The car's ready

The car is ready to pick up. That took a while. Cooma Diesel described it as a ‘new’ turbo. I just have to keep the rest of the car together. S has used up her $200. I’ve set up my salary to deposit a regular amount in her account. I hope it works.

Mind you, being car-less for a few weeks gave me the opportunity to see a few of the attractions in Canberra. I visited the Old Parliament house. It gave me an eerie feeling walking up the steps at the front of the building. Everyone remembers or has heard of Whitlam’s sacking with him standing on the steps and the media huddle around him. I was outraged by what had been done. Though, it was more than just anger I felt. It was shock. Disbelieve that this could happen in Australia. Didn’t this country have a Constitution to prevent this sort of thing?

In the weeks that followed the incident in 1975 I conducted a pop poll. I was a taxi driver at the time, and there were often conversations in the cab, and with this news and the impending election on almost everyone’s lips I was curious to know what other people were thinking. I asked everyone who got into the cab how they would vote. A bit cheeky, perhaps. Most people didn’t mind. In fact, some people would volunteer their information before asked. It was my impression, wrongly as it happened, that Australia would return the Whitlam government to power. I thought this would have been done to protest the manner in which Whitlam was removed, if for nothing else. Oh, how wrong I was. My taxi poll clearly indicated the Liberal landslide that eventually took place, and placed Malcolm Fraser in power. I was so disappointed in the Australian public. I felt so let down. I was disgusted with Australians, and my disgust surfaced each time I saw an image of Fraser or Kerr. There is a suburb here in Canberra called Fraser. I would find it difficult to live there. So strongly did those events affect me. Though, I must say that I very recently heard Fraser speaking on ABC radio on Phillip Adams show. He actually sounded quite reasonable, and I was surprised at myself for sharing his point of view. If he tried a bit harder he might stop being a Liberal.

Anyway, here I was standing on the same steps where all this took place in 1975.

The Old Parliament House has been preserved and a tour of the building is very enlightening. The building houses the National Portrait Gallery which is a must see when in Canberra. I was surprised how small the various offices and rooms were. Apart from the PM’s offices, which were surrounded by a variety of cramped, horrible offices some of which were little more than alcoves, and many without windows. The people who worked there must have done so for the love and passion of politics than for the job. The working conditions that staff had to put up with in that building must have been horrible.

I gather there were discussions along the lines of demolishing the building when the new Parliament House was built. I’m so glad this did not happen, as the building offers an excellent snapshot in time. And, if you do happen to get there, have a look at the ABC section. When I was there they had a wire recorder on display, which was the forerunner to the tape recorder.