By Kim Bullimore
CANBERRA — A new permanent exhibition has recently opened in Old Parliament House's Discover Gallery. The exhibition, Corridors of Power, looks at Australia's political and social history since federation in 1901.
The exhibition is a combination of interactive television screens, hands-on and static displays, models and soundscapes. There are period costumes that both adults and children can don.
The exhibition is dominated by static displays, divided into decades, with photographs, commentary, cartoons, election flyers and posters, magazine covers and advertisements that correspond to events that shaped each decade. The amount of information in this section of the exhibition is dense, but well worth wading through especially if you are a history buff or a politico.
Included are periods and events such as the Great Depression, the world wars, the Petrov affair and the 1967 referendum on Aboriginal inclusion in the census count, the dismissal of Labor PM Gough Whitlam in 1975, and the campaign against the Franklin River dam in Tasmania.
Also examined are the campaign for the right of women to vote (1900s), the "vagabond" camps in Sydney (1930s), introduction of the child endowment payment of 10 shillings per fortnight for every child after the first (1940s), conservative PM Bob Menzies' attempt to ban the Communist Party of Australia (1950s), the formation of the first Green party in the world (the United Tasmania Group in the 1960s) and the first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras (1970s).
A central theme of the exhibition is political protest. The windows looking out at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy lawns are specifically devoted to this. Visitors are drawn into the protests, not only by a time line of protests and photographs, but also through a soundscape of protests that occurred on the lawns. The interactive televisions, or "time machines", also include a section on protests, as well as showing the "quirkiness" of Australian lifestyles, speeches from political leaders and election commercials from past decades.
The strength of the exhibition is that it provides a diverse range of information on a variety of political and social issues. In addition to the political battles that took place in and outside Parliament, considerable space is devoted to the treatment of indigenous people, women and minority groups.
The exhibition recounts the exclusion of indigenous Australians from mainstream politics and society, as well their protests and resistance. There is coverage of the Aboriginal protest at the opening of parliament in 1927, and exhibits on Albert Namatjira — the first "official" Aboriginal citizen, the 1967 referendum, the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, Vincent Lingari, deaths in custody and reconciliation. Similar time lines are also devoted to women, migrants and workers.
The only drawback is that to fully appreciate the exhibition, you will need to set aside several hours to wander around and take in all the information. It is well worth it.