"As an Aboriginal person, I come to this room when I need inspiration," she said.

The ring on the portrait of Linda Burney, the first Aboriginal woman elected to the House of Representatives, is particularly significant.

While it was a bit of artistic licence, as she wasn't actually wearing the ring, Burney, in her portrait, is wearing the Aboriginal flag on her finger.

"At Parliament House, we fly the Aboriginal flag with abundance during National Reconciliation Week and NAIDOC Week. But the only permanent symbol of the flag [at Parliament House] is on Linda Burney's finger," Ms Kirkwood said, of the portrait.

It's insights such as that which are putting Parliament House in a new light with a new tour revealing the Indigenous experience of the people, its parliamentarians and staff, its artworks and other significant exhibits.

The tour is free and is intended to be run for the next year, constructed with the advice of local Aboriginal elders.

Ms Kirkwood, the assistant director of indigenous engagement and strategy with the Parliamentary Services, says even the site of Parliament House is significant.

She says the hill on which it was built was a traditional meeting place for Aboriginal people for thousands of years, the tour taking visitors to the roof of Parliament House to take in the full vista.

"This reminds us where our feet are placed," Ms Kirkwood said.

There are about 6000 artworks in the Parliament House collection, with about 2 per cent on display at any time.

The tour takes in specific Aboriginal artwork, including paintings and photography.

So, too, the portraits of the Aboriginal pioneers - Ms Burney; Neville Bonner, the first Aboriginal senator; and Ken Wyatt, the first indigenous Australian elected to the House of Representatives, the first to serve as a minister and the first appointed to cabinet.

Ms Kirkwood points out all three trailblazers were born before the 1967 referendum, which paved the way for the Commonwealth to make laws for Aboriginal people and include them in the census.

"For them to live through that time as children and for them to end up where they did, is interesting and complex and challenging to think about," she said.

Another portrait of former Aboriginal senator, Nova Peris, is in the works.

The tour is about stopping and reflecting on the Aboriginal experience that can be overlooked, at first glance.

The 16-metre-long Great Hall Embroidery, for example, tells the story of the settlement of Australia, from pre-European times to 1900. It was designed by artist Kay Lawrence and is the handwork of more than 500 women from Embroiderers' Guilds around Australia

It also has the words of a poem by Aboriginal poet Sam Woolagoodja subtly woven through it.

The tour also stops to take in the words of the 2008 national apology to Australia's indigenous people and the Barunga Statement from 1988, an historic declaration of self-determination and the celebration of Aboriginal cultures.

Visitors officer Rosie Bruce said the tour was decided to be informal and for lots of interaction and questions between guide and visitor.

"Some people have a very emotional reaction to it," she said.

"We don't tell people what they should believe or feel, we just present the facts."