Parliament building in 2021, with the Customs House Hotel visible to the right
Parliament House, Hobart, located on Salamanca Place in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, is the meeting place of the Parliament of Tasmania. The building was originally designed as a customs house but changed use in 1841 when Tasmania achieved self-government. The building served both purposes from 1841 to 1904, when the customs offices were relocated.
The island of Tasmania (then known as Van Diemen's Land) was claimed and subsequently settled by Great Britain in 1803. Initially, it was administered by the Governor of New South Wales, as part of that British Colony. In 1825 Tasmania became an independent British colony, administered separately from New South Wales, and the Legislative Council was formed as an appointed six man body to advise the Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land who had sole governance of the colony. The council initially held their meetings in a room adjacent to the old Government House that was located near to the present site of Franklin Square, but by 1841 they relocated their meetings to the 'Long Room' (now the Members' Lounge) in the Customs House.[1]
In 1850 the British Parliament enacted the Australian Colonies Government Act, which gave Van Diemen's Land the right to elect its first representative government. The size of the Legislative Council was increased from six to 24. Eight members were appointed by the Governor, and 16 were elected by property owners. The new Legislative Council met for the first time in 1852, and by 1854 they had passed the Tasmanian Constitution Act, granting Van Diemen's Land responsible self-government and a new bicameralparliament. In 1855 Queen Victoria granted Royal Assent and Van Diemen's Land became a self-governing British Colony. The following year, 1856, one of the new parliament's first acts was to change the name of the colony from Van Diemen's Land to Tasmania.
In April 1856 renovations began to the Customs House to allow it to accommodate the new bicameral parliament, and on 2 December 1856 the first sessions of parliament were held, with the new House of Assembly sitting in the Long Room, and the Legislative Council moved to their new chamber at the opposite end of the building.[1]
The bicameral Tasmanian parliament continued to govern Tasmania as an independent colony until 1 January 1901 when Tasmania joined with five other Australian colonies, and federated to become parts of the new Commonwealth of Australia. The Tasmanian colonial parliament then became the Tasmanian State Parliament, and has since continued to take responsibility for internal domestic issues such as education, healthcare, and policing.
Construction
Parliament House was originally designed as the Customs House in colonial Georgian architecture style by skilled colonial architectJohn Lee Archer in 1830. The site for the building had originally been a market, but had been converted into timber yards in the 1820s. The site was reserved in 1832 for the building of a customs house due to its close location to the wharves of Sullivans Cove (the building was originally closer to the water's edge than it is today following further reclamation).
Between 1832 and 1840 golden honey coloured sandstone was quarried from locations in the Queens Domain and Salamanca Place (now the site of Salamanca Square), and a small railway was constructed to ferry the blocks to the construction site. Construction began in on 5 January 1835, and using mostly convict labour, the basement level had been completed by March 1836. By 1838 the second story had been added and the building was ready for staff of the Customs Department to move into on 1 September 1840.[2]
By 1841 the building was operating as the colony's customs house. At that time, the Legislative Council, which had been formed in 1825, were meeting in a room adjacent to the old Government House, but the location was less than adequate for such meetings. It was proposed that the meetings should be held in the spacious new 'Long Room' of the Customs House, and 19 June 1841, the first Legislative Council meeting was held within the building.[2]
Parliament House decorated in 1901 for Australian Federation celebrations.
Following the establishment of responsible self-government in 1856, the building was renovated in April of that year in order to make provisions for housing the new bicameral parliament. The new House of Assembly met in the Long Room, where the Legislative Council had previously met, and the Legislative Council moved into a new ornate Chamber, where they still meet today.[2]
The Customs Department finally moved out of the building altogether in 1904, moving to a new location in Davey Street next to the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, leaving the building be solely occupied by the Parliament of Tasmania.[2]
Between 1938 and 1940 Parliament House was again renovated to construct a new chamber for the House of Assembly, and convert the Long Room, where they had been meeting for the previous 82 years, into a Member's Lounge. The new House of Assembly Chamber was formally opened on 14 May 1940, whilst Tasmania was involved in Australia's World War II commitments. In December 1940 extensions were also added to the Legislative Council Chamber to create the Murray Street wing.[1]
Further alterations were made to the building beginning in 1977. Member's offices, a Hansard office, Parliamentary Library and Museum, committee rooms, a dining room, reception area, interview rooms and other additional facilities were added, and a formal re-opening was held on 16 April 1980. The most recent alterations began in 1998 and are currently still underway (as of 2008), and are in the form of conservation work, and restoration of sections of the building to try and revert it to its original character.[1]
The Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom features prominently throughout Parliament House in stained-glass windows and engravings. This reflects Tasmania's former status as a British colony, and that the building was predominantly constructed during that time. Tasmania continued to utilise the Royal Arms on official documents until 1953, despite having adopted its own arms in 1919.[2]
The Legislative Council is the Upper House, and debates bills that have been passed to it for review having been already approved by the House of Assembly. Once the Legislative Council also approves a bill, it becomes an act of parliament, and is given to the Governor of Tasmania for royal assent, by which it is made into a law.[3]
The Legislative Council is the older body of the two parts of the Tasmanian Government. Having first met in 1825, it has continued to act as part of Tasmania's government ever since. Originally a six-man advisory group of members appointed by the Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land, it was expanded to 24 members (eight appointed, and 16 elected) in 1850, and was reduced to its current level of 15 members in 1856 upon the establishment of the current bicameral parliament.[2] The Legislative Council is chaired by the President of the Tasmanian Legislative Council.
