New Parliament House

 Parliament Dr, Canberra ACT 2600, Australia +61 2 6277 5399 Website 9am – 5pm Canberra Campervan Hire

ruelcloud (contributor)

Once you have had a look around outside Parliament House (and I recommend you do that before going inside) go inside noting that you must go through airport style security so please, dear readers, no bombs, guns, nail files and the like☺).

Once you have passed through security you will immediately be in the very grand entrance hall/foyer (picture 1) where you can pick up a free map/ brochure. Free guided tours leave from the information desk here so just ask when the next one leaves. I highly recommend you take one. After the 45mins tour (30 mins if Parliament is sitting) you can return to see things that have particularly taken your fancy.

While 90% of materials used in the Parliament building are Australian sourced much of the marble you see in the foyer is from overseas – gifted by Belgium, Portugal and Italy. Look our for fossils in the marble.

Anyone who has been out in the Australian bush or seen pictures of it will not fail to notice how the blue/green coloured marble columns resemble Australia’s native blue gum trees. Life your head and admire the wonderful inlaid woodwork right around the foyer.

Prior to going upstairs to the main Parliament area, have a look in the Great Hall which is accessed from the back of the foyer. You can also look down into the Great Hall from the next level up. This hall is used for state banquets and indeed can be hired out by anyone – for a rather hefty fee. It was in this hall that Queen Elizabeth II opened this building on 9 May 1988. The most notable feature in the Great Hall is a quite remarkable tapestry covering most of the back wall (why it wasn’t extended to cover the back doors, beggars belief). See my separate review on the Great Wall Tapestry.

When you go upstairs, taking the stairs behind the information desk, turn right at the top. Between here and the entrance to the house of Representatives ( equivalent to the British house of Commons and the lower house in other Parliaments) you will pass by various works of art, including that upon which the tapestry in the Great Hall, is based. This display in this area varies from time to time.

At the end of this area and to the left you can enter the House of Representatives (picture 2), Australia’s lower house of Parliament and the one in which the Prime Minister (currently Tony Abbott) sits. If parliament is sitting you can watch from the visitors gallery (don’t come expecting a high quality of debate!) The layout, colour, and accouterments of this house will be familiar to anyone who has visited or seen pictures of the House of Commons in Westminster, London though I hasten to add the lighter green colour is not due to fading induced by the hot Australian sun. It, and the lighter red in the Senate (upper house), are however representative of a sunburnt Australia. You will also note that the chambers are also somewhat more roomy than the respective Chambers in Westminster.

Having seen enough of the House of Representative you should at this point take the lift up to the roof. Up here you can have a stroll on the lawns that cover Parliament – as far as I know, a unique experience. Great views from here as well. If its cold and or windy bring a jacket!

Having returned from your sojourn on the roof, across the lobby from the House of Representative is the Senate (picture 3), which I find a nicer looking chamber and well worth a visit. Having said that, apart from a few of our better-known senators, most of the senators (all elected, albeit by a most peculiar type of proportional representation) will be unknown to even most Australians.

As you cross to the Senate do stop to have a look at the portraits in this area. Here you will find portraits of Queen Elizabeth II – Queen and Head of State of Australia; the Governor-General – the Queens representative in Australia (appointed by the Queen on the advice of the Prime Minister); all of Australia’s past Prime Ministers though I did notice last week (mid September 2013) that recent Prime Ministers Gillard (Australia’s first and only female Prime Minister) and Rudd have not yet been added to the collection.

In the centre of this area, if you look down to the lower level, you will see a water feature (picture 4). While this is reasonably aesthetically appealing that is not its purpose. Members of Parliament gather in this area and the purpose of the noisy water feature is to drown out their conversations from prying press members and nosy members of the public who would otherwise be able to listen in from above. Look up and through the glass roof you will see the rooftop flagpole (picture 5).

Having visited the Senate, continuing on in a clockwise direction you will enter into a “parliamentary history” museum area. The most notable document you will find here is one of four surviving originals of the 1297 Inspeximus issue of Magna Carta. The other surviving originals can be found in the National Archives, London, in the Guild Hall of the City of London and in the National Archives in Washington DC. I have prepared a separate review on the Magna Carta.

