Morrie Adamson, born 1926 in Queanbeyan, NSW, worked at Old Parliament House between 1964 and 1986, initially as Secretary to the Public Works Committee and subsequently as Secretary to a number of HOR standing and select committees. He became Senior Parliamentary Officer supervising HOR Committee Secretariats in 1977 and then Secretary of the Sub-committee of the Joint Standing Committee on the New Parliament House which considered the future use of Provisional Parliament House during 1983-84. From 1984 to 1986 he was Senior Private Secretary to the Speaker, Dr Harry Jenkins. He retired in January 1986.

Anne Andgel discusses her life and her work at the 1954 Royal Commission on Espionage.

Interview with Senator Terry Aulich, Labor Senator for Tasmania, Parliament House, Canberra 7th April 1989.

Interview with Paul Austin, Political Correspondent for The Australian, Parliament House, Canberra, Thursday 9th of November, 1989.

Born in Brisbane in 1957, Laura Beacroft came to Canberra in 1974. She worked in the Parliamentary Library on a casual basis in 1975 and was in the building on November 11, 1975.

Interview with Kim Beazley Minister for Defence, Parliament House, Canberra May 30th, 1989.

Nan Boyd was born in Melbourne and came to Canberra with her parents as a baby in 1926. The interview is rich in childhood and young adult memories of Canberra in the 1930s and 1940s. Her mother, Henrietta (nee Obbinson) was a pioneer in the Mothercraft movement in Canberra in the 1930s. Her father, Charles Daley, was secretary of the Federal Capital Commission in the 1920s and later became Assistant Secretary of the Department of Interior.

Interview with Neil Brown, Shadow Attorney General, Parliament House, Canberra May 3rd 1989.

Interview with Wallace Brown, Senior Correspondent with the Brisbane Courier Mail, member of the Press Gallery, Parliament House, Canberra, Monday October 16th 1989.

Interview with Senator David Brownhill, National Party Senator for New South Wales. Parliament House, Canberra, Tuesday June 13th, 1989.

Bryan Butler, born in 1944, was a radio journalist with 2CA from approximately 1965 to 1968.

John Campbell was appointed to Hansard in 1960, working in the provisional Parliament House until 1988 and then in the new Parliament House until 1990 when he retired from the post of Principal Parliamentary Reporter. He was born in Brisbane in 1935.

Cheryl Cartwright, journalist and manager, came to Canberra in 1978 to work as a secretary for Prime Minister Fraser. In 1980 she enrolled in university studies and in 1984 returned to the provisional Parliament House as a journalist. She worked in the Press Gallery before moving to Adelaide to work in 1988. She returned to Canberra in 1990 and worked as a reporter in the new Parliament House. In 1993-94 she worked for the Shadow Treasurer and Leader and in 1996 was active in John Howard’s election campaign.

Rob Chalmers, the Press Gallery’s longest serving journalist, explains why the Rose Garden annexe for parliamentarians was built in the 1980s and how Prime Minister Bob Hawke saved the day for the Press Gallery.

Interview with Senator Grant Chapman, Liberal Senator for South Australia. Parliament House, Canberra, June 6th 1989.

Interview with Ric Charlesworth, Labor Backbencher, Parliament House, Canberra May 29th, 1989.

Interview with Peter Cleeland, Labor Backbencher, Parliament House, Canberra May 24th 1989.

Caroline Cooper MVO, born in England, worked at the provisional Parliament House between November 1976 and 1979 in Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser’s office, initially as Private Secretary to Press Secretary David Barnett, then as Private Secretary to Chief of Staff Dale Budd. She also worked at the provisional Parliament House from early 1980 to March 1983 as Private Secretary to the Prime Minister’s wife Tamie Fraser and then for some months in Malcolm Fraser’s Melbourne office. Subsequently she worked in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet from 1983 to 1997.

Interview with Manfred Cross, Parliament House, Canberra April 11th, 1989.

Interview with Barry Cunningham, Labor government Whip in the House of Representatives, Parliament House, Canberra, 11th May 1989.

