Old Parliament House: News Feed

Who was Lamson of the tubes?

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +1100

As any entrepreneur knows, one of the best ways to make a fortune is to own and manufacture technology that enables other businesses to increase their productivity and make money.

William Stickney Lamson from USA was an entrepreneur par excellence. In 1879 he invented the ‘cash railway’ system for the rapid transferring of cash in small cages from the point of sale to the accountant’s office upstairs (after the failure of trials of tying the money in a handkerchief and throwing it up!). His Lamson Cash Carrier Company grew and bought out other similar companies.

The pneumatic tubes system however, was invented much earlier in the 1800s by a Scotsman, William Murdoch (no close relative of our John Smith Murdoch). This system enabled the rapid and efficient carriage of solid objects with either compressed air or suction/vacuum and was first used in 1865 in Central London. Unfortunately, Murdoch died (1839) before profiting from his invention. Lamson saw the great potential of the pneumatic tube system and in the 1890s bought out several of the major companies producing these. His name became synonymous with these carrier systems.

From the 1860s to the late 20th Century, the Lamson tube system was used widely in the Western world for the carrying of mail, post and telegraph messages. Paris had 300km of ‘éseau Pneumatic’ and Berlin 400km. The system in Prague was in use until the floods of 2002, while the first tubes in Melbourne connected the Central PO to the Stock Exchange. Italy had special stamps for the ‘Posta Pneumatica’ and in the USA there was a suggestion that all households could be linked by tubes to their Post Office. In Orwell’s 1984 Winston’s newspapers were delivered to his desk by such a tube.

The introduction of the Lamson tubes into Provisional Parliament House has been attributed to Senator George Pearce. In 1922, when in Washington for the Conference on the Limitations of Armaments, he saw how efficiently and quickly books and papers could be delivered from the Congress Library to Members (and back). The tubes in Provisional Parliament House were laid down by 1925.

Three systems operated—internal, all connected with the King’s Hall Post Office, a despatch and return tube from King’s Hall PO to Canberra PO (in East Block, now the National Archives of Australia) and a 2 way service between the Hansard office and the Government Printing Office in Kingston (3km away). They were essential for not just politicians but the Press to communicate with the outside world. The tubes were very efficient and time-saving—that is, until the tubes became blocked or waterlogged! Then the resulting chaos was the same as when our computers are down today.

Lamson tubes were installed in the new Parliament House, opened in 1988, but computers and faxes made them redundant. Today the tubes are still used in hospitals (for moving drugs and specimens), factories (for moving parts) and even in a dairy to move samples for testing.

So when we think of Lamson Tubes we should also think of that Scotsman William Murdoch.

Article by Ann Ingwersen, Old Parliament House

Prime Ministers Centre Fellowships for 2008-2009

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +1100

On 25 November, Special Minister of State, Senator John Faulkner, announced the recipients of the Australian Prime Ministers Centre Fellowships and one Summer Scholarship.

The Australian Prime Ministers Centre (APMC) at Old Parliament House offers a program of fellowships and summer scholarships. These allow researchers to explore the history of Australia’s prime ministers and how they shaped the Australia we live in today. The Fellowships are selected by an independent selection panel convened by Old Parliament House representing national collecting institutions and the academic community.

The 2008-2009 research subjects cover a diverse range of topics, including:

the crucial role that radio played in Joseph Lyons’ successful 1931 election campaign
the roles of former Prime Ministers Hawke and Fraser in the human rights campaign for Soviet Jewry
the relationship between John Curtin and Sir Robert Menzies and Japan’s first minister to Australia Tatsuo Kawai
biographies of Stanley Melbourne Bruce, Billy Hughes and Joe Lyons
the role of John McEwen in developing Australia-New Zealand relationships, particularly the Australia-NZ Free Trade Agreement in 1965

Recipients of the 2008-09 APMC Fellowships are Dr David Bird, Professor Carl Bridge, Dr David Lee, Professor Philippa Mein-Smith, Mr Michael Piggott, Mr Nick Richardson, Dr Suzanne Rutland and Mr Bob Wurth.

In addition to the Fellowship program, which is aimed at established researchers, Summer Scholarships are presented to students and graduates just starting their research careers. Summer scholars work on research projects which contribute to Old Parliament House’s public history program, with a focus on prime ministers. This year’s recipient is Ms Isabelle Barrett Meyering.

The APMC Research and Scholarship Program is now in its second year and is proving to be a valuable initiative supporting scholars, creative workers and archivists working in the fields of political science and history, with prime ministers as a major part of their focus.

More information about the APMC Research and Scholarship Program, including a full list of 2008-2009 recipients and projects, can be found on the APMC website .

