painting by Tom Roberts in the Main Committee Room showing the opening of the first Australian Parliament in 1901.

The building now hosts a million visitors a year.

For details of an open day in August, check out http://25years.aph.gov.au/index.html.

If you have something you’d like to know the origins of, simply send an email to [email protected].

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