A Day of Significance
Roslyn Russell describes how the 1927 opening of Parliament House was a memorable experience for the widows of three former prime ministers The first seat of the Commonwealth Parliament in Canberra was opened by the Duke of York on 9 May 1927, 26 years after his father—then King George V, but in 1901 the Duke of Cornwall and York—had opened the first session of federal parliament in Melbourne’s Royal Exhibition Building on the same day of the year. A large crowd gathered on the dusty Limestone Plains to celebrate the opening of this building that glimmered white amid the scattered structures of the new federal capital. For three women present this occasion had a special significance. Twenty six years earlier on that date in May, they had all been wives—now they were widows.Their husbands had places of honour in the ranks of those gathered in the Royal Exhibition Building, and commemorated in Tom Roberts’ Opening of the First Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, May 9, 1901 which he called ‘The Big Picture’. For these men had been prominent among those who had fought the battle to achieve the federation of the Australian colonies, inaugurated on the first day of the 20th century, 1 January 1901. On that auspicious date the highest achievements of their political careers lay before them. They were the first, second and fourth prime ministers of federated Australia: Sir Edmund Barton, Alfred Deakin and Sir George Reid. Barton was Australia’s first prime minister from 1901 to October 1903, when he retired from politics to become a Justice of the High Court of Australia. Deakin was prime minister from September 1903 to March 1904, and again from July 1905 to November 1908. Reid’s government succeeded the short-lived Labour (later Labor) ministry of John Watson, and was in office from August 1904 to July 1905. Reid became Australia’s first high commissioner to London in 1909, and capped off his political career with a seat in the British House of Commons. Barton died in 1920, Deakin in 1919 and Reid in 1918. All had lived to see the Yass–Canberra area selected as the site for the federal capital and the choice of a design for the city by a young architect from Chicago, Illinois, called Walter Burley Griffin. All three of them would have heard of the name bestowed on the capital city—Canberra—by Lady Denman, wife of the Governor-General, in March 1913. But for them the federal capital would always be Melbourne, the temporary location of Australia’s government until its new home was built. After the flurry of activity around the selection of the federal capital site, the international design competition to select a plan for the city, and the naming of the place that would come to symbolise the government of the nation, its realisation lagged. When Edward, Prince of Wales, visited Australia in 1920, the Bulletin’s cartoonist, Livingston Hopkins, lampooned Canberra—to which the Prince was the first royal visitor—as a place destined to consist entirely of foundation stones. It was not until August 1923 that the first sod was turned to commence work on the provisional Parliament House. It was to be the key building of the federal capital and John Smith Murdoch had designed it in the stripped classical style. We now call this heritage-listed building Old Parliament House, and regard it as an icon of our political and social history. Lady Barton, Mrs Deakin and Dame Reid all came to Canberra for the grand opening of the provisional Parliament House. As had been the case on that occasion 6 years before—when they accompanied their husbands to the many ceremonies and official functions surrounding the inauguration of the Commonwealth and the first sitting of federal parliament—a member of the British royal family was to do the honours. King George V sent his second son, the Duke of York (the future King George VI) and his Duchess (known to us now as the late Queen Mother), to open the provisional Parliament House and mark the transfer of government from Melbourne to Canberra. Special seating had been erected outside the building so invited guests could see Prime Minister Stanley Melbourne Bruce hand the Duke a golden key to unlock the door of the Commonwealth Parliament’s new home.
The papers of all three former prime ministerial widows present on that day in 1927 are held in the National Library of Australia’s Manuscript Collection. They include items relating to their visits to Canberra for this grand occasion such as invitations, orders of ceremony, details of transport arrangements and railway passes, entry tickets, menus, medallions and newspaper clippings. In its coverage of the ceremony, The Age noted the presence of the three women whose husbands had played key roles in the early history of the Commonwealth under the sub-heading, ‘Widows of Statesmen’:
From an undated newspaper article in the Deakin Papers it is clear that at least one person was sensitive to the poignancy of the prime ministerial widows’ position at this event, and felt that Mrs Deakin at least had been somewhat sidelined. The unknown journalist (probably a woman) wrote:
Once the Duke had turned the key, the assembled dignitaries and invited guests proceeded to the Senate Chamber, where the Duke read an address from his father the King. The Age took the opportunity to pay a further tribute to the prime ministerial widows and their elegant ensembles:
After the ceremony the invited guests sat down to lunch. Lady Reid kept the menu, and it is preserved among her papers in the Manuscript Collection: Luncheon Menu 9 May 1927
The fashion commentary continued in reports of a ‘brilliant’ evening reception characterised by ‘women’s resplendent dressing’. Pattie Deakin shone again at this event, according to the Melbourne Herald:
Mrs Deakin later gave her verdict on the ceremony, the infant capital city, and the provisions made for its new citizens. In her opinion, ‘the opening of parliament at the Federal Capital was not so impressive as the opening of Federal Parliament’. She attributed this to the fact that ‘the former occasion represented the realisation of long years of my husband’s labour. In some ways the ceremony at Canberra was not so Australian in spirit’. Nevertheless, there were touching moments for Mrs Deakin in Canberra. She met an usher who had known Alfred Deakin, who said: ‘I miss him very much. He was a gentleman.’ She also saw an enlarged photograph of her husband in the library, positioned above the gold casket containing the Freedom of the City of London presented to Deakin, encountered other staff from Deakin’s prime ministerial days, and met Sir Littleton Groom, a member of the Deakin Ministry. For Mrs Deakin, the military review was ‘the most impressive spectacle at Canberra’:
She was not nearly so impressed with Canberra itself: ‘At this juncture Canberra suggests little more than an architectural plan.’ Always concerned for the welfare of women and children, Mrs Deakin hoped ‘that play areas for the youth of Canberra have not been forgotten’. She took her concern even further when served powdered milk, taking the opportunity to stress the importance of fresh milk for babies, and commending the Mothercraft Association for its ‘good work’. She also noted the high rents for residential and commercial properties, but praised the ‘perfect’ sewerage system and water supply, ‘a rare thing in a new Australian territory’. Overall, though, Mrs Deakin felt that she was ‘too democratic to approve of the arrangement of citizens being located according to their incomes’. Prime ministers Barton, Deakin and Reid are commemorated in three of Canberra’s inner suburbs. The names also encompass their wives, who came to the infant city to honour the work of their late husbands in the creation of the Commonwealth which gave it birth.
Roslyn Russell is a historian and museum specialist
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