Parliament House of Australia
The 'new' Parliament House building on Capital Hill was completed in 1988, replacing the Old Parliament House building as the home of Australi's Parliament.
The building is designed in the shape of two boomerangs and much of the building is buried under Capital Hill. At the time of construction, it was the most expensive building in the Southern Hemisphere.
Parliament house is open to visitors and entry is free of charge. Tours are available and visitors are able to watch proceedings when Parliament is in session.
As Australia is still a part of the Commonwealth and the UK, we follow the Westminster system with a bi-cameral parliamentary system. The Lower Hosue (The House of Representatives) and the Upper House (The Senate).
The building is designed in the shape of two boomerangs and much of the building is buried under Capital Hill. At the time of construction, it was the most expensive building in the Southern Hemisphere.
Parliament house is open to visitors and entry is free of charge. Tours are available and visitors are able to watch proceedings when Parliament is in session.
As Australia is still a part of the Commonwealth and the UK, we follow the Westminster system with a bi-cameral parliamentary system. The Lower Hosue (The House of Representatives) and the Upper House (The Senate).
The Senate, consists of 76 members, this is comprised of 12 members from each state, and two from each mainland territory. Senators are elected using a form of proportional voting called the Heir Clarke System. The House of Representatives currently consists of 150 members, who represent their districts known as electoral divisions. The number of members is not fixed, and can vary with boundary changes resulting from electoral redistributions. The two Houses meet in seperate chambers of Parliament House, with the House of Representatives being denoted with green furnishings and the Senate with red.
The Commonwealth Parliament was opened on the 9th of May 1901 in Melbourne by then The Prince George, Duke of Cornwall and York, later to become King George V. The only building back then large enough to house all 14,000 guests in Melbourne was the Royal Exhibition Building . From 1901 to 1927 Parliament convened in Parliament House Melbourne which it burrowed from the state of Victoria, and on the 9th of May 1927 they moved to the the 'Old Parliament House' which back then was supposed to be a temporary building, but ended up housing the members for over 60 years. They only moved to the new Parliament House building when it was opened on the 9th of May 1988.
More information regarding Parliament House can be found at http://www.aph.gov.au/parl.htm.
Information and picures with thanks from Parliament House, and www.wikipedia.org
