In late 2022, the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts called for funding proposals for new projects. This department is responsible for the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House. The redevelopment of the Press Gallery was one of a proposed suite of major projects. At that stage the exhibition Leaks, Scoops and Scandals: The Press Gallery 1927-1988 (LSS) had been on display since 2006. It was well overdue for closure and the development of a new visitor experience for the precinct. The funding application was successful and the redevelopment of the Press Gallery, preceded by a full base build (painting, electrical, lighting, and other upgrades) and conservation work, commenced in 2023.

The Leaks, Scoops and Scandals (LSS) exhibition was installed in 2006 and demounted in mid-2023. The exhibition was a mixture of standard exhibition rooms with false walls and showcases, an audio-visual presentation (‘Choose your news’), numerous button-operated audio clips from former journalists, press secretaries etc, a soundscape on the entry stairs near the press boxes, and two room re-creations. The exhibition also included;

• Showcase displays with text panels, objects and photographs telling the story of the Press Gallery;

• A 1930s era room re-creation;

• A 1970s era room recreation;

• Interpreted heritage elements, including press boxes where old press releases were submitted, and pneumatic Lamson tubes used to send documents

• A representation of the 1980s layout of the ABC Bureau

• Interactives

• Historical audio and clips of oral histories delivered both in the space and through interactives.

The exhibition space was used by self-guided visitors, schools learning programs and guided tours. During the exhibition’s life it received several periods of concentrated maintenance work, particularly in updating exhibition technology and general cleaning.

The exhibition was generally popular although, from staff observations and for most visitors, the main appeal was the room re-creations and the view of the chamber which is afforded from the eastern Press Gallery. (The southern Press Gallery and northern and western Public Galleries are closed to visitors except for special events.)

From the reports of Museum Experience Officers (MEOs) who conducted tours the room re-creations were successful in engaging visitors and delivering interpretive messages. When the exhibition opened the room re-creations were open access - ie, visitors could range freely and touch objects - but this proved unsustainable, and they were eventually roped off. The showcase-style exhibition rooms were reasonably popular, but the content was very text heavy, and the duration of the exhibition necessitated a lot of object changeovers which eventually eroded the central narrative of the exhibition.

Research conducted by conducted by Alice McKenzie Ebbels and Cambel Rhodes found that whilst there was a general understanding of the role of journalists in parliament the audience was less familiar with the term Press Gallery and its multiple meetings. The research pointed to an audience desire to connect with the people who inhabited the press gallery and their experience of the space rather them the minutia of the work or the role of the journalists at parliament house.

Resourcing constraints at the end of the project meant some exhibition spaces within LSS, in particular the ABC Bureau and adjoining studio spaces, were not as ‘finished’ as originally planned. The ABC Bureau did not reflect the cramped nature of the room when in use, but the use of seating to refer to the furniture layout was an imaginative attempt to solve the problem. Over the life of LSS, museum approaches to storytelling changed. By 2023, the text-heavy style of the exhibition was in contrast to many other MoAD offerings, and the technology had begun to feel dated. While visitors still reported positive experiences in LSS and enjoyed the more analogue parts of the exhibition, the space was no longer in line with MoAD’s innovative exhibition approaches and was in need of review.

In addition to the dated LSS exhibition being in need of a refresh, the current climate of distrust and questioning of the Australian media and journalism more broadly makes a re-interpretation of the House of Representatives Press Gallery timely and relevant.

Furthermore, the consortium of journalists, most of whom worked in the Press Gallery in [date – date], that Only Human and MoAD’s project team are consulting with on the project are getting older. This creative process is perhaps the last chance to capture their intimate and never-before shared reflections and experiences working in the Press Gallery. Journalists from the eras covered in the project are reaching or have reached the end of their careers and have grown more reflective on their time in the building. Only Human and MoAD believe deeply intimate personal stories - including those which have never been part of the Press Gallery exhibition space - will resonate with diverse audiences.

Leading up to the centenary of the building and meeting visitor expectations for dynamic, up-to-date exhibitions, the creative execution also promotes new ways of reaching audiences and telling somewhat complex and otherwise dense/text heavy stories. The most exciting opportunity at this time is to capitalise on the changing media landscape. We are presented with an opportunity to create a series of spaces that fill in the gaps of how and why our media has changed so much over the decades and importantly how that has shaped the evolution of democracy as we know it.