Paul Davey was born in England in 1947 and migrated to Australia in 1966. He became a journalist in 1966 and worked with the Press Gallery in Canbera 1969 and the 1970s. He also worked overseas and around Australia before becoming Senior Private Secretary to the Hon. Peter Nixon (1978-83) and then Federal Director of the National Party of Australia (1983-92). He was later a Senior Adviser to the Hon. John Anderson (1995-96) and General Secretary of the National Party (NSW Branch) (1997-2000).

Jack Dealy discusses his work as a policeman in Canberra in the 1950s and 1960s. He recalls street and court duties, escorting prisoners to Goulburn Gaol, and dealing with protests outside and inside Parliament House. He also talks about the Police Association and his commitment to the Police Citizens and Youth Club in Canberra. A highlight relates to his experiences with Raymond Fitzpatrick and Frank Browne, newspaper editors who were imprisoned for three months by the Parliament in 1955 for breach of privilege.

Harry Evans was the longest serving Clerk of the Senate, serving from 1988 to 2009. Born at Lithgow in 1946, he died in Canberra on 7 September 2014. The interview was recorded in 1989 by Greg McIntosh, Political Science Fellow at the Australian Parliament, for his project Rounding up the Flock? Executive Dominance and the New Parliament House.

Born in 1929, John Farquharson’s eminent career as a journalist led him from the Goulburn Goulburn Post in 1951 to parliamentary reporter and New South Wales State Political correspondent for Australian United Press, and then to the Federal Press Gallery, Canberra, as parliamentary reporter (1952-1957). He returned to duties with Australian United Press in Canberra (1960-1964) and, after a year in Papua New Guinea where he edited the South Pacific Post (1965), he became senior sub-editor of The Canberra Times in 1966. He had 22 years with the Canberra Times, during which time he served variously as Chief of Staff, News Editor, Assistant Editor and​ Deputy Editor and, in 1992, as sub-editor.

Interview with Eric Fitzgibbon, Labor Backbencher, Parliament House, Canberra, 9 May, 1989.

Mr Freedman talks about his five years from 1951 in the Press Gallery in the provisional Parliament House with the Melbourne Argus newspaper.

Steve Gavin, born in Brisbane in 1944, worked in the Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet from 1970 to 1980 and was a Cabinet note-taker for three years from 1976 to 1978.

Interview with George Gear, Labor Backbencher, Parliament House, Canberra 10th May, 1989.

Interview with Senator Janine Haines, Leader of the Australian Democrats, Wednesday April 12th, 1989, Parliament House, Canberra.

Interview with Bob Halverson, Liberal backbencher, Parliament House, Canberra May 25th, 1989.

Interview with Peter Harvey, Director of Channel Nine News, in the Press Gallery, Parliament House, Canberra, Thursday 12 October, 1989.

Lesley Hindley (nee Hyde) speaks about her early associations with the provisional Parliament House, through working as a typist in the early 1950s to her husband Rob Chalmers’ long involvement with the Press Gallery as a journalist. Mrs. Hindley’s daughter, Susan Pitt (nee Chalmers) sat in on the interview and contributes at times.

Beryl Hunt worked at Old Parliament House for approximately twenty-seven years, between 1950 and 1989. Her service was in several different time frames and in a variety of jobs. This included as a stenographer in a minister’s office and the Prime Minister’s office as a Hansard typist and in the Press Gallery.

Meryl Hunter worked as a telephonist in the provisional Parliament House from 1946 to1948. She also talks about her father’s work from 1927 to the 1950s as an attendant and House Keeper, her childhood involvement in the building, and early Canberra from the 1930s to the 1950s.

Frank Jennings was Senior Private Secretary to Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies from 1963 to 1966 and Prime Minister Harold Holt from 1966 to 1967. He was also Private Secretary to Ralph Hunt, Minister for Health and Minister for Transport from 1978 to 1983. He was born at Ballina, New South Wales, in 1930, and came to Canberra to work in the public service in the early 1950s.

