1918: Great War Debating Chamber

May 9, 2023

By AHNZ

Today in history, 9 May, 1918, the House of Representatives started using their new debating chamber. The seats have changed but it is much the same today and so are the grounds. The parliamentarians (aka leading gang members in this country) lost their old club house to a fire.

The replacement was a creation of its time by the part of the time, The Reform Government of William Massey. This is why the woodwork walls are carved in World War 1 memories and sentiments. The loss of those generations that took us to the Great Wrong War needed to count for something and it was decided it would define us as a people forever. In 1920 the government even passed a specific law to monopolise the word ANZAC.

This photo comes from 1955 where Prime Minister Sydney Holland is making an appearance in the chamber for a group of visiting Aussie students.

In the debating chamber, “You can say what you like about who you like. You could almost hit a man over the head with a fencing post, but- (Jull’s teeth parted wolfishly,) you must always remember to smile when you do it.” – Albert Jull

“There’s room at the top, they are telling you still, but first you must learn how to smile as you kill…” – Working Class Hero, John Lennon (1970)

Albert Jull was an old National party politician for the span of the 1930s with an intimate understanding of the art of political hypocrisy.

—
Image ref. Evening Post, Alexander Turnbull Library

Ref. Doughty (1977)

Note: The old Debating Chamber was lost to fire on 11 December, 1907. One of Premier’s old mates, and probably one of his appointees, the old Kumara tram driver, was night watchman at the time of this Totally Accidental Fire.

Like    Comment     Share