Clerk of the Senate's Office

This office was home to the Clerk of the Senate, a top bureaucrat who helped keep the Senate running smoothly. Harry Evans, the longest-serving Clerk of the Senate, was the last to occupy this office.

This black and white photograph shows the layout of the Clerk of the Senate’s office in 1985 when it was occupied by Alan Cumming Thom. The timber-panelled room contains a large desk (originally designed by the building’s architect, John Smith Murdoch), glass-fronted built-in bookshelves and a sideboard with an indoor plant. There are a range of visitor chairs and an easy chair in the foreground.

The Clerk of the Senate's office in 1985. It featured a substantial desk, built-in bookshelves and numerous mismatched chairs. Photograph by Lori Anglin, Tanner and Associates, MoAD Collection

This colour photograph captures Harry Jenkins, the Clerk of the Senate, sitting at his desk in his office. The timber-panelled room is flooded with northern light from two large windows. The desktop is piled with papers and files and there is a grey telephone at Jenkins’ left hand. There is a tall filing cupboard and a sideboard piled high with papers and books in one corner. A bulky floor-mounted television sits alongside the sideboard. Four visitor chairs haphazardly surround a small coffee table and ther

The Clerk of the Senate in 1998, Harry Jenkins, working in this office. Photograph by Robert McFarlane, Department of the House of Representatives

Because of its resemblance to the original but now demolished prime minister’s office, this room was transformed into a movie set and starred in the beloved Australian film The Dish.