Centenary of the Fisher Government—PM’s speech

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:00:00 +1100

To mark the centenary of Andrew Fisher’s first Labor government, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd gave a speech at Old Parliament House on 13 November, 2008 highlighting Fisher’s achievements as a nation builder.

Andrew Fisher (1862-1928) became the 5th prime minister of Australia on 13 November 1908 when the Liberal Protectionist government headed by Alfred Deakin collapsed due to loss of parliamentary Labor support. Fisher was the first head of a majority Australian government and one who did much to strengthen a young nation’s security, economy and social foundations.

Fisher’s first period as prime minister ended when the new Fusion Party of Deakin and Joseph Cook defeated the government in parliament. His second term resulted from an overwhelming Labor victory at elections in 1910, however, Labor lost power by one seat at the 1913 elections. Fisher’s final term as prime minister came in 1914, as a result of a double-dissolution election. Fisher resigned from office in October 1915, his health affected by the pressures of political life.

As Prime Minister Rudd said during his speech, Andrew Fisher was a true nation-builder. Along with Alfred Deakin, Fisher effectively established the statutory structure of our new nation. Among his many achievements:

Commonwealth Government issued its first currency which replaced bank and State currency as the only legal tender and the Commonwealth Bank was established.
strengthened the Conciliation and Arbitration Act.
began construction began on the trans-Australian railway, linking Port Augusta and Kalgoorlie.
established the Australian Capital Territory and brought the Northern Territory under Commonwealth control.
established the Royal Australian Navy and opened the Royal Military College at Duntroon in 1911.
improved access to invalid and aged pensions and brought in maternity allowances.
introduced workers’ compensation for federal public servants.
promised to support Britain to the last man and the last shilling in the First World War

As Prime Minister Rudd remarked in his speech, “All up, Fisher had less than five years in office. The obstacles he faced were huge—yet his achievements were prodigious.”

The National Library of Australia and the National Archives provided important manuscripts from their collections for display in the Australian Prime Ministers Centre on the day.

South East Wing Refurbishment: Public Comment period

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 00:00:00 +1100

Old Parliament House sought comment on the Referral for the proposed South-East (House of Representatives) Wing Refurbishment for the purpose of accommodating the Australian Prime Ministers Centre.

The proposed refurbishment has been determined a ‘controlled action’ under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) on the basis that the action is likely to have significant impact on the following matters protected by the EPBC Act:

National Heritage places (section 15B and 15C)
Commonwealth land (section 26 and 27A)
Commonwealth action (section 28)

Pursuant with S95B of the EPBC Act, information was be available from Tuesday 23 September until Thursday 16 October 2008 at Old Parliament House, on the Old Parliament House website and an information session was held at Old Parliament House on Thursday 2 October 2008.

In accordance with section 95 (B) (4) of the EPBC Act, Old Parliament House advises that no comments were received on the referral document which has been submitted to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts for approval.

The referral documents can be downloaded here .

New roof to the South East Wing

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +1100

Works are progressing well on the South East Wing refurbishment. One major component—the replacement of the roof—is almost complete. This involved the removal of all redundant air conditioning equipment and then taking up all the old roof sheeting, guttering and parapet capping which was all at the end of its serviceable life.

This has now been replaced with new roofing, guttering and parapet capping. At the same time, new high performance insulation has been installed under the roof sheeting. The image above shows the state of the old roof and the current progress of the roofing. We expect the roofing works to be complete in the next 2–3 weeks.

The installation of roof access ladders and walkways is also nearing completion. A new style of ladder has been installed and has been designed to minimise the visual impact on the elevations of the building. This project was implemented to replace existing equipment which was non-code compliant and will provide convenient and safe access to roof areas for our maintenance staff.

The only remaining ladder to be installed is on the South East Wing, which can be completed once the roof replacement works are finished.

Making History documentaries on ABC1

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +1100

A season of dramatised documentaries commissioned by Screen Australia examining key turning points in the history of three former Prime Ministers is about to commence on ABC1.

The documentaries screen on successive Thursday nights, beginning on 23 October at 8.30pm.

Trailers, press kits, images and credits are available at the following Screen Australia websites:

The first documentary is The Prime Minister is Missing (directed by Peter Butt, starring Normie Rowe). Reconstructed from eyewitness accounts, this dramatised documentary examines the political implications of Prime Minister Harold Holt’s disappearance in 1967 and reveals explosive new aspects of the case.

