Australia's Old Parliament House made the politicians who walked the narrow halls play more nicely together than its large and extravagant replacement has ever managed to do Heather Henderson, the daughter of our longest serving Prime Minister, Sir Robert Menzies, has said.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mrs Henderson told Fairfax while the old building, now the Museum of Australian Democracy, was far from perfect, the intimacy created by its' lack of space had positive, if unintended, consequences.
"When I come back here I think of the contrast between then and now and this house and the present house," she said ahead of the 90th anniversary of the building's opening on May 9.
"Part of it is the physical house. It (the new one) is too big. They are all inclined to yell because it is too big. Often (in Old Parliament House) when my father wanted to make a point he would lower his voice."
Mrs Henderson, who spent three years on the Old Parliament House Council (now board), had unique access to the John Smith Murdoch-designed building while growing up. Her father spent 32 years there from 1934 to 1966, 18 of them as Prime Minister.
As a member of the Prime Minister's family she was able to slip inside the House of Representatives and take a seat in The Speaker's gallery when matters of importance were being debated.
The teenage Mrs Henderson could not always refrain from providing a running commentary on men and events with Mr Menzies telling her brother, Kenneth, by letter: "Heather's sotto voce comments in the galleries during speeches... are really worth going a long way to hear".
It was all a stark contrast to the rough and tumble of the new Parliament opened by Queen Elizabeth II, also on May 9, 29 years ago.
"There they (the politicians) don't know each other. Here (at OPH) everybody mingled. There they go back to their own offices. They are surrounded by people who think the same as they do. (They) don't know their opposite numbers or anybody else. It is much easier to be nasty to someone you don't know."
Old Parliament House, for all its failings, created its own dynamic.
"It had it's own culture," Mrs Henderson said. "It made for better government. They debated things; they didn't make electioneering speeches."
Forced propinquity fostered dialogue, the exchange of ideas and the growth of personal respect that transcended political differences and often spanned decades.
"It was its own community; most members didn't even have their own offices; they shared everything. They ate together, they met each other in the corridors, the lavatories, wherever you like."
Today's Parliament, now in the throes of another security upgrade, by contrast excludes the public from most areas and keeps the leaders, members, ministers and press well separated.
"It is like a fortress and they are making it more so," Mrs Henderson, who takes a dim view of the decline in parliamentary conduct in recent decades, said. "I don't think this is good for anybody."
Ross Peake, a former Canberra Times journalist who covered federal politics from Old Parliament House from 1985 until 1988, agreed the atmosphere there had been very different.
"The thing about the old chamber was its intimacy; it brought out the best in the orators, people like John Howard and Paul Keating could really dominate that space," he said.
Secrets were hard to keep, press conferences up close and personal and conspiracies difficult to hide.
The compact layout of the building meant when the press was on the hunt it was hard to hide.
"When you were lining up for lunch you never knew who you would be next to," Mr Peake said. "Kings Hall (between the two chambers) used to be a place to stalk out politicians. If you had a meeting of three people in a broom closet pretty soon everyone knew about it."
Conditions for the media were even more cramped than for the members.
"What we had (in the press gallery) was noisy, smelly offices," he said. "Smoking and drinking were pretty common, we had noisy manual typewriters, noisy desk phones and around deadline time it was absolute chaos. The atmosphere was wonderful."
Former Prime Minister John Howard, who Mr Peake said was one of the greatest orators the country had ever produced, told Fairfax he had always been conscious of the building's history.
"I certainly associated Old Parliament House with major political events such as World War II, the election of the Menzies Government, and the great schism in the Labor Party in the 1950s," he said.
Mrs Henderson said it was the human moments she remembered the most.
"I can remember sitting in here (in the Speaker's Gallery) during the war."
The Speaker's Galleries were small areas set aside for family members and parliamentary guests. Strict rules of conduct applied and these included a ban on knitting.
"After mum (Dame Pattie) died I found a letter from Mrs Street (Geoffrey Street's wife and Tony Street's mother) saying "Dear Bob don't you think it is time we were allowed to knit in Parliament".
"One day Freddie Daly (MHR 1943 to 1975), who was the Labor whip, said to me: "Heather, I'm going out for 10 minutes, look after the boys for me will you." And boys it was in those days."
Mrs Henderson said returning to the Old Parliament House always made her emotional.
"It is alright as long as you concentrate on what you have to do," she said. "The last time (I was here to give a talk) they were giving awards to the long serving volunteer guides and wanted me to say a few things about (my) memories of the house.
"(I told them about) a bloke called Rowley James (MHR 1928 to 1958); he was the coal mining fellow, the Labor member for Hunter. When they first had broadcasting (of parliamentary proceedings) he was in the middle of a speech and said "and Bill, if you're listening, I'm still having trouble with that upper molar and I'll be in on Friday". He spoke to his dentist over the radio."
When Mr Menzies stood down in late January 1966 Mrs Henderson, who was living in Canberra with her diplomat husband, Peter Henderson, was the only family member able to attend.
"We all felt it was probably time and he had been thinking about it for a while. It was an emotional day; it was quite a thing after so long."
