PARLIAMENT House has four new exhibitions of a patriotic kind opening today (December 2).

Running through into 2023 will be “Representing the Nation: Australia’s Coat of Arms”, “Australia’s First Prime Ministers”, “Meeting of minds: Constitutional Convention” and “Australasian Federal Convention 1897–1898”.

The first follows the evolution of the Coat of Arms parallels Australia’s developing sense of self and place in the world, while a very contemporary questions is explored in a show looking at two constitutional conventions considering very different amendments that took place in in 1942 and 1998.

Of the four exhibitions, the most artistic is noted Canberra printmaker Alison Alder’s series, “Australian Prime Ministers 1-16,” beginning with Edmund Barton.

The prints were produced during her fellowship with the then Australian Prime Ministers Centre at the Museum of Australian Democracy where she created a print series, covering prime ministers nine to 16.

The aim was to reignite interest in the achievements and character of the first 16 Australian Prime Ministers by presenting historical images in the form of a modern-day political poster. Alder completed the project in 2022 and the Parliamentary Library acquired a full set of prints.

Perhaps lesser-known will be the 125th anniversary of the Australasian Federal Convention where, 1897 and 1898, colonial representatives came together at the Australasian Federal Convention to finalise the draft Constitution that would unite the six British colonies into the nation of Australia and establish a new national government.

All exhibitions are free and run at Parliament House until 2023.

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