The second documentary is Menzies and Churchill at War (directed by Steve Jodrell, starring Matthew King and ‘Bud’ Tingwell) premiering on 30 October on ABC1. Using Robert Menzies’ World War II diaries and remarkable 16mm film, this dramatised documentary lifts the lid on a bitter behind-the-scenes battle between Winston Churchill and the Australian Prime Minister as the fate of Australia hangs in the balance.

The third in the season is Infamous Victory—Ben Chifley’s Battle for Coal (directed by Geoff Burton, starring Tony Barry and Frankie J Holden) premiering on 6 November on ABC1. The filmmakers have used rare archival footage and re-creations to show how Labor Party leader Ben Chifley took on and defeated the growing forces of communism in Australia during the national miners’ strike of 1949.

A new location for an old favourite

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +1100

Regular visitors to Old Parliament House, or those who once worked in this building, may remember the large terracotta panel known as The Greek Mother. It once sat outside the Parliamentary Library and has also resided in King’s Hall. This wonderful sculpture will form part of our new permanent exhibition located in the Parliamentary Library.

The Greek Mother is by the artist George Tinworth (1843-1913) and was produced in 1904-06. It is an unglazed terracotta panel mounted in a glazed walnut case, with an inscription which reads, The Greek Mother giving the shield to her son with the words ‘Either bring this shield back or be bought back upon it’. The inspiration for the panel is taken from the 1882 Edmund Gosse poem The sons of Cydippe. This is not the first time Tinworth sought inspiration from this poem. In 1884 he created two similar panels, both entitled The Sons of Cydippe—these panels are now to be found in the Fitzwilliam Museum and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art .

So how did the Greek Mother end up at Old Parliament House? Originally presented to the Australian Government in 1927, the panel is a part of the Parliament House collection. The panel was left unsold after an exhibition of Doulton wares in Sydney and subsequently offered to the Australian Government with the Australian collector John Shorter acting as the intermediary. John Shorter is also the reason another great Tinworth panel is in Australia. He encouraged Sir Samuel Way, Chief Justice of South Australia to purchase the 1884 Tinworth work entitled the Remorse of Herod, later bequeathed to the South Australian Art Gallery .

In his heyday, George Tinworth was a widely admired artist. Today his name is known more by collectors of fine English pottery. George Tinworth was born 5 November 1843 in South London. He began his career as a wheelwright, a skilled profession that gave him training and access to sculptural materials from a young age. Tinworth’s deeply religious father destroyed his early works, labelling them ‘graven images’. This did not deter the emerging artist and Tinworth continued to create his sculptures in secret.

Tinworth’s formal art education began in 1861 at the Lambeth School of Art in Millers Lane, London. As a reflection of his financial status Tinworth regularly pawned his winter coat to pay his school fees. In 1866 Tinworth began his life long association with the pottery firm, Doulton & Co (Royal Doulton from 1905). One of his teachers at the Lambeth School of Art, John Sparkes, had convinced Henry Doulton to offer Tinworth a job at the Lambeth pottery factory. The arrangement was beneficial for both parties; as Tinworth’s reputation grew, the company capitalised on his talents to produce pieces to show at international exhibitions. Tinworth’s work also started to gain the attention of his peers, including the Royal Academy, and was even admired by the famous art scholar John Ruskin (1819 – 1900) who used one of Tinworth’s pieces to demonstrate an example of the true principles of relief.

Tinworth’s move to large terracotta friezes (such as The Greek Mother) however effectively ended his relationship with the Royal Academy, the panels were just too large and cumbersome to exhibit. They were also not directly profitable for Doulton as they were expensive to produce. Their importance lay more in their promotional value as they represented the skill of the Doulton artisans and ensured regular commissions, for Tinworth in particular, for large scale monuments and portraits. Tinworth was an extremely versatile artist, able to work on both large scale depictions of ancient texts, formal portraits and charming animal figurines (mice were his speciality!). With this versatility and Doulton’s championship of the genre of art pottery, Tinworth remained popular until public tastes changed around the beginning of the 20th century.

George Tinworth died on the 10 September 1913 on his way to the studio. His work remains highly desirable to collectors and key examples of his work can be found in collections around the world.

Image: The Greek Mother (1904-05): detail. Artist: George Tinworth. Old Parliament House collection.

Billy Hughes at War highly commended at McFarlane Prize

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:00:00 +1100

In recent exciting news, our exhibition website, Billy Hughes at War , has finished runner up in the 2008 McFarlane Prize for excellence in Australian web design.

The website, produced by the design team at Icelab , was ‘highly commended by the judges’. The award was made at the recent Web Directions South conference in Sydney on 25 November, 2008.

The website launched in February 2008 to complement the Billy Hughes at War traveling exhibition, which commenced at the Shrine of Remembrance , Melbourne, in February 2008. The exhibition is currently showing at Old Parliament House.

