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.

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Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House
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Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House
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    Page 6 of 8 — Latest articles

    4 minute read

    Fri 21 Sep 2012
    Dr Barry York

    Staffers to prime ministers

    666 ABC Canberra Mornings presenter, Alex Sloan, and museum historian, Dr Barry York, are sharing stories from the museum’s oral history collection during September. The latest theme from the collection is ‘staffers to prime ministers’.

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    1 minute read

    Thu 6 Sep 2012

    Immortality at 300?

    666 ABC Canberra Mornings presenter, Alex Sloan, and museum historian, Dr Barry York, will be sharing stories from the oral history collection during September.

    Read article

    Barry york 50488a0d31620 505fd22a45df9

    1 minute read

    Tue 4 Sep 2012
    Dr Barry York

    From the Oral History collection: Alan Cumming Thom

    Alan Cumming Thom (1928-2007) was an officer of the Senate for 33 years (1955-1988) and Clerk of the Senate for six years (1982-1988).

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    Cumming thom 50455593b5449

    1 minute read

    Tue 31 Jul 2012
    Dr Barry York

    From the Oral History collection: Annette Holden

    Annette Holden, a full-time journalist at the ABC from 1985 to 1989, recalls the lively ball organised by the Press Gallery on 13 August 1988 to mark the end of the Provisional Parliament House.

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    Invitation to the reopening pa 5017254cbd5a7

    15 minute read

    Mon 23 Jul 2012
    Michael Richards

    Canadian Symbols of Authority: Maces, Chains, and Rods of Office

    Not too long ago there was something of a frenzy in the Australian media after the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Peter Slipper MP, re-introduced a note of ceremonial formality to the openings of parliamentary sittings.

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    Mace 500dfed6b59f4

    3 minute read

    Wed 18 Jul 2012
    Freya Clawley

    Thinking outside the box (or inside lots of little ones)

    The museum have received hundreds of badges from the public, each one telling a different and unique story about democracy. This presents an interesting challenge for our Collections Management team.

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    Img 1504 5005f6cc270a9

    5 minute read

    Tue 10 Jul 2012
    Dr Barry York

    Rescuing the artefacts of political activism

    In November last year, I blogged about an old bottle of port—an empty bottle, I hasten to add!—which I donated to the museum. Arising from that report, the museum received a donation of three other political campaign bottles, and has been notified by readers of their own bottle collections at home.

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    Bottles 4ffb9dd456e4a

    1 minute read

    Wed 4 Jul 2012
    Gabrielle Edwards

    250,000 feet

    Recently a 10 cm split was detected in the carpet on the floor of the House of Representatives. What should we do? The split was in a prominent location and this area was subject to heavy foot traffic.

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    1 minute read

    Tue 5 Jun 2012
    Dr Barry York

    From the Oral History collection: Hec McMillan

    Hec McMillan grew up in Canberra from 1926. In this excerpt from an interview recorded in 1996 he recalls the national capital in the mid-1920s.

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    Nellie melba singing at openin 4fcd8e163e731

    1 minute read

    Fri 1 Jun 2012
    Gabrielle Edwards

    Gently perspiring for the Queen

    I remember we lined the streets for what seemed like hours.   We were very hot in our serge school uniforms but it was very exciting.  Finally the Queen was on her way and we were rewarded with the sight of the black roof of the Royal Car as she passed by.

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    Auspic queen s suite 4fc846482e0a2

    3 minute read

    Mon 28 May 2012

    Every prime minister from Stanley Bruce to Gough Whitlam—as well as John Howard—sat at this desk

    Fourteen prime ministers conducted important discussions and made decisions which changed the course of the nation at this desk. What hard-won deals, what visionary dreams, what shattered hopes were witnessed from this well used desk?

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    Pm desk 4fc3011e427ba

    2 minute read

    Tue 22 May 2012
    Libby Stewart

    Tenth anniversary of independence in Timor Leste

    This month marks ten years since the Democratic Republic of East Timor (also known as Timor Leste) was born. The long and bloody struggle to gain independence from Indonesia resulted in the creation of one of the world’s newest democracies in May 2002.

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    Kirsty sword portrait 4fbb1a07dc543

    5 minute read

    Mon 14 May 2012
    Michael Richards

    Stanley Bruce bust

    ‘Shyness and reserve … obscures the warmth, sensitiveness, and acute perceptions’ of rulers, said sculptor Kathleen Scott. Her fine bust of Stanley Bruce makes the point.

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    Bruce bust 01 4fb0533f471b4

    3 minute read

    Wed 9 May 2012
    Libby Stewart

    Canberra travel posters

    As Old Parliament House celebrates its 85th birthday museum curators have taken the opportunity to shine a spotlight on one of its collections, which features attractive images of the building. This collection of Canberra travel posters, generously donated by Canberra resident Peter Graves, presents the Provisional Parliament House (later Old Parliament House) as the central Canberra feature.

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    1 minute read

    Tue 8 May 2012
    Freya Clawley

    Staff gone mad?

    If you visited the museum in past couple of weeks you may have seen staff members crawling around on their hands and knees looking at the furniture. There is a perfectly good reason for this… our annual stocktake!

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    5 minute read

    Tue 24 Apr 2012
    Steven Murkett

    What does chocolate have to do with Democracy?

    Currently on display in the museum’s Living Democracy exhibition is this shop display cabinet associated with chocolate producers J S Fry & Sons and dating from c. 1910.

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    Frys chocolate cabinet 4f961141a059b

    4 minute read

    Wed 18 Apr 2012
    Libby Stewart

    Mr Speaker!

    At the beginning of March a Queensland Times newspaper read “Slipper tally: 26 pollies ejected”, and a few days later a headline in the Age shouted “The revenge of Peter Slipper”. Similar headlines have been common in recent months as new Speaker of the House of Representatives, Peter Slipper, has removed a number of prominent Members from the House for poor conduct and language.

    Read article

    Speaker office 4f8e0bc6d4452

    3 minute read

    Thu 12 Apr 2012
    Libby Stewart

    The Newman political tradition

    The recent election of Campbell Newman as Queensland Premier offers the museum a chance to remind visitors of his role as the next generation of a remarkable political family.

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    Plaque 4f8621a4f07f1

    4 minute read

    Fri 30 Mar 2012
    Freya Clawley

    Shedding a little light on things…

    Last week we sent our puppet of Sir John Kerr, usually on display in the Prime Ministers of Australia exhibition, off to the National Museum of Australia for light fade testing.

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    Puppet 1 4f74f991e1f65

    2 minute read

    Mon 26 Mar 2012
    Campbell Rhodes

    Mystery solved…

    Thanks to The Canberra Times and ABC 666 spreading the word, we have found out more about the Julia Gillard/Tony Abbott T-shirt!

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    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

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