When you are finished here, do not be tempted to take the stairs down to the lower level exit but, rather, continue on this level to the front of the building for an amazing view towards Old Parliament House, Anzac Parade, the Australian War Memorial and Mt Ainslie (see picture on my Parliament House (Exterior) review. Next up you will come to the Queens Terrace – pop out on the Terrance to see a statue of Queen Elizabeth II. Here you will also find a reasonable café – the Queen’s Terrace Café’ if feeling peckish.

Again, carrying on in a clockwise direction and before going back down the stairs you ascended at the beginning of your tour you will come across a post office. Stamps on letters, post cards, etc posted from here will be cancelled with a Parliament House stamp – evidence to your friends that you were here or a nice cheap souvenir for yourself.

Talking about souvenirs, having descended the stairs you can visit a small souvenir / gift shop just before you exit the building.

While visitors have access to about 20% of Australia’s Parliament (much higher than most countries) if you are lucky enough to be in town when special openings are held you can see lots more and indeed access the Prime Minister’s office. If you miss out on the extended tour, as most people will, do pop down the road to Old Parliament House (which closed when this one opened in 1988). There you can visit the former Prime Minister’s Office, Cabinet Room and much, much, more. Highly recommended.

Opening hours:

9.00am – 5.00pm on non-sitting days 9:00am on Monday and Tuesday and from 8:30am on Wednesday and Thursday to House rise on sitting days.

Check web site more details including access to Question Time.

Entrance fee: free

Getting there:

By Car – Free, though timed, car-parking is available under the building – follow the signs. Don’t get lost on the roundabouts!
By public transport – ACTION Bus.
On foot – a reasonably short walk from the lake and Old Parliament House.

georgenino (contributor)

The New Parliament House began with controversy, because of long arguments about where it should be sited. When the hill finally was agreed as the site for the New Parliament House, a contest led to the design of the current building complex, with the main building appearing to be built into the hill (actually the hill was entirely removed, then the roof grassed over). For security reasons it is no longer possible to walk on the roof.

The building complex consists of a large central area with grassed roof, an imposing facade, long curved walls on either side, with inter-connecting passages to separate office buildings on the outside. It cost what was considered a huge sum at the time, but that needs to be considered in the following context. Considered as a whole it is a very large building, additionally it is one of the very few buildings in Australia built with a design life of hundreds of years, so all materials and construction had to be first class.

The problem is that the large scale of the building and its layout means that Ministers can largely avoid contact with anyone should they wish. So the hurley-burley of the Old Parliament House no longer occurs and Parliament is the poorer for it. Maybe with time it will change, but having worked there briefly I have my doubts. If I sound negative, it is only about the workings of the building. In itself it is, indeed, a very impressive ‘must see’, of which Australia can be very proud and I do recommend a visit.

Join a free guided tour of the building (every 30 minutes 0900-1600), you will learn far more than could ever be presented here. The building is open 0900 -1700 daily except Christmas Day, there is a shop open the same hours as the building, and a licensed cafe open daily 0930 -1630.

Main photo New Parliament house from above (low elevation)
Second photo A high elevation view shows the building’s form and the circular roads
Third photo Ground level view, with Old Parliament House in the foreground.

cheetahburgers (contributor)

At 81metres high, the flagpole on New Parliament House is one of the world’s largest stainless steel structures. The sheer size of it is not easily appreciated from a distance, but get up close and it becomes more obvious. Although security now precludes going to the top of the grassed roof of the building, you will still be able to get sufficiently close to appreciate it fully.

The flag on top may not look large, that is because of its height and the dimensions of the pole supporting it: the flags are actually about the size of a double-decker bus! Flags of differing fabric weights are used, depending on the wind conditions – if winds will be light, a gauzy flag is flown, if they are strong, a flag made from heavier fabric is used. The flagpole designers overcame the design problems of how to raise and lower the flags by consulting some of Australia’s top yacht designers. There also is a small carriage on one of the sloping legs, to take maintenance workers up, should that be necessary.

pastietarbert (contributor)

You would have to be blind not to see the 81-metre high flagmast, which is one of the world’s largest stainless steel structures, sitting on top of New parliament house.

From above, the design of new parliament house 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.

New parliament house was opened on 9th May, 1988 [by her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth 11], so it is not that “new” anymore, but is called such as there is still an “old Parliament House.”
It is the home of Australia’s Federal Parliament and one of the world’s most acclaimed buildings.

A competition was held for the design of the building, and after perusing 329 entries from 28 countries, this was the design chosen, the winner was the New York-based architectural firm of Mitchell/Giurgol.

