Democracy DNA: the People, the Prime Ministers and the World.

Posted on 28 April, 2022

Suffering from both the pandemic and a tragic fire, the Museum of Australian Democracy (MoAD) is back with a bang—launching a new exhibition encompassing the people, Prime Ministers and global events that have shaped us as a nation.

Expanding through the former Parliamentary Library at Old Parliament House, the exhibition encourages visitors to explore the alcoves and travel through time from 1901 until today via a series of images, interactive objects and videos.

Democracy DNA focuses on individuals who have made significant contributions to the issues raised in their day such as Vida Goldstein who consistently sought to raise public awareness and attention to equality for women and children, or Ian Kiernan who focused in on the health of Australia’s natural environment.

Major global events set the scene at the top of each alcove and the centre exhibition space is given to the “great debates”: questions and discussions that generation after generation, societies and governments keep returning to—freedom, equality, common good, defending democracy and crisis.

Finally, the exhibition delves into our leaders, providing insights into our 30 Prime ministers—from Barton to Morrison—providing a wealth of personal (Tony Abbott’s budge smugglers are on display) and political information and exhibits.

To accompany the exhibition, portrait artist Nigel Buchanan has immortalised each of our Prime Ministers in a stunning singular work. It was no mean feat to deliver this group portrait in an historically accurate way. Nigel called upon MoAD researcher Campbell Rhodes to help ascertain each leader’s eye colours dating back to an era when black and white photography was the only sort available. Campbell was forced to sort through historical documents, passports, oil paintings and personal and written accounts in order to sort the hazel-eyed leaders from the browns and blues. An intriguing blog post on the process can be read here.

Meanwhile, exhibition curator Jennifer Forest said other more immediate challenges also needed to be overcome to bring the exhibition to the public.

Image by Lightbulb Studio

“The greatest challenge really has to be the truly unexpected things that kept happening over the last two years—like a global pandemic that caused us to rethink how we work, and when we could actually deliver an exhibition, and then when we thought we were almost there, the damage to the building caused by the fire.”

The fire was lit during protests which took place during the anti-vaxxer rallies in Canberra last December.

Jennifer said that despite the setbacks “I like that the work matters. How our democracy works—and how well it is working—is seriously important. It matters what decisions are made in our name. It matters that we care and pay attention to what’s going on.

“I hope people walk away from the exhibition feeling encouraged to care and to pay attention to what’s going on in our nation. I hope they feel our democracy is worth fighting for, that it’s worth fighting for the peoples’ voice to shape the future.”

Outgoing MoAD director Daryl Karp said she hoped the exhibition would encourage deeper understanding of Australia’s unique democratic status in the world.

“We were the first nation in the world to be formed as a result of the popular vote, the first to introduce compulsory voting and one of only six continuous, uninterrupted democracies.  We have strong electoral processes and systems in place. But we can’t take it for granted.

“Around the world democracies are under threat. Turn on the news and you’ll witness democratic decay taking place across the globe, whether through violent conflict or hidden corruption,” she said.

“The best protection against democratic decay is an informed and engaged citizen. Your active engagement in the democratic processes is the best defence. So, if you see only one exhibition this year, make it Democracy DNA.”