The target audience is the general public, while also catering to MoAD’s diverse range of audiences including young families, seniors, school groups, university groups, international and interstate visitors, inter-generational groups and special interest groups. There is no specific data on the Press Gallery visitation historically, only on MoAD as a whole.

Audiences will physically engage and emotionally connect with the lived experiences of the members of the Press Gallery and its unique and powerful evolution. This will be achieved by tapping into universal personal experiences to bring visitors along for the journey.

There are also opportunities for intergenerational shared learning and a fun interactive audience experience overall.

MoAD audience research from 2004 suggested there was high interest in education materials for the secondary and tertiary education sectors. The research identified four themes that the audience was interested in learning more about.

1. Concepts of Power

2. Working life of a journalist

3. Gender barriers

4. Past Press Gallery personalities

The audience research also acknowledged that audience +35 would have a shared understanding of relevant timelines, concepts, events and personalities. However, this research is now 20 years old and was completed before the arrival of social media. Given the dramatic fragmentation of the media and information environment since then, it would be safe to assume that the assumption of a ‘shared understanding of relevant timelines, concepts, events and personalities’ no longer holds.

In this draft workbook we have begun the process of how the audience will interact and experience the exhibition space. Ideally the design of the space creates opportunities for both individual experiences that encourage reflection and social experiences that encourage discussion.

As we continue to develop and refine the exhibition structure and execution, we will be asking ourselves a series of questions along the way to ensure audiences who cannot attend in person can still access the exhibition materials and experience in a multitude of ways including;

• Education materials

• TV documentary series (potential collaboration with ABC)

• Digital Content/Social Media

Only Human was commissioned to undertake extensive discovery work using MoAD’s records from the development of Leaks, Scoops and Scandals (LSS) and oral history collection alongside deep qualitative research, first person testimony and lived experience from those associated with the Press Gallery over the decades in focus. The volume of archival material was so great that it was necessary to build our own external cataloging system and database to maintain crucial details in the direct source materials. This has taken months of meticulous research and content management.

In addition to the material catalogued, there are also a number of appendices linked that chart the process of piecing the behemoth of content into a cohesive, concise narrative to create the “If Walls Could Talk” experience.

Only Human have been working with and strategically selecting materials to interrogate more deeply from:

• The Leaks, Scoops and Scandals exhibition archive

• Oral histories of Press Gallery journalists

• Books written by Press Gallery journalists

• Deep story research

• First person video interviews informed by deep story research

• Pre-interviews over the phone

• Records held by the National Library of Australia and National Archives of Australia

• Photos of the Press Gallery and major political events

• Objects in the MoAD collection

• Additional external source material

Only Human and the MoAD project team also developed and ran two workshops with key stakeholders, journalists and crew to build an exhibition rationale. The workshops allowed us to build strong rapport with stakeholders and create a pathway for the team to connect with untold stories and personal memories of key Press Gallery staff across the eras. Some of the main outcomes from these workshops included:

• Journalists agreed on the themes we suggested.

• Most journalists felt the suggested theme of populism was less strong and not worthy of exploration

• The number of members of the Press Gallery in the 1950s and 60s was still quite small and Australian Associated Press did a lot of the heavy lifting.

• The consensus was that policy and the work of parliament is no longer reported by the Press Gallery and this is likely due to staff resourcing and an intense 24/7 deadline-driven environment.

• Interesting discussions on the impact of bylines on political journalism.

• That there was an era of open secrets where the gallery knew what was discussed in Cabinet via discussion in the Non-members' Bar and the close quarters of the House experienced by politicians, staff and the press. Open secrets about who was having affairs and the like would never be condoned in Australian Parliament House.

• Across the 1930s/40s era there is rich audio archive and huge potential for immersive story.

• There is no one alive who can talk about the Press Gallery of the 1950s and 1960s. This will make things more complicated. Ken Begg and a few others have stories that were handed down by the older Press Gallery journalists that they can recount. Storytelling opportunities are limited. Perhaps room re-creations and the use of physical objects in the MoAD collection would work best here.

• There is no shortage of rollicking stories from the 1970s and 1980s.

• The challenge is also to find the stories that help the audience understand how power was exercised and how this House shaped our past and present.