MoAD and the Courtyard Cafe are open. The chambers will be closed from 17-18 October for the Canberra Writers Festival. Some exhibitions and rooms are closed for essential building works. Learn more

Free entry

Open 9am to 5pm daily
(Closed Christmas Day)
Plan your visit

Find us at

18 King George Terrace, Parkes, ACT
Ngunnawal, Ngunawal, Ngambri Country
View map
A tour group stand in a circle around a tour guide who wears white gloves and stands in front of a bronze statue.
A volunteer takes a photo with a phone of a couple holding a young boy in the Senate Chamber.
Two school children looking at the artwork in Behind the Lines
Two children playing with two PlayUP staff members
A porcelain statue of a boat filled with men, women and children in formal old fashioned outfits wearing bonnets, waist coats and bows and hats. There are 3 figurines win all black with orange vests and machine guns.
A view from across a lake looking over to Old Parliament House, a long white building with a flag on top of it. The Aboriginal Tent Embassy is in front of this.
A man looks at framed cartoons in a political cartooning exhibition at Old Parliament House. Two kids look at a wall of political cartoons in Old Parliament House.

BEHIND THE LINES 2025

Final weeks to visit our annual exhibition celebrating 2025's best political cartoons.

Learn more

PARANORMAL INVESTIGATIONS OF OLD PARLIAMENT HOUSE

Are you game to discover if Old Parliament House is haunted?

Learn more
A long white building, Old Parliament House, with a dark sky and the moon in the background. A section of the Old Parliament House building, with the moon in the night sky in the background.

OLD PARLIAMENT HOUSE

History happened here.

A view into the Senate Chamber looking straight into the room with benches in a U-shape on either side of the centre table. The carpet is a rich red and the seats are red leather. Art deco lights hang from the ceiling and wood timber panels surround the room. This black and white photograph shows the Duke of York reading a message from his father the King in the Senate Chamber. The room is crowded with at least 200 people, mostly men with some women all wearing their best. Men are dressed in suits, military uniform or gowns and wigs while the women wear formal dresses with hats and gloves. The crowd is in a horseshoe shape around the central table while the Duke stands at the head of the table.

Senate Chamber

An office at Old Parliament House with red carpet, a large wooden desk, red leather chairs, wood panelled-walls and a book case. This black and white photograph shows the layout of the Clerk of the Senate’s office in 1985 when it was occupied by Alan Cumming Thom. The timber-panelled room contains a large desk (originally designed by the building’s architect, John Smith Murdoch), glass-fronted built-in bookshelves and a sideboard with an indoor plant. There are a range of visitor chairs and an easy chair in the foreground.

Clerk of the Senate's Office

A pathway in a garden with a series of white timber archways covered in different coloured roses.

Gardens

A green carpeted room with rows of wooden benches in a U shape facing a central table and the large, ornate Speaker's Chair. A colour photograph of the House of Representatives Chamber filled with seated politicians

House of Representatives Chamber

ABC studio a photograph of the ABC studio

Parliamentary Broadcasting and ABC Studio

A modern-day view of the Country Party Room. A large, varnished wooden table with a rounded end takes up the majority of the room, with chairs around it. There is a wooden bookcase on the wall to the back, then a unit of drawers against the wall at the end. A large oval meeting table and chairs dominate the centre of the room. Easy chairs with side tables and lamps are arrayed along the sides and two sofas are arranged in a seating area towards the back of the room. A sideboard with books, a television and sound system stretches along the back wall. There is a framed map on one wall and a notice board on the opposite. Portraits of leaders and formal and informal photographs of the party crowd the walls

Country Party Room

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EXHIBITIONS

PlayUP

A hands-on exhibition with craft, stories, role play and games to foster imagination, inclusion and community.

Behind the Lines 2025 – final weeks Behind the Lines 2025 – final weeks

Behind the Lines 2025 – final weeks

Our annual exhibition of political cartooning.

Democracy DNA: the People, the Prime Ministers and the World

Follow the journey of Australia’s democracy through the debates that have shaped our nation.

Democracy: Are You In? Democracy: Are You In?

Democracy: Are You In?

People have power! Get involved and help shape Australian democracy.

Blueprint Blueprint

Blueprint

Explore the steps we’ve taken to build a uniquely Australian democratic system.

Gurindji freedom banners Gurindji freedom banners

Gurindji freedom banners

Retelling the story of the Wave Hill walk-off.

Explore

A black and white photo of a group of women holding protest signs in 1975. Signs say 'sexism is alive and well in Australia' and 'dress for comfort not style'.

Democracy

How it works, why it matters and the power of your role in it.

A close-up of an ornate coat with gold embroidered leaves and gold buttons embossed with the Australian coat of arms.

Collection

Our collection captures the ideas, movements, people and events of Australian democracy.

A black and white image of a corridor filled with people crowding around one person

Stories

Deep dive into stories about Old Parliament House, Australian history and democracy.

Two smiling people look at framed cartoons on the wall of an exhibition.

Political Cartoons

Explore political cartoons in Behind the Lines exhibitions online.

Explore

A black and white photo of a group of women holding protest signs in 1975. Signs say 'sexism is alive and well in Australia' and 'dress for comfort not style'.

Democracy

How it works, why it matters and the power of your role in it.
A close-up of an ornate coat with gold embroidered leaves and gold buttons embossed with the Australian coat of arms.

Collection

Our collection captures the ideas, movements, people and events of Australian democracy.

A black and white image of a corridor filled with people crowding around one person

Stories

Deep dive into stories about Old Parliament House, Australian history and democracy.
Two smiling people look at framed cartoons on the wall of an exhibition.

Political Cartoons

Explore political cartoons in Behind the Lines exhibitions online.
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