Image: Visitors viewing Tom Roberts’ ‘Big Picture’ at Parliament House, Canberra. Photo: AUSPIC, Department of Parliamentary Services. Tom Roberts (1856–1931), Opening of the First Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia by H.R.H. The Duke of Cornwall and York (Later King George V), May 9, 1901 (detail), 1903, oil on canvas. On permanent loan to the Parliament of Australia from the British Royal Collection. Image courtesy of the Parliament House Art Collections and the Royal Collection Trust. © His Majesty King Charles III 2023.
Australian Parliament House in Canberra will present ‘125 Years of Federation: Our Parliament and its Presiding Officers’, a free commemorative display tracing key moments in Australia’s parliamentary history through paintings, objects and documents. The display will run from 7 September to 4 December 2026 in the Main Committee Room Foyer.
Organised within the Parliament House visitor and art programme, the presentation marks the 125-year anniversary of Australia’s Federation. Its stated scope reaches from the movement to federate the six British colonies and the celebrations of 1901 to later milestones in parliamentary leadership and the work of the Parliament today.
Among the material on view will be portraits commemorating important ‘firsts’ in parliamentary representation. The display will also include objects and documents intended to highlight significant developments in the country’s parliamentary history, placing visual records alongside material associated with the institution’s political and civic formation.
A central work is Tom Roberts’ ‘The Big Picture’, which depicts the first Opening of Parliament. The Parliament’s accompanying image information identifies the painting by its full title, ‘Opening of the First Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia by H.R.H. The Duke of Cornwall and York (Later King George V), May 9, 1901’. Completed in 1903, the oil-on-canvas work is on permanent loan to the Parliament of Australia from the British Royal Collection.
Roberts’ painting records the opening ceremony of the first Commonwealth parliament, bringing together the event’s ceremonial setting and the political beginning represented by Federation. In the new display, it will appear alongside portraits, documents and other historical objects rather than as a standalone presentation, according to the Parliament’s exhibition information.
The display is part of a broader programme of Federation-related visitor offerings at Australian Parliament House. A limited-edition ‘Footsteps to Federation Tour’ is listed in connection with the exhibition, with a weekly duration of 45 minutes. The Parliament’s visitor pages also list a 10 September programme entry titled ‘Degustation for 125 Years of Federation’, although the available exhibition information does not provide further details about that event.
‘125 Years of Federation: Our Parliament and its Presiding Officers’ will be open from 7 September through 4 December 2026 at the Main Committee Room Foyer, Australian Parliament House, Canberra. Admission is free.
