Parliament House

The Parliament House is located right outside the city gardens on the banks of the Brisbane River. The Parliament House is the seat of the Queensland Parliament. Queen Victoria separated “Queensland” from New South Wales on June 6, 1859 and it was originally to be called “Cooksland” but was changed to Queensland in her honor.

The lobby is where they roll out the red carpet for visiting dignitaries, unfortunately I did not qualify to receive such royal treatment and had to enter the visitor’s entrance and go through a metal detector. But I did receive a personalized tour as I was the only visitor at the time!

The stained glass windows on either side contain texts from Psalm 127.  They are of the Prince and Princess of Wales at the time of the 1860’s construction of the lobby, who later became King Edward VII and his wife Alexandra. The staircase leads to the two upper floors with the debating chambers and Member’s Reading Room on the first floor and the galleries and Library on the second floor.

The Legislative Assembly Chamber has green carpet while the Legislative Council Chambers has red carpet copying the colors of the House of Commons and House of Lords in England. Since March 1922 the Queensland Parliament is the only Australian State Parliament not to have an upper House. Therefore the Legislative Council Chamber is mainly used for ceremonial and formal events. It made it all the more personal to see the chambers as I was able to picture who sat where after seeing many government officials on the news during the flooding.

The two Waterford crystal chandeliers and side lights in the Legislative Council Chamber are taken down once a year and the thousand or so pieces are cleaned and polished.

I’m following Rachel’s advice and always taking my camera with me and I have even been bringing an extra memory card in case I take too many pictures. Sadly I forgot all about making sure my camera was fully charged and my battery ran out partway through the tour. But I hope go back with Bob sometime, I think he would really enjoy it and I can get more pictures then.

Sometimes I wish I had brought our Canon camera with the telescopic lens. Do they still develop 35mm film? Oh well, they may not be great pictures but I’m getting lots of them.