The interior design is made up of various timbers from Australia and hosts numerous pieces of Australian art and craft.
“The Great Hall tapestry” is one of the largest in the world

After a security check, like at airports, and relinquishing my camera, {No photo’s allowed} we went and sat in the public gallery and viewed the proceedings in the Senate and the House of Representives. I must say it was rather boring, and the Senators looked bored too except for the speaker and the senator talking. We left each after about 10mins, so glad that we were not stuck in a tour timetable.

OPEN……………….
on sitting days – Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, from 8.30am till 5.00pm
all other days – from 9.00am to 5.00pm every day except Christmas Day when Parliament House is closed

ADMISSION IS FREE
Tours are available

stanhambetroth (contributor)

There are not many statues of Queen Elizabeth II around the world. If Wikipedia is to be believed – nine, and two of these are in Australia. One is in Brisbane and is rather unique in that it is the only statue in the world of the Queen holding a handbag. The other one is here in Parliament House or rather on a Terrace outside the main building (accessed from within the building).

I have to say I actually find it a bit odd, even wrong, when I see statues of living people as I normally associate statues as memorials to the dead. I suspect most people hold this view and hence the lack of statues of the reigning Queen compared to those of her predecessors.

Statue-wise, I like it and think it a rather fine piece of bronze work. It is the work of Australian Sculptor, John Dowie, and was unveiled by the Queen, herself, when she opened Parliament House on 9 May 1988.

On the face of it, it seems rather peculiar that this statue is stuck out on a terrace beside the café and has not been given pride of place in the foyer or some other central location within Parliament. A stark contract to the placement of a statue of George V in Old Parliament House.

Clearly, to me at least, this is a classic example of political correctness gone mad. Notwithstanding that the Queen is Head of State of Australia and a referendum a in 1999 confirmed the desire of Australians that she remain so her statue remains on the Terrace and as far as I can see it doesn’t even rate a mention on the Parliament House website.

Such is the paucity of official information about this statue that fork-lore and urban myth has suggested that the sculpture is, in fact, a reject from a UK sculptor who dumped it on Canberra and then committed suicide when he realised he had, apparently, made it with the left foot / leg forward instead of the right – a big no no!

The statue is located on the Queen’s Terrace outside the café and is certainly worthy a look on your visit to Parliament House.

Details on Parliament House opening hours and how to get there can be found on my Parliament House (Interior) review. As noted there, the entrance to Parliament House is free of charge.

rocketlatest (contributor)

There are other things that stand out in Canberra, notably Parliament House, the National Library and the Telstra Tower atop a nearby hill and affording the best views of Canberra while standing on a building.
Possibly the most memorable way to view the town would be to get aboard one of the many balloons that fly every morning (seven when I was last there), weather permitting. If you are an early riser and have a camera I recommend you get lakeside just after sunrise and, again weather permitting, you should get some great shots of coloured balloons over Canberra reflected in the water.
Parliament House (surely the only one in the world covered by a lawn) is worthy of some time. The tour is informative and an insight into where some of my taxes went!
At nighttime, should you be crossing the main bridge over Lake Burley Griffin, you will see this colourful edifice, the new Australian National Museum, whose architecture defies description. Frankly, I think it looks great at night and downright ugly in the day.

cuttleloyal (contributor)

For me this is one of the most architecturally interesting and satisfying buildings not only in Australia but in the world and certainly a major contrast to the previous building – Old Parliament House – which was only ever intended to be a temporary home for the Australian Parliament, albeit a temporary home that lasted 61 years. It would be quite unfair to compare the two buildings.

New Parliament House was opened on 9 May 1988 by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and is located “atop” Capital Hill. The building axis runs from North to East and South to West, and is situated perfectly in line with Old Parliament House, the Australian War Memorial and Mt. Ainslie on Burley Griffin’s imaginary line between Mount Ainslie and Mount Bimberi in the distant Brindabellas. I strongly recommend that you go up to the top of Mt Ainslie take in this quite stunning alignment though you also get a good view towards Mt Ainlslie from within Parliament House – see my last photo attached.

To say Parliament House is located “atop” Capital Hill is not quite true. It is more accurate to say it is located within Capital Hill.

