Parliament House is the meeting place of the Parliament of Australia. It is located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. It was opened on 9 May 1988 by Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia. Its construction cost was over $1.1 billion. At the time of its construction it was the most expensive building in the Southern Hemisphere. Prior to 1988, the Parliament of Australia met in the Provisional Parliament House, which is now known as "Old Parliament House".
Before the establishment of Canberra
In 1901, when the six British colonies in Australia federated to form the Commonwealth of Australia, Melbourne and Sydney were the two largest cities in the country, but the long history of rivalry between them meant that neither could become the national capital. Section 125 of the Constitution of Australia therefore provided that:
The seat of Government of the Commonwealth shall be determined by the Parliament, and shall be within territory which shall have been granted to or acquired by the Commonwealth, and shall be vested in and belong to the Commonwealth, and shall be in the State of New South Wales, and be distant not less than one hundred miles from Sydney.
Such territory shall contain an area of not less than one hundred square miles, and such portion thereof as shall consist of Crown lands shall be granted to the Commonwealth without any payment therefor. The Parliament shall sit at Melbourne until it meet at the seat of Government.
In 1909, after much argument, the Parliament decided that the new capital would be in the southern part of New South Wales, on the site which is now Canberra. The Commonwealth acquired control over the land in 1911, but World War I intervened, and nothing was done for some years to build the city. Federal Parliament did not leave Melbourne until 1927.
In the meantime the Australian Parliament met in the 19th century edifice of Parliament House, Melbourne, while the Victorian State Parliament met in the nearby Royal Exhibition Building for 26 years.
Old Parliament House
Main article: Old Parliament House, CanberraAfter World War I the Federal Capital Advisory Committee was established to prepare Canberra to be the seat of government, including the construction of a Parliament House. The committee decided that it would be best to erect a "provisional" building, to serve for a predicted 50 years until a new, "permanent" House could be built. In the event, Old Parliament House was Parliament's home for 61 years.
New Parliament House
In 1978 the Fraser government decided to proceed with a new building on Capital Hill, and the Parliament House Construction Authority was created. A two-stage competition was announced, for which the Authority consulted the Royal Australian Institute of Architects and, together with the National Capital Development Commission, made available to competitors a brief and competition documents. The competition drew 329 entries from 28 countries.
The competition winner was the New York-based architectural firm of Mitchell/Giurgola, with the on-site work lead by Italian architect Romaldo Giurgola, with a design which involved burying most of the building under Capital Hill, and capping the edifice with an enormous spire topped by a large Australian flag. The facades, however, deliberately echoed the designs of the Old Parliament House, so that there is a family resemblance despite the massive difference in scale.
Construction began in 1981, and the House was intended to be ready by Australia Day, 26 January 1988, the 200th anniversary of European settlement in Australia. It was expected to cost A$220 million. Neither the deadline nor the budget were met. The building was finally opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 9 May 1988, the anniversary of the opening of both the first Federal Parliament in Melbourne on 9 May 1901 by the Duke of Cornwall and York (later King George V), and of the Provisional Parliament House in Canberra on 9 May 1927 by the Duke of York (later King George VI).
From above, the design of the site is in the shape of two boomerangs enclosed within a circle. Much of the building is buried beneath Capital Hill, but the meeting chambers and accommodation for parliamentarians are free-standing within the boomerang-shaped arms.
There are 25,000 granite slabs on the curved walls which, placed end to end, would stretch 46 kilometres. The building required 300,000 cubic metres of concrete, enough to build 25 Sydney Opera Houses and has a design life of at least 200 years. The building has 4,700 rooms and has 2,416 clocks that are used for calling members or senators to a vote. On a non-sitting day there could be 2,000 to 3,000 people working there.
The flag flown from the 81-metre flagpole is 12.8m by 6.4m, about the size of half a tennis court. The flagpole weighs 220 tonnes and is made of polished stainless steel from Newcastle, New South Wales. It was designed to be the pinnacle of Parliament House and is an easily recognisable symbol of national government. It is visible by day from outside and inside Parliament House and floodlit at night. The flag itself weighs approximately 15 kg.
Although security has been greatly tightened in recent years, much of the building is open to the public.
The building was designed to "sit above" Old Parliament House when seen from a distance but, when the idea was floated to demolish Old Parliament House so that there would be an uninterrupted vista from the New Parliament House to Lake Burley Griffin and the Australian War Memorial, there were successful representations for preservation of the historic building, which now houses a parliamentary museum. It is listed as a nation-building icon for the Centenary of Federation.
The original concept was for Parliament House to be freely open to the public, and the sweeping lawns leading up to the entrances were intended to symbolize this. Since the terrorist attacks of recent years, however, security at Parliament House has been greatly tightened. One measure has been the erection of crash barriers blocking vehicular access to the lawns.
Layout
The public entrance to Parliament House opens into a main foyer leading into the Great Hall, which features a tapestry based on a painting by Arthur Boyd, the original of which is also on display in the building. Functions that have parliamentary and federal relevance often take place here, but the Great Hall is also open to functions for the general public, such as weddings, and the nearby University of Canberra hosts graduation ceremonies here.
Below the tapestry of the Great Hall is a removable division which opens on to the Members' Hall, which has a water feature at its centre. This is an area restricted to security-classified occupants of the building and special visitors. Directly ahead of the Members' Hall is the Ministerial Wing, housing the office suites of the Prime Minister and government ministers. The Members' Hall has access to the House of Representatives and the Senate buildings to the left and right of the main entrance to the halls respectively. Public access to the visitors' galleries and the Main Committee Room is via an upper level reached by impressive marble staircases ascending from the entrance foyer.
The House of Representatives
In a reflection of the colour scheme of the British House of Commons, the House of Representatives is decorated in green. However, the colour is muted to suggest the colour of eucalyptus leaves.
From the perspective of the image, the press gallery is ahead, with public galleries to the left and right. Soundproofed galleries for school groups lie directly above these, as no talking is permitted when the House is sitting.
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