The Legislative Council originally met in a side room of the old Government House. When Parliament House opened as the Customs House in 1840, the council moved their meetings to the Long Room, where they stayed until the bicameral parliament was established in 1856. That year a special Legislative Council chamber was constructed. The Chamber is plushly decorated with a red decor, seating and carpet, and cedar wooden paneling along the walls. The wooden paneling and ceiling is spectacularly hand-stenciled. The President sits on a large chair at one of the chamber, and members are seated in two rows along either wall, facing each other. Seats to the right side of the President are known as the 'President's Reserve', and to the left is the Press Gallery. There is also a public gallery by which citizens may observe the council in session. A Black Rod is present in the chamber as a symbol of royal authority for the Upper House. A large portrait of Queen Victoria by J. Prescott Knight RA, overlooks the chamber from a side wall, in honour of her granting responsible self-government to Tasmania.[3]
Queen Elizabeth II, the Queen of Australia sat in the ornamental President's Chair, when she opened the Tasmania Parliament on 22 February 1954, the only occasion when the Tasmanian Parliament has been officially opened by its head of state.[3]
The Tasmanian House of Assembly was established in 1856 as part of Tasmania's adoption of responsible self-government. Tasmania chose to adopt the same system of government as in the United Kingdom, with a bicameral parliament. Whereas the Legislative Council mirrored the House of Lords in the United Kingdom by having appointed members, the House of Assembly mirrored the House of Commons in being an entirely elected body. This meant that whilst the Legislative Council became the Upper House, the House of Assembly became the Lower House, where new bills were to be drafted and first debated, before being passed upwards to the Legislative Council. This system still operates today. Initially it consisted of 30 members from 24 electoral districts, with each district represented by one member, expect Hobart which had five members, and Launceston which had two members.[2]
Upon federation, the House of Assembly was reduced to 30 members. The 24 previous electoral districts were replaced with five new federal districts of Braddon, Bass, Franklin, Lyons and Denison. Tasmania is the only Australian state which uses its federal electorates for its state lower house. Each electorate elects seven members, creating the total of 35 members (since the passing of the Expansion of the House of Assembly Act 2022, which came into effect at the 2024 Tasmanian state election). Members are known as Members of the House of Assembly (MHAs). They are elected using the Hare-Clark system for a period of four years.[4]
When it was first formed in 1856, the House of Assembly met in the Long Room, which had just been vacated by the Legislative Council. In 1940 the current House of Assembly Chamber was constructed, and features a green decor, seating and carpet, with blackwood wooden paneling around the walls. The Speaker of the Tasmanian House of Assembly sits on an elevated chair at one end of the Chamber, whilst all of the members sit in a horseshoe seating arrangement facing him. Three clerks sit in front of the Speaker. Traditionally, the Premier of Tasmania, and the party which has formed government sit to the right of the Speaker, and the opposition party sit at the opposite end of the horseshoe. A ceremonial mace of authority is to be found to the Speaker's side. There is a public gallery overlooking the chamber by which citizens may come and observe their government in session.[4]
The history of Tasmania begins at the end of the Last Glacial Period when it is believed that the island was joined to the Australian mainland. Little is known of the human history of the island until the British colonisation of Tasmania in the 19th century.
The House of Assembly, or Lower House, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. The other is the Legislative Council or Upper House. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Hobart.
The Tasmanian Legislative Council is the upper house of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. It is one of the two chambers of the Parliament, the other being the House of Assembly. Both houses sit in Parliament House in the state capital, Hobart. Members of the Legislative Council are often referred to as MLCs.