Fred Johnson worked on the Parliament House construction site in the mid-1920s. After the Parliament House was opened in 1927, he joined the parliamentary staff, working in the building until his retirement in 1967, when he was Deputy Principal Attendant and Keeper of the Mace. Born in Sydney in 1907, he died at Queanbeyan in 2001.

John ‘Giff’ Jones was a Parliamentary Liaison Officer, House of Representatives, in the early 1970s. He was head of office and senior adviser to the Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Multicultural Affairs in 1988. Born in 1934, he died in 2014.

Interview with John Kain, Head of the economics section of the Research Service in the Parliamentary Library, on 12 September, 1989.

Interview with John Kerin, Minister for Primary Industry, Parliament House, Tuesday 18 April, 1989.

Interview with Geoff Kitney, Senior Political Correspondent for the Financial Review, Press Gallery, Parliament House Canberra, Tuesday October 17th, 1989.

Interview with John Langmore, Labor Backbencher, Parliament House, Canberra, Thursday April 13th 1989

Terry Larkin talks about his work in the Department of Treasury from 1958 to 1974, including his time as Principal Private Secretary to the Treasurer, Harold Holt, in 1960 and 1961, and his background and career path.

Interview with Paul Lyneham, the presenter of the Seven Thirty Report from Canberra with the ABC, Wednesday, 18 October, 1989.

Born in 1928 in Burnie Tasmania, Barry Lyons is a surviving son of Joseph and Enid Lyons, and was 86 at the time of interview. Joseph Lyons was Prime Minister of Australia from 1932 to 1939 when he died in office. Dame Enid Lyons was the first woman to be elected to the House of Representatives. She served from 1943 to 1951.

Interview with Senator Michael Macklin, Deputy Leader of the Australian Democrats, Parliament House, Canberra, 8th May 1989.

Interview with Ian Macphee, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, Parliament House, Canberra 29th May 1989.

Roger Martindale, born 1943 in England, was a police constable in the UK until 1973 when he migrated to Australia. He joined the Commonwealth Police (now AFP) VIP protection service in 1973 which included being part of Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser’s security team in 1978 and thereafter that of the Governor-General Sir Zelman Cowen from 1979 to 1982. On Bob Hawke’s election as PM he joined his security detail and became Director of PM’s Protection 1983-1990, working later in other security and personal protection areas of the AFP until his retirement in 1998.

Interview with Stewart McArthur, Liberal, Parliament House, Canberra, 15th June 1989.

Interview with Senator McKiernan, Labor Party, Western Australia, Parliament House, Canberra, Thursday 8 June, 1989.

Interview with Senator Bob McMullan, Labor, Friday May 5th 1989.

Interview with Senator Tony Messner, Liberal Senator for South Australia. Parliament House, Canberra, Wednesday June 14th, 1989.

Stephen Mills was born in Victoria in 1954. From 1977 to 1983 he worked in the Parliamentary Press Gallery as a reporter for The Age. In 1986 he joined Prime Minister Bob Hawke’s staff as a speech writer, a position he held until 1991 when he rejoined the Parliamentary Press Gallery working for the Australian Financial Review until 1993.

Kate Moore was born in England and migrated to Canberra in 1968. From 1970 to 1977 she worked for World University Service and for the Australian Council for Overseas Aid. From 1977 to 1983 she was Executive Assistant to the National Secretary of the Australian Labor Party and from 1983 to 1987 National Organizer, the first elected female national official of the of the ALP. She was also International Secretary of the ALP from 1984 to 1987. From 1987 to 1990 she was Advisor and then Senior Private Secretary to the Minister for Health and Community Services, Neal Blewett.

Interview with Gary Nehl, National Party backbencher, Thursday 25 May, 1989.

An interview with John O’Callaghan, Private Secretary to the Minister for Defence, Parliament House, Canberra, Monday August 21st, 1989.

Interview with Neil O’Keefe, Labor Backbencher, Parliament House, Canberra 3rd May 1989.

Interview with Senator John Panizza, Liberal Senator for Western Australia, Parliament House, Canberra. Wednesday, June 14th 1989.

