The Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House acknowledges the traditional owners of the land on which our museum is built. We honour and respect their ongoing cultural and spiritual connections in this country. The museum respectfully acknowledges the major role Indigenous Australians have and continue to play in shaping Australia’s democracy.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples should be aware that this website contains images, voices or names of people who have passed away.
xCloseThis week there’s a major anniversary in Indigenous history that not enough Australians know about. The Museum of Australian Democracy is recognising this anniversary in a new exhibition – Yes: the ongoing story of the 1967 Referendum – and asks prominent Australians how they feel about the referendum today.
International Museum Day 2017 is based around the theme ‘Museums and contested histories: Saying the unspeakable in museums.’ Like all museums, sometimes at MoAD we need to talk about difficult subjects, and we use the power of the items in our collection to help us do that.
On this day in 1922 Australia’s first federal Indigenous parliamentarian, Neville Bonner, was born ‘under a lone palm tree’ on Ukerebagh Island, Tweed Heads, NSW.
An object now in display in our Designing Democracy gallery documents one man’s life-or-death decision on Australia’s pastoral frontier.
For those teachers and students who have done our Who’s the Boss program, you may have come across the trailblazing Senator Neville Bonner. In this program we celebrate Neville who, as Australia’s first Indigenous Senator, entered federal parliament in 1971; just 9 years after Indigenous Australians got the right to vote. Early this year, our knowledge of and connection with Neville was made even richer by his son Alfred’s donation of a bark painting depicting Neville’s life.
To celebrate NAIDOC week, Libby has written a post about Indigenous artist Lin Onus and his series of works, The Ongoing Adventures of X and Ray.
A post about the life and work of Neville Bonner and how the museum remembers his contribution.
Alf Stafford, a Gamilaroi and Darug man, joined the Commonwealth Transport Department in 1937. Over a 35 career, Stafford drove countless politicians, among them opposition leaders and 11 prime ministers, including Robert Menzies during his two stints as prime minister.
