Parliament of New South Wales
The Parliament of NSW is Australia’s first and oldest Parliament. Part of it is housed in the oldest building surviving in the Sydney CBD, the Chief Surgeon’s or northern wing of The Rum Hospital (the southern wing was the Mint building). Tours of the house are available Mondays and Fridays at 1:30.
In 1824 the Legislative Council of five government officials was established, the first step towards a democratic system of government in NSW. In 1829 an expanded group began to meet in the Chief Surgeon’s wing of the Rum Hospital. As Parliament expanded, Parliament House began to take over the hospital building.
We kicked off with a delicious lunch at the Strangers’ Restaurant, sitting on the same seats as royalty and celebrities, tucking into some delicious food sourced from regional New South Wales.
Satisfyingly sated, we waited for our tour in the Fountain Court area, surrounded by the stunning fountain and lots of interesting artwork. The fountain was designed by Robert Woodward an Australian architect and artist and installed in 1983. The artwork changes on a regular basis and an application to exhibit must be supported by a Member of Parliament.
The tour started in the Legislative Council, the Upper House, the house of review, the red room. It is the oldest in Australia, founded in 1823. As the Gold Rush (1851 - 1893) resulted in scarce building resources and builders, the Chamber was originally a temporary tin shed and the walls were lined with packing cases. The original wall is visible in a section of the Chamber.
There are a number of marble busts surrounding the walls, mainly previous Presidents of the 1800’s, paid for by their families and friends. Those dressed in togas were normal Legislative Council members, those in formal dress were Presidents. The most recent edition is a bust of Virginia Chadwick, unveiled 11 May 2022. She was the first female NSW Minister for Education, the first female President of the NSW Legislative Council, the first female to have a bust made for the Chamber and the first bust to have been added in 107 years. She followed - distantly - in the footsteps of the first two women in the Council, Catherine Green (1931 - 1932) and Ellen Webster (1931 - 1934) who served with Premier Jack Lang.
There are 42 members of the Legislative Council who hold an eight year term, half of whom are elected each term of 4 years. To win a seat requires 4.55% of the vote of a large ballot paper. No sitting government has held a majority since 1988. The Head of the Legislative Council is the President, who sits at one of the two chairs at the front of the Chamber, the other is for the reigning Monarch (Queen Elizabeth II has been twice, in 1954 and 1972, and King Charles in 1974) or the NSW Governor. The Monarch and Governor are only allowed in this Chamber, not in the Legislative Assembly as it is the people’s house. The President loses the right to vote, unless decisions are tied. The Legislative Council Leaders of the Government and Opposition are the only people to speak from the centre table. The Usher of the Black Rod enforces rules e.g. eviction, the Clerks know all the rules and track bill progress.
The Coat of Arms speak both to the connectedness to Britain and our unique Australian identity. The motto, ‘Orta quam pura nites’ means ‘Newly risen, how brightly you shine’. It depicts a rising sun, supported by a lion (blue nails so they stand out) and kangaroo and lots more detail.
The three rods pictured below:
The black rod on the left is from 1856
The rod on the right is known as the Federation Rod
The middle rod is taken out by the Usher when Parliament sits. It was made in the Tower of London and presented to Parliament by King Charles in 1974.
The gang in the Upper House
The President and The Speaker (Head of The Legislative Assembly) each have a dining room. The President’s is ready for a lunch the following day. We headed off to see some of the resources of the library, one of the oldest, continuously running libraries in Australia. It was established in 1840, provided with funding of 300 pounds ‘to acquire materials useful for members of Parliament’. It was originally a gentlemen’s reading room until it was established as a research library in the 60’s. We were shown the register that recorded the borrowers and books (no mention of late fees!), some of the stunning books created for their words and pictures and three books on the life of Lord Melbourne that Sir Henry Parkes had borrowed.
The Jubilee Room housed the library for 74 years until 1980 when it was moved to the new Parliamentary annex. This room is now used for committee hearings. It was restored in 2015 and the convict foundations of the Rum Hospital were revealed. The stunning stained glass window, (which is no longer a skylight, it is lit and you can see shadows of people walking on it) features Minerva, the goddess of wisdom with the words ‘Knowledge is the Mother of Wisdom and Virtue’. The books are collections of the Great Britain House of Commons papers and the Parliamentary Debates from Commonwealth and other Australian State parliaments.
We headed to the Parkes room, named after Sir Henry Parkes, a strong advocate for Federation. The room is being renovated, we can peek through a window into the messy part. Originally the room was part of the hospital for convicts so the windows lock on the outside.
The Premiers Corridor displays all Premiers except the most recent two, Gladys Berejiklian and Dominic Perrottet, its getting tight for space.
The Legislative Assembly foyer holds some treasures:
The scissors used to cut the ribbon for the official openings of the Harbour Bridge, Harbour Tunnel and Anzac Bridge.
A painting of Millicent Preston-Stanley, the first female member of the NSW Legislative Assembly from May 1925 to September 1927. Not surprisingly she was interrupted and heckled by her male peers during her maiden speech and cheered by the women in the Ladies viewing area of the Assembly chambers. She was an advocate for women’s rights, health reform and temperance (two out of three ain’t bad).
Then off to the Legislative Assembly, the people’s house, the green room, the bear pit. Members have been elected by the people since 1856. The Assembly consists of 93 Members, each representing an electorate of NSW.
Their role is to:
Represent the people of their electorate
Legislate, pass, amend and abolish laws
Scrutinise the Executive Government
Approve the Government’s request for money
The time taken to review legislation is about a month.
Question time is 70 minutes per day with 14 questions asked. The Speaker, currently the independent member for Macquarie, ensures order and enforces the 369 rules. There have only been three independent Speakers in the history of the Legislative Assembly. The Speaker can vacate the chair to vote. Members are evicted after three strikes of poor behaviour by the Sergeant at Arms, typically until the next sitting day.
Interested faces - mostly!
We entered the Wentworth Room, the original Surgeon’s Quarters, named for Principal Surgeon D’Arcy Wentworth and his son, William Charles Wentworth, an advocate for:
representative democracy
trial by jury
freedom of the press
The room is currently used for covid testing, so looks very functional. The restoration in 2011 revealed the original Georgian sash windows and wood panelling with the glass mostly intact, hidden behind a wall.
The original Georgian wall in the Wentworth Room.
Finally to the Speakers’ Dining Room, showing the magnificent table and some crockery.
References
https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/la/Pages/Welcome.aspx
https://www.google.com/search?q=fountain+at+nsw+parliament&rlz=1C1ONGR_en-GBAU929AU930&oq=fountain+at+nsw+parliament&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIICAEQABgWGB4yDQgCEAAYhgMYgAQYigUyDQgDEAAYhgMYgAQYigUyDQgEEAAYhgMYgAQYigXSAQg2MTU2ajBqNKgCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
https://indigenousartcode.org/member/sheldon-harrington-iartc00004754