Interview with Jim Pender, Clerk of Committees, House of Representatives. Parliament House, Canberra. Thursday August 24th, 1989.

Interview with Peter Roberts, Committee Secretary, House of Representatives, Parliament House, Canberra. Thursday, August 24th, 1989.

Interview with Phillip Ruddock, Liberal Party, Parliament House Canberra, May 10th 1989.

Russell Schneider was born in Sydney in 1946 and grew up in Newtown. He worked as a journalist in the Press Gallery from 1968 to 1983. During that time, in 1975, he became Press Secretary to Senator Reg Withers but returned to the Press Gallery in 1978. In 1983, he became Chief Executive Officer and a lobbyist for the Voluntary Health Insurance Association, a position he held until retirement in 2005.

Interview with Con Sciacca, Labor Party Backbencher, Parliament House, Canberra May 25th 1989.

Daryl Smeaton was born in Victoria in 1949. In 1971 he was Departmental Liaison Officer to the Attorney-General and from 1973 to 1975 he provided Ministerial Services to the Special Minister of State. Between 1987 and 1994 he worked as Senior Private Secretary to two Ministers for Justice, Michael Tate and Duncan Kerr.

Interview with Warwick Smith, Parliament House Canberra, Thursday April 13th 1989.

Interview with Bryan Stait, Parliamentary Library Researcher, Parliament House, Canberra, on Monday 11 September, 1989.

Carol Summerhayes was born in Sydney in 1942 and worked in the provisional Parliament House between April 1967 and April 1975, initially as Stenographer in the Office of the Leader of the Opposition, Gough Whitlam, (working primarily with Graham Freudenberg, Mr Whitlam’s press secretary and speech writer) and from December 1972 as Personal Secretary to the Prime Minister. She subsequently worked in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet until 1995 when she became Deputy Official Secretary to the Governor-General. She retired in 1999.

Raeburn Trindall (1935-2014) was a prominent Australian cinematographer. He began his career in 1950 at Associated Film Laboratory before joining Movietone News in the camera department in 1955. He was soon elevated to being a Newsreel cinematographer and remained there till early 1961 – then went freelance as a cinematographer, often working for the TV networks, Cinesound Review, Commonwealth Film Unit and Army Public Relations.

Josephine (‘Jo’) Vallentine, born in 1946, is an Australian peace activist and former senator for Western Australia. She entered the Senate on 1 July 1985 after election as a member of the Nuclear Disarmament Party but sat as an independent and then as a member of the Greens Western Australia from 1 July 1990. She resigned on 31 January 1992. This interview was conducted as part of the ‘Women in Leadership’ project in 2011.

Barrie Virtue OBE was born at Lismore, NSW, in 1932. Between 1964 and 1984 he served as Press Secretary, Private Secretary and Principal Private Secretary to the Rt. Hon. Doug Anthony. During the interview, Mr Virtue sings a song, the words of which he wrote, to a tune based on one by the English composer, Arthur Sullivan (of Gilbert and Sullivan fame). The song begins: “I am the very model of a modern Trade Commissioner, with GATT and GATS and EIAs I’m more or less familiar…”

Brian Walshe was an attendant in the House of Representatives in the provisional Parliament House from 1980 to 1988. He remained an attendant with the Parliament until retirement in 2007. He was born at Shepparton, Victoria, in 1934.

Interview with Peter White, Shadow Minister for Defence, at Parliament House, Canberra, on 4 May, 1989.

Interview with Bernard Wright, Clerk Assistant, Procedure. Department of the House of Representatives, Parliament House, Canberra, 14 September, 1989.

Issy Wyner was born at Paddington, Sydney, in 1916 and grew up in the Rozelle-Balmain area. This interview was recorded specifically for his recollections of life in working class Sydney during the 1930s Depression, as part of research and preparation for the museum’s 2007 exhibition Scarred and Strengthened.

Interview with Senator Olive Zakharov, Labor, Victoria, at Parliament House, Canberra, 8 May, 1989.