The Museum of Australian Democracy acknowledges the traditional owners and custodians of country throughout Australia. We recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our respects to the people, the cultures and the elders past, present and emerging.

The museum respectfully acknowledges the role that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples continue to play in shaping Australia’s democracy.

xClose
Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House
  • About
  • Blog
  • Prime Ministers
  • Websites
  • Venue hire
  • Visiting
  • What's On
  • Collection
  • Learning
  • Democracy
Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House
  • Visiting
    • Planning your visit
    • Families at MoAD
    • Access
    • Group bookings
    • Cafe
    • MoAD Shop
    • UNSW Canberra Howard Library
  • What’s On
    • Exhibitions
    • Events
  • Collection
    • The Building
    • Objects and rooms
    • Oral Histories
  • Learning
    • Teachers
    • Students
    • Parents
  • Democracy
    • Defining democracy
    • Australian democracy: an overview
    • The democratic audit of Australia
    • One thing I like about democracy
    • Links
    • Quotes
    • Notes
    • About
    • Blog
    • Prime Ministers
    • Websites
    • Venue hire
    From the blog

    About face

    5 minute read

    Thu 3 Oct 2013 by
    Stephanie Pfennigwerth
    • collection
    • democracy
    • Prime Minister

    On 6 July 1945 Frank Forde was sworn in as Prime Minister of Australia following the sudden death of John Curtin in office. Six days later he learned Ben Chifley had won the Labor Party leadership, and would become the new Prime Minister. Whatever Forde’s private thoughts, he remained outwardly dignified. ‘I must say a little prayer for Ben’, he said. ‘It’s not an easy job.’

    Whenever I read Forde’s quote about the office of Prime Minister—and the occupant of that office—I sense a generosity of spirit that seems to have diminished, at least in public, in recent times. In an age of media saturation and over-familiarity, of ‘Julia’ and ‘Kevin’ and ‘Tony’, it seems ironic that we sometimes forget that our prime ministers are people. Unusually driven, certainly passionate and often flawed, they are also remarkable people braving what is certainly ‘not an easy job’: the nation’s most demanding public office.

    We’ve recently updated the Prime Ministers of Australia exhibition with a renewed focus on these remarkable people. The update includes a picture quiz that discusses the upbringings and experiences that have shaped our prime ministers and through them, the nation.

    Preparing the picture quiz, I spent hours poring over images of prime ministers, reading the stories in their faces. While it is certainly not true that the camera (and politician!) never lies, a photographer can at least hint at the essence of their subject and the temper of the times. Revealed to me were people of great wit and whimsy; character and charm. I saw expressions of determination, focus, resignation and relief. As the years and prime ministers passed, I saw formal stiffness dissolve into grinning selfies. I also saw a prime ministerial swimming costume from more than a century before the advent of Tony Abbott … and Billy Hughes playing with a teddy bear.

    These photos are insights into people who are not only important figures in Australia’s history, but who have contributed to that history and in some cases even embody it. Stanley Bruce seems to have brooded throughout the 1920s; perhaps this was the photographic fashion, but as a Gallipoli veteran he probably had reasons to be uncheerful. The euphoric face of former house cleaner and diplomat Kevin Rudd after delivering The Apology reflected the general mood of the nation at that moment in time. And Australia’s experiences of World War Two are literally carved into John Gorton’s face. His official portrait doubles as a character study: coolly assessing the viewer, his eyes are those of a bloke who has pretty much seen it all.

    The quiz also explores whether nature, nurture and even nation develop a prime minister, and what a prime minister provides in return. On one hand, the image of Joseph Cook perched beside Lord Kitchener says much about Australia’s relationship with the Empire. But when we learn that Staffordshire-born Cook went down the mines at the age of nine (and was his family’s chief breadwinner at thirteen), we perhaps also see in Cook’s photo something of his ingrained sense of obligation, and his drive that made the best of his chances in his adopted country.

    All of the people pictured shared what Gorton believed was vital for the office: ‘a deep love of this country—its institutions, its values, its idiosyncrasies.’ Regardless of their political persuasions, all our prime ministers have had a passion to serve the Australian people. Come and rekindle your passion for them!

    5 minute read

    Thu 3 Oct 2013 by
    Stephanie Pfennigwerth
    • collection
    • democracy
    • Prime Minister
    Gallery of rogues or remarkables? Test your opinion with our new quiz in the Prime Ministers of Australia gallery.

    Gallery of rogues or remarkables? Test your opinion with our new quiz in the Prime Ministers of Australia gallery.

    • John gorton naa 524d06a5ee694

    Stephanie survived more than a decade in the publishing industry before turning to environmental and cultural heritage management. After working on the conservation of Mawson’s Huts Historic Site, Antarctica, she swapped the ice for the outback, coordinating community education initiatives in the Shark Bay World Heritage Area, Western Australia. In 2009 she joined the curatorial team of the National Museum of Australia, then worked at the Department of the Senate and Questacon. She became a curator at the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House in December 2012.

    Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House

    18 King George Terrace, Parkes, ACT 2600, Australia

    PO Box 3934
    Manuka ACT 2603

    9am to 5pm daily 
    Closed Christmas Day

    ABN: 30 620 774 963

    Telephone: 02 6270 8222

    Enquiries:
    info@moadoph.gov.au

    Please note: video surveillance is used 24 hours a day around and throughout the building and may be used for research purposes

    Visiting

    • Planning your visit
    • Families at MoAD
    • Access
    • Group bookings
    • Cafe
    • MoAD Shop
    • UNSW Canberra Howard Library

    What's On

    • Events
    • Exhibitions

    Collection

    • The building
    • Objects and rooms
    • Highlights
    • Oral histories

    Learning

    • Teachers
    • Students
    • Parents

    Democracy

    • Exploring democracy
    • Documenting a democracy
    • Australian democracy
    • Defining democracy

    About

    • Disability Action Inclusion Plan
    • Our prime minister patrons
    • OPH Board
    • Annual Reports
    • Budget
    • Corporate documents
    • Employment
    • Freedom of information
    • Public Interest Disclosure
    • Media
    • Newsletter
    • Support us
    • Partnerships
    • Democracy 2025
    • Donate to our collection
    • eCommerce terms and conditions
    • Online house rules

    Blog

    Prime Ministers

    Websites

    Further information

    View our recruitment opportunities.

    View our copyright policy.

    View our privacy statement.

    View our ticketing terms and conditions.

    Questions about the website:
    website@moadoph.gov.au

    The Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House is a Corporate Commonwealth Entity within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet