I spent many hours in the Museum of Australian Democracy. NO, I am not looking at ways of becoming a member, more fascinated by the excellent work they have done at presenting their democracy to us all and making it memorable, clever, noteworthy and amusing.
Lets start with just the basics - have you ever been actively encouraged to walk into Houses of Parliament ? I don't hear many of you shouting out yes. I certainly haven't, yet the Houses of Parliament in Canberra, both the old and the new, were built with exactly this overreaching principle of being accessible to the people. So not loud or ostentatious, not built on hills so they would be looking down at people, not closed off and barricaded, full of natural light and colours of Australia, built to blend in with nature and use nature, built to enhance people's understanding of these places. This is where their chosen representatives can sit and pass legislation while looking at the colours of the Australian bush and have a direct vantage point to the War Memorial, lest those persons need to be reminded of the sacrifices so many made.
So I guess that was the starting point and one which had me sold already. I walked into the old Parliament which is a low lying white building with beautiful wooden floors and chambers. I heard about the Mace and the speakers boxes which were actually produced for a film and then gifted to Parliament. I walked through to the PMs offices and the cabinet room, the party room, and the staff room where the cardigans of the secretaries had been left on the backs of chairs and the bins full of crumpled typed papers, their old typewriters at the ready.
I came across the Finders Keepers exhibition where the Museum had collected various items and through them told the stories of the MPs, who owned them. Neville Bonner the first Aboriginal Federal Parliamentarian who represented Queensland between 1971 and 1983. I watched his recording of when he won the election and what it meant for him, his father and his people. He served them well in his swathe of hair and his debonair suits with matching handkerchiefs. Items of his personal life being displayed with care and attention.
For Tim Fischer who knew he was not "the right kind" to be a leader of the National Party, he used his ties as markers and he thanked them for the uplift they gave him, for the encouragement they strangely offered him. Here are some of them and an even stranger reflection of him in one.
For Kay Paterson, a Victorian Liberal Senator it was a single gift which made her then collect her memorabilia whether in the form of tea cups with Parliament etched on, or salt and pepper shakers. She has given her collection to Finders Keepers to be displayed for the public.
Moving round, I came across another fascinating exhibition - this one was entitled ONE TO EIGHT.
A contemporary art project by Alison Adler who became interested in the first eight Prime Ministers and not just for what they were known for nor the perceived wisdom at the time. She drew each one as a person and affixed prints, cartoons, badges or even rosettes which were relevant in their times to connect them to those times. That way she could see the political nuances and respond to the person, not to the politics of the time. Encouraging those viewing it to to think again and see things more analytically. And she asks "Where are all the women?" Those strong and intelligent women who supported their husbands in their work, she now cheekily puts their images, (those that she found anyway,) on wallpaper which covered the whole room. Perceptive by the artist of her subject matters, instructive of the women relegated to the background but nevertheless playing an important part, playful in the colours and the patterns she chose to use. I look forward to returning to another exhibition where another Eight Prime Ministers will be women filling the portraits themselves.
