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.
xCloseThe Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House is proud to announce the winner of our special category – ‘Democracy’ in the 2015 National History Challenge, Lauren Park from Pymble Ladies’ College.
The United Nations organisation established 70 years ago in 1945 had 51 member states. Today, there are close to 200. Nearly every nation on the planet.
The Museum is proud to announce the winner of our special category – ‘Australian Democracy’ in the 2014 National History Challenge.
It’s not many twelve year olds who can say that their words have been collected by a national cultural institution but that is exactly what has happened to Adele, a student from Telopea Park School.
In 2015, for the first time, the Museum of Australian democracy at Old Parliament House is partnering with the Whitlam Institute to ask year 5-12 students in the ACT and NSW ‘What matters?’
Visitors to the Museum over the summer holidays may have been surprised to see that there was no mace in the House of Representatives.
What type of world do you live in? Our increasing interconnectivity through technology or international policy issues puts forward an argument that we need to look beyond our immediate surroundings: that we need to think Global.
The Lowy Institute Poll is a key element of the Lowy Institute, an independent, bi-partisan think tank which researchers and analyses international trends. One of its goals is to find out what Australians think about the world.
Ray Millikin, a teacher at the Orana Steiner School, is currently using the research collection at the museum to develop a unit of work on the Whitlam Dismissal for classroom use in the context of the Events in Australian Politics component of the new ACT Global Studies curriculum.
We recently attended two conferences—The artefact, its context, and their narrative: multidisciplinary conservation in historic house museums and Interpretation—future challenge. Two conferences, different themes, yet we came away thinking about a common idea—’spirit of place’.
One of the highlights of my first year at the museum remains the visit I received from a teacher at a local girls’ school. I had heard from one of our staff members that this teacher had been very creative in devising a learning activity on Federation.
On a hot day in Perth, just before the opening of the History Teacher’s Association National conference, the judging panel met to assess the entries of the State Finalists in the National History Challenge.
Behind the Lines 2012 is not just for adult visitors, as a part of our ongoing commitment to family programming, the museum has created exciting and engaging content that brings children into the conversation about political cartooning.
The museum’s Schools Learning team have recently undertaken a significant refresh of one of our most popular onsite school programs—Franklin River Debate: 1983.
This month the chambers of Old Parliament House again rang with the sounds of passionate debate - on the right of the Federal Government to intervene in State matters. The voices belonged to students taking part in the 2012 ACT Constitutional Convention.
After months of collating and hand-transcribing reams of scanned speeches, I’m pleased as punch to introduce the museum’s Australian Federal election speeches website—a research resource and central repository for Australian election policy speeches.
As the new school term begins and we here in Community Learning tuck our school holiday programs away for a winter hibernation, we thought you might like to know a little more about the philosophies that underpin them.
On our last day in Washington DC we squeezed in one last discussion meeting with Jeff Meade from the National Postal Museum (one of the Smithsonian group) which is located right next to the famous Union Station. The opportunity to discuss and experience the Mobile Ed Lab was too wonderful to pass up.
Recently I presented a paper on behalf of the museum at the social and digital media conference MuseumNext. Over 340 museum and gallery workers from 30 countries came together in Barcelona to share ideas and projects.
The trip in to Yandeyarra this time around was far easier than my last visit three months earlier. On that trip I encountered a river crossing road that abruptly ended due to a recent cyclone-induced wash out.
