Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2021L01868:reg:2016:p1
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2021L01868
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 2016 (pt 1/11)
Character Range: 525863–528771

2016               Old Parliament House became a Commonwealth Corporate Entity and the Old Parliament House Board was established.

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  As chief architect for Provisional Parliament House, John Smith Murdoch also had the responsibility for the design of the interior. Murdoch's early formal architectural training in Scotland would have been influenced by the stirrings of the revolt against the excesses of the Industrial Age and the emergence of a new 'arts and crafts' order which sought to simplify the link between form and function. Concurrent with this notion was the idea that the expression of interior design should be integral to the architecture. It comes, therefore, as no surprise that Murdoch took his responsibility for the fit-out with the same degree of dedication as he did with the exterior.

  Murdoch's concept for the interior embellishment of the Provisional Parliament House and for the furniture and furnishings did not adopt an overtly nationalistic style. It might have been expected that this new building could have become a vehicle for the expression of an outpouring of Australian sentimentality. Apart from the inclusion of the official insignia of the Australian coat of arms into the exterior and its subdued inclusion as carved wood, etched glass and bronze mouldings on door furniture, there is little in the way of nationalistic ornamentation. Rather, Murdoch's building adopted an international style, and his simple unified approach to the design of the building itself eventually became a distinctive symbol of nationhood.

  The style which Murdoch developed for the interior and the furnishing clearly follows the dictum of his exterior philosophy for Provisional Parliament House. The Stripped Classical style became the underlying influence not only for the interior spaces, but also for the design of the furniture and fittings. He created a successful marriage between classical simplicity, hierarchical order, spatial unity and proportion, and new technology and utility.
  It was therefore with some consternation that Murdoch received news in August 1925 that the gift to the new Australian Parliament from the United Kingdom branch of the Empire Parliamentary Association was to be a replica of the Speaker's Chair from the British House of Commons at Westminster. Designed by AWN Pugin, the original Speaker's Chair was an elaborate canopied ceremonial chair built in Gothic style. Murdoch appreciated the symbolic ties between Australia and England which the chair represented, but he abhorred the idea of the introduction of such a strong visual element into his building. In a letter to WA Gale, the Honorary Secretary of the Australian Branch of the Empire Parliamentary Association he wrote of his concern that the Gothic design 'is harmonious with the architecture of the House of Commons … [but] out of keeping with the simple severe