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Old Parliment House: from war to peace
‘It is my melancholy duty to inform you officially that, in consequence of a persistence by Germany in her invasion of Poland, Great Britain has declared war upon her, and that, as a result, Australia is also at war.'
With these words, broadcast from the Cabinet Room in Melbourne on 3 September 1939, Prime Minister Robert Menzies informed Australians that the Second World War had begun.
As the war raged, political life continued in Australia. When divisions in the United Australia Party led Robert Menzies to resign in 1941, the Country Party's Arthur Fadden briefly took the reins. A month later it was the turn of the Labor Party and John Curtin became Australia's new prime minister.
By 1942, the Australian mainland was under sustained assault and the people of Canberra joined other Australians in planning to resist a Japanese invasion. Staff readied Parliament House for a possible bomb attack.
Now, 60 years after the end of the war, an exhibition at Old Parliament House, My Melancholy Duty: Menzies and Curtin in the Second World War, is telling the dramatic and moving stories of our wartime Prime Ministers through mementos, objects, sound and film.
Visitors to My Melancholy Duty can read Menzies' personal diary that details his dramatic visit to wartime London in 1941. It would have been political dynamite if it had fallen into the wrong hands back then, and it still makes compelling reading today.
Also on show is a film Menzies made of the blitz, and his own rare memento of the meeting between Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt, that resulted in the Atlantic Charter of 1941.
John Curtin's Labor Government came to power in 1941. His story is explored in a travelling exhibition from the John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library, John Curtin's Legacy: Leading Australia from war to peace. Personal memorabilia, wartime posters, cablegrams, radio broadcasts and interviews by and about Curtin bring to life the story of his wartime government.
Old Parliament House is now heritage-listed and is an award-winning tourist attraction. Its exhibitions, tours and events allow visitors to relive momentous Australian events.
As home to the Australian Parliament throughout the Second World War, many of the war-time dramas unfolded in Old Parliament House's corridors, offices and chambers. That makes this exhibition all the more evocative in retelling the defeats, despair and ultimate victory of those days.
My Melancholy Duty: Menzies and Curtin in the Second World War is on show at Old Parliament House, Canberra until 29 January 2006. The exhibition is supported by the Australian Government's Saluting Their Service commemorations program, and includes John Curtin's Legacy: Leading Australia from war to peace, a travelling exhibition of the John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library, Perth.
Visit www.oph.gov.au for more information about Old Parliament House and its exhibitions.