Australia’s ensemble of politicians in the 1970s and 1980s were a much more modest collection than the current self-serving, opinionated, grandstanding suite of mediocrity (and I’m being kind). I say this because it was decided that as Parliament was elected to serve to people and not the other way round, it would send the wrong message by building a parliament on top of this hill lauding over the rest of Canberra. Consequentially the hill was removed, Parliament built and the hill replaced back on top of it. Being very conscious of VT’s policy regarding political comment I hasten to add that my descriptions of politicians above apply equally to all sides of politics in both eras. One can imagine if the same building was constructed today the hill would be raised prior to commencement of work!

The building was designed by New York based architects Mitchell/Giurgola who won a design competition which attracted 329 entries from 28 countries.

Before going into the building and while admiring the outside of the building, which from above is in the shape of two boomerangs, do pay special attention to the following:

The Forecourt Mosaic – Picture 2 – located about 50 metres back from the main entrance. This mosaic represents a Possum and Wallaby Dreaming and is made up of around 90,000 hand-cut granite tiles of seven different colours. It is based on a Central Desert dot-style painting by Nelson Jagamara, a leading Aboriginal artist from the Papunya community of the Northern Territory. While it is perfectly acceptable to walk on the mosaic it is not acceptable to rest your camera tripod there-on!

The roof – Access to the roof is now (for security reasons) only via a lift inside the building. As I indicated earlier Parliament is built into the hill and as a result has a grass roof with rather nicely manicured lawns. While you are welcome to walk on the grass your dogs are not. Recalling that you can walk over both houses of parliament imagine the indignity (and your amusement) if your dog were to lift its leg, or worse, as the honourable members debated directly below!

The Flagpole and Flag – when you access the roof you can get up close to the 81-metre high stainless steel flagpole and its 12.8 x 6.4 metres flag (equates to a double decker bus). Do have a look up before you visit the roof – you can see it from lots of locations in Canberra.

Australian Coat of Arms – Picture 3 – Above the main entrance door.

The building is one of Canberra most visited attractions with about 1 million visits each year. Despite this, I have been there numerous times and never had a feeling that the place was overcrowded.

Opening hours-

Outside of building – 24hrs Daily though you can only access the roof during building opening hours

9.00am – 5.00pm on non-sitting days 9:00am on Monday and Tuesday and from 8:30am on Wednesday and Thursday to House rise on sitting days.

Check web site more details including access to Question Time.

Entrance Fee- Free

Getting there –

By Car – Free, though timed, carparking is available under the building – follow the signs. Don’t get lost on the roundabouts!
By public transport – ACTION Bus.
On foot – a reasonably short walk from the lake and Old Parliament House.

liathachpastern (contributor)

Queen Elizabeth II opened New Parliament House on Capital Hill on 9 May 1988.

The building was designed by Romanldo Guirgola of Mitchell, Giurgola & Thorp Architects, with the prospect of a lifetime of 200 years. It sits on a 32-hectare site on Capital Hill, at the top of one of the wide corridors, linking the Australian War Memorial, Old and New Parliament Houses.

If you stand in front of this modern, rather cold and functional building, you would not imagine how beautiful it is inside, and how full of history, culture and art. There could not be a bigger contrast.

But, ok, let’s start on the outside, with a big Aboriginal mosaic in the Forecourt, based on the typical dot-style paintings. It depicts a meeting place and symbolises the continent of Australia, inhabited by Aboriginal people prior to European settlement. 90,000 granite pieces in seven colours had to be hand-guillotined to put this piece of art together.

In the foyer marble and timber are used to mark the arrival of the Europeans. The marquetry panels are inlaid with designs of Australian flora. I loved it!

The settlement and cultivation of the land are expressed in the Great Hall by the use of rich Australian timbers, tapestry and embroidery.

The Members’ Hall is located directly under the flagmast in the heart of the building. The Senate and the House of Representatives chambers are to the left and to the right.

A lot of commissioned artworks, as well as gifted portraits and sculptures, give the rather dark and serene interior a touch of museum. To me, the building as a whole symbolises a young and modern nation on the outside with a rich history on the inside.

Free guided tours begin at 9am and follow every 30 minutes, the last tour starting at 4pm. When Parliament is not meeting tours take 45mins, when P. is meeting they take about 20mins. Audio-guides in various languages are available.

Self-guided tours are also possible. If you have questions you can ask the guides who are positioned at strategic points.

Latest Images of New Parliament House, Canberra