The Billy Hughes at War website examines the actions and decisions of Billy Hughes, who led Australia as prime minister through some of the hardest years of the First World War. Three interactive sections on the website allow visitors to learn about Prime Minister Billy Hughes, the conscription debate and Australia’s involvement in the peace negotiations.

The McFarlane Prize is awarded to an Australian designer or team for a site launched or significantly upgraded between August 1 2007 and August 31 2008. The Prize rewards excellence in web design in the broadest sense, from the appropriate use of technology to design aesthetics and is awarded by a jury of Australian experts in various fields of web design and development.

The decision process is rigorous and has two stages. In the first, entries are assessed for their adherence to best practices in accessibility and standards based coding (correct and valid use of CSS and HTML). Based on the two rounds of judging, the McFarlane Prize shortlist was announced in September.

The scoop on Old Parliament House education in 2009

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 00:00:00 +1100

Old Parliament House is undergoing a major redevelopment due to open in May 2009. With a range of dynamic interactive tools, the exhibition experience at Old Parliament House will utilise cutting edge technology to engage and challenge visitors.

The redevelopment will provide new experiential learning opportunities for students. General Manager, Kate Cowie, “New education programs will encourage students to question what democracy is, where it came from and what it means to them. We are particularly excited about the interactive decision-making technology. Students will be able to engage with the process of political decision-making and see how it works first-hand.”

With a mix of hand-on activities, debates and discovery programs, students visiting Old Parliament House in 2009 will have a meaningful and memorable learning experience.

For more information about our education programs, visit our Learning area.

Image: Student and 1653 Cromwell coin, Old Parliament House collection.

Proposed South East Wing refurbishment: public comment period

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 00:00:00 +1100

Old Parliament House is proposing to refurbish the South-East (House of Representatives) Wing to accommodate the Australian Prime Ministers Centre, a facility for Fellows and accommodation for staff.

The proposed refurbishment has been determined as being a ‘controlled action’ under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act), on the basis that the action is likely to have significant impact on the following matters protected by the EPBC Act:

National Heritage places (section 15B and 15C)
Commonwealth land (section 26 and 27A)
Commonwealth action (section 28)

Pursuant with S95B of the EPBC Act, information will be available from Tuesday 23 September until Thursday 16 October 2008 at Old Parliament House. These documents can be downloaded here:

An information session will be held at Old Parliament House on Thursday 2 October 2008 at 6pm.

To register your interest in attending, send an email to: heritage@oph.gov.au . Comments can be lodged via email: heritage@oph.gov.au or at Old Parliament House.

South East Wing refurbishment project

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:00:00 +1100

The South-East Wing of Old Parliament House—the side of the building closest to the National Archives building—is being refurbished as an important component of the major redevelopment and permanent Australian Prime Ministers Centre (APMC) and Fellows facility.

The refurbishment will also improve the suitability of this part of the building for education, public assembly and staff accommodation. It’s due for completion in March 2009. These works and modifications for adaptive re-use are all aimed at enhancing the Old Parliament House experience.

We’re currently in the middle of a period of heritage assessments for some parts of the project, while things are progressing well with other onsite works, with the Wing becoming a hive of activity.

The main floor of the Wing will be the permanent home of the Australian Prime Ministers Centre, while the lower and upper floors will accommodate relocated staff. At this stage it is likely that the APMC will relaunch itself in the Wing in early March 2009, subject to the final phase of the heritage approval process.

The South East Wing side road is now closed to traffic and will remain so until external works are completed. Scaffolding has been erected to allow roof, gutter, glazing, render and painting works to take place safely. Asbestos removal activity is also in the final phase with completion due shortly.

Early trades works have continued throughout this removal process. Visitors to the building might have noticed scaffolding in the House of Representatives courtyard. We took the opportunity to undertake some external façade works here prior to Floriade in order to minimise disruptions to the cafe and visitors enjoying this area of House while that festival is on.

Old Parliament House on Flickr

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 00:00:00 +1100

On our Flickr photostream you can see a growing collection of images relating to the building and events taking place within and around it.

We are also using Flickr to support and extend our exhibitions program and open up our content to comment, tagging and discussion. The three most recent examples are the exhibitions Billy Hughes at War, Beyond Reasonable Drought and In the Picture.

The Billy Hughes at War exhibition website contains activities and resources about the conscription debate and Australia’s involvement in the peace negotiations after the First World War. Using our Flash-based poster builder on the site, visitors to the site can create a poster about the conscription debate and submit it to us. Posters are then selected to appear in a Flickr set and the nine most recent contributions are displayed back on the Billy Hughes website.