The Parliament of Tasmania is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Tasmania. It follows a Westminster-derived parliamentary system and consists of the governor of Tasmania, the Legislative Council, and the House of Assembly. Since 1841, the Legislative Council has met in Parliament House, Hobart, with the House of Assembly following suit from its establishment in 1856. The Parliament of Tasmania first met in 1856.
The Tasmanian Government or the Government of Tasmania is the executive branch of the Australian state of Tasmania. The leader of the party or coalition with the confidence of the House of Assembly, the lower house of the Parliament of Tasmania, is invited by the governor of Tasmania to form the executive. The governor appoints the premier of Tasmania.
Sir William Thomas Denison was Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land from 1847 to 1855, Governor of New South Wales from 1855 to 1861, and Governor of Madras from 1861 to 1866.
Sir James Willson Agnew was an Irish-born Australian politician, who was Premier of Tasmania from 1886 to 1887.
Thomas George Gregson was the second Premier of Tasmania, serving from 26 February 1857 until 25 April 1857.
Thomas Daniel Chapman was the Premier of Tasmania from 2 August 1861 until 20 January 1863. He served as a member of the Tasmanian Parliament for 26 years from August 1856 until his death in 1884.
The modern history of the Australian city of Hobart in Tasmania dates to its foundation as a British colony in 1804. Prior to British settlement, the area had been occupied definitively for at least 8,000 years, and possibly for as long as 35,000 years, by the semi-nomadic Mouheneener tribe, a sub-group of the Nuenonne, or South-East tribe. The descendants of theses indigenous Tasmanians now refer to themselves as 'Palawa'. Little is known about the region from prehistoric times. As with many other Australia cities, urbanisation has destroyed much of the archaeological evidence of indigenous occupation, although aboriginal middens are often still present in coastal areas.
The Royal Society of Tasmania (RST) was formed in 1843. It was the first Royal Society outside the United Kingdom, and its mission is the advancement of knowledge.
The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) is a museum located in Hobart, Tasmania. The museum was established in 1846, by the Royal Society of Tasmania, the oldest Royal Society outside England. The TMAG receives 400,000 visitors annually.
The Colony of Tasmania was a British colony that existed on the island of Tasmania from 1856 until 1901, when it federated together with the five other Australian colonies to form the Commonwealth of Australia. The possibility of the colony was established when the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed the Australian Constitutions Act in 1850, granting the right of legislative power to each of the six Australian colonies. The Legislative Council of Van Diemen's Land drafted a new constitution which they passed in 1854, and it was given royal assent by Queen Victoria in 1855. Later in that year the Privy Council approved the colony changing its name from "Van Diemen's Land" to "Tasmania", and in 1856, the newly elected bicameral parliament of Tasmania sat for the first time, establishing Tasmania as a self-governing colony of the British Empire. Tasmania was often referred to as one of the "most British" colonies of the Empire.
Edward Curr was an Australian settler and politician. Curr was born in Sheffield, England. He travelled to Hobart Town, arriving in February 1820. In 1823 he returned to England. In 1824 he was appointed manager of the newly formed Van Diemen's Land Company which had arranged to buy 250,000 acres of land in the north-west of the colony.
The Constitution of Tasmania, also known as the Tasmanian Constitution, sets out the rules, customs and laws that provide for the structure of the Government of the Australian State of Tasmania. Like all state constitutions it consists of both unwritten and written elements which include:
Henry Butler, was a surgeon and politician in colonial Tasmania.
Michael Fenton was a politician in colonial Tasmania. He was the first Speaker of the Tasmanian House of Assembly.
The 1856 Tasmanian colonial elections took place from 8 to 22 September 1856 and 6 to 17 October 1856. The elections were the first to be held under the Electoral Act 1856, which established responsible government in Tasmania and created a bicameral parliament consisting of the 30-member Tasmanian House of Assembly and the 15-member Tasmanian Legislative Council.
Ebenezer Shoobridge (1820–1901) was an Australian politician. He represented the Electoral district of New Norfolk in the Tasmanian House of Assembly from the 1882 election until he was defeated at the 1886 election.
The electoral division of Clark is one of the five electorates in the Tasmanian House of Assembly, it is located in Hobart on the western shore of the River Derwent and includes the suburbs below Mount Wellington. Clark is named after Andrew Inglis Clark, a Tasmanian jurist who was the principal author of the Australian Constitution. The electorate shares its name and boundaries with the federal division of Clark.
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