The move up the Hill to the new Parliament House stressed staff on this day in 1989, so much so the government was paying for courses to help them cope.
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The manager of the Human Resource Development section of the Joint House Department, Roslynn Dadd, said the swap from the relatively cosy home for an unfamiliar mansion, and dealing with the public in larger numbers than before, had taken its toll.
The department had run courses to show service staff how to manage stress, how to be polite and well-groomed and generally present a better face to the public.
"Moving to the new Parliament House was a massive change and proved to be very stressful," Ms Dadd said. "Staff numbers increased from about 100 to 500-plus and they found themselves working in a highly-intelligent building. Training is needed to help people cope with their new environment and build up their self-confidence."
Ms Dadd said the most popular courses had been in stress management and customer relations, and the second most popular was style and personal management, previously called deportment and grooming. The style and personal management course, run by Wanda's modelling academy, was so popular most staff took it, including engineers and gardeners.