Beyond Reasonable Drought is an Old Parliament House travelling exhibition in association with the MAP Group — Many Australian Photographers. It features images by some of Australia’s best photographers, documenting the impact of the drought on the land, people and psyche of rural and urban Australia. For this exhibition we’ve used Flickr to experiment with mapping. The images, which are captioned and geo-tagged, are held in a Flickr set; the images are pulled back into the Beyond Reasonable Drought exhibition website. The location-based nature of the exhibition encourages mapping, and the geo-tagging of each image has allowed us to add the geographical layer to the exhibition at Flickr. Once output as a .kml file, the exhibition can also be viewed in Google Earth as a tour.

Finally, In the Picture at Old Parliament House. In 2001 Old Parliament House ran a popular photography exhibition called In the Picture, showing the House through the eyes of insiders and visitors. Some of the images in the exhibition were family treasures, while others were keepsakes of a working life, of years spent tending the machinery of government. In a small way, it was a catalogue of people’s relationship with and experience of the building since 1927. The exhibition now exists as a Flickr set, opened up for comment and discussion. As with Beyond Reasonable Drought, the images are pulled back into the Old Parliament House website on an In the Picture exhibition page.

To continue the idea, we’ve created an In the Picture at Old Parliament House group at Flickr. The Flickr group is a way of continuing the central idea of that exhibition: it’s an ongoing conversation with the people who continue to come to the building and enjoy it, collecting the experiences they have with Old Parliament House. The Flickr group seeks images of people’s experiences at Old Parliament House. They can be old or new, but we really want to see how you have experienced this building and how you have chosen to interpret it with photos.

Old Parliament House now with RSS

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 00:00:00 +1100

Old Parliament House now offers some of its regularly updated content in the form of an RSS feed. You can subscribe to our news, events and exhibitions feeds separately or grab the combined feed:

Why RSS?

Besides visiting websites using a web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari), there are other ways of accessing web content. Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is a service provided by many websites which allows you to receive regular new website content, delivered to your computer or other device, without having to visit the website itself. RSS is a handy way to manage a lot of content quickly and is also useful for accessing web content conveniently when using phones or other handheld devices.

What is it?

RSS is a term used to describe a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated content like blog entries, news headlines and audio in a standardised form. An RSS feed is actually just an XML file which can be read by feed reading software, either installed as an application on your computer, using a web browser that supports RSS or viewed online using a service like Google Reader.

How do I get an RSS feed?

To view RSS feeds you need to install software called a feed reader, news reader or news aggregator. Some programs are accessed using your web browser, and some are standalone applications. Browser-based news readers let you catch up with your RSS feeds from any computer, while downloadable applications let you store them on your main computer. Aggregator features are also built into sites such as Google. Once you have a newsreader program or online reader installed and set up, you can subscribe to any number of websites that provide RSS feeds and automatically receive updates.

News aggregators are installed applications designed to collect RSS feed subscriptions and group them together using a familiar interface. Since RSS feeds have become widespread and popular, the graphical user interface of news readers and sites which have newsreader functionality has come to closely resemble that of popular email clients, using a three-pane window in which subscriptions are grouped in a frame on the left, and individual entries are browsed, selected, and read in frames on the right.

Which newsreader?

There are many such programs available, and while we don’t recommend a particular application, we can say that we’ve enjoyed using Feed Demon on the PC and NetNewsWire on the Mac. Google Reader is a very good web-based aggregator.

Three times Platinum at WorldFest

Thu, 08 May 2008 00:00:00 +1100

Local Canberra production company, Eye Candy Animation has collected multiple award wins at the 2008 WorldFest Houston International Film Festival for its OPH television commercials.

Old Parliament House television ads won three awards at the WorldFest International Film Festival in Houston. EyeCandy Animation was awarded three of the highest category based awards in relation to the OPH ads in the following categories:

Platinum REMI award in the ‘series/campaign’ category for all four Old Parliament House animated television commercials;
second Platinum REMI award for the “Discover what’s inside” (current brand ad) commercial in the ‘institutional identity’ category; and
Platinum REMI award in the ‘Low Budget’ category for the ‘Mrs Prime Minister’ exhibition commercial.

“Winning at WorldFest is a great testament to the hard work and dedication that our team continue to put in at Eye Candy day in day out, we love what we do and it really comes through in our work. We’ve also been lucky enough to have some pretty brave clients that let us push the boundaries”

WorldFest, one of the oldest international film festivals, took place in Houston Texas between the 11th and 20th April. In it’s 41st year of competition, WorldFest 2008 showcased and honoured creative excellence across various categories in film, TV and advertising production.