Sunday, June 25, 2006

Parliament House Open Day

Sunday the 25th June 2006 marks the 150th anniversary of the Parliament of the state of Victoria. The Parliament officially opened as the seat of democracy exactly 150 years ago today.

To celebrate this 150th anniversary the Parliament welcomes all to come and walk the corridors of power and view the historic chambers of the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council.

This is a rare opportunity which I did not intend to miss out on. The queue was long but the crowd was moving along quite quickly. Everyone had to undergo a security check before entering!

Entry is free, its all paid for by the tax payers aka you and I! Once they are satisfied you are not a threat all visitors enter through this front entrance leading into the Vestibule which is the main entrance Hall to Parliament House.

This is the Vestibule or the entrance Hall of the Parliament. Here you get your brochures and guides and a little map showing you how to find your ways around the Parliament House. From here we move into...

...the Queen's Hall named in honour of Queen Victoria. The Hall provides a venue for ceremonial occasions, official receptions and dinners as well as exhibitions and displays. You can check out the portraits of past Premiers on both sides of the walls.

Moving from the Queen's Hall, we walk through a corridor leading into the Chamber of Legislative Assembly. This is where important parliamentary proceedings take place. Today its taken over by the mob!

From the Legislative Assembly Chamber we moved past the Dining Rooms and out the back into the Gardens of Parliament House where there's a bowling green as well as a tennis court. Man those politicians sure know how to enjoy during work!

We make our way back from the gardens and into the Parliamentary Library filled from the ceiling to the floor tons of boring law books! The library actually consists of 3 main rooms; the Central Reading Room and 2 smaller rooms refered to as the North and South Libraries.

An impressive feature of the Central Reading Room is the chandelier which drops down from the magnificent dome made of brass and 2,000 pieces of crystal. Good to know my tax dollars putting to good use!

Next we move onto the Chamber of Legislative Council which has a grander finish than the Legislative Assembly Chamber with its large freemasons columns and Roman Corinthian style architecture.

It also has a magnificent ceiling that got me inspired with awe! It boasts Hannover eagles, Tudor roses and delicate sculptures of symbolic figures...plus a lot of hours of menial paintings!

Well thats the main level done so we'll walk up the marble stairs to the 2nd level to check out the Legislative Council Committee Room and other Parliamentary Committees displays.

This is the Legislative Council Committee Room where committees are formed to investigate and report on matters on behalf of Parliament. Too hard for my small brain, lets get out of here!

We are going to the basement level where some of the ministers have their offices but along the way we get to view the Vestibule and the Queen's Hall from an elevated angle showing the grandeur architectures.

Walking down the stairs to the basement level we can see ministerial offices built in between the supporting columns of the Parliament House. These cater for some of the ministers and members of parliament needs.


That takes us to the end of the tour. I managed to grab a lot of leaflets, brochures, pamphlets, bookmarks, badges, fridge-magnet and even a chocolate coin for keepsake. What do I do with them now?

15 comments:

Alex Allied said...

woooo...you didn't bring me there :/

Anonymous said...

Wooo... you didn't bring me there too :)
As for the the things you grabbed, you can mail them to me for me to keep. I want the fridge-magnet and chocolate coin :D

Anonymous said...

Beautiful Parliment House. Wish I can stay there.

No no mail em to me. :)

Anonymous said...

well, you can shove the chocolate coin into your mouth, stick the magnet on the fridge and use all those brochures as toilet papers. LOL.

Anonymous said...

I knew it! U were there ONLY for the freebies! Bookmarks, badges, fridge magnet, chocolate coin...!! Guess ur principle must be "The best things in life are free!" BTW, was watching Jey Leno and this guest comedian said that gays love parades!!! Eeee...u always go to parades, rite?

me said...

well, you can make aeroplanes and boats from the paper, sell the bookmarks and fridge-magnet, attack someone with the needle on the badges and eat the coin. but if you see any stamps, they are mine. mine. mine. mine. ok?

Wuching said...

alex allied: sorry about saturday but i was waiting for the other alex to let me know if he could make it & i was also waiting for ur reply to my sms on where to go!

neo: sure can, give me ur address now..

che-cheh: u can do 1 on malaysian parliament!

ah pek: those papers no good for toilet use coz too glossy & hard..will block toilet summore!

STP: what's wrong with that? its my tax dollars that paid for the day too so i was merely recuperating!

me: i don't think anyone would buy the bookmarks & fridge-magnet but i'll keep my eyes open for some stamps for u! btw, u feel better today after a couple of days rest?

Helen said...

Very beautiful ler.....

Hey, what security check is that?? Did they strip you?? :-P

Francis Ho said...

Thanks for sharing this with us ... probably the highlight of my day! ;)ZZZzzzz

Cocka Doodle said...

This is so befitting....i.e. land of convicts, parliament, politicians. LOL

Wuching said...

helen: oh not only did they strip me, they probe me with anal probe also! hahahaha!

fh2o: go sleep in your kayak lah!

cocka: ...and of cina ah pek!

Helen said...

I hope they lubricated you first.... :-P

Wuching said...

helen: yes but before that they gave me an enema first! then they lube me up real good & brokeback me! stretched me! aiya...syiok lah! hahahahahaha!

a.c.t. said...

I went there 5 years ago. It really was a bit zzzzzzzzzzzzz. PerhapS an anal probe might have livened things up a bit!

Wuching said...

a.c.t: u can say that again..i look forward to the anal probe..

SA: its free, what's there to refund?