Parliament House, Capitol building in Hobart, Australia

Parliament House is a three-storey building of pale yellow ashlar sandstone on Salamanca Place in Hobart, designed by John Lee Archer in colonial Georgian style. Its ground level has rusticated stonework with round-arched openings, and the upper facade has two rows of rectangular windows beneath a projecting cornice and parapet. A carved stone coat of arms sits at the centre of the parapet, with three flagpoles above.

Designed by John Lee Archer as a customs house, the building was constructed from 1835 with convict labour and honey-coloured sandstone quarried at Queens Domain and Salamanca Place. The Legislative Council first met in its Long Room on 19 June 1841, and from 1841 to 1904 the building served both customs and parliament. Renovated in 1856 for the new bicameral parliament, it became solely parliamentary when customs moved to Davey Street in 1904.

The Legislative Council chamber follows British parliamentary traditions that are still visible in the way the room is arranged and how sessions unfold today. Visitors who attend during a sitting period can watch these practices in real time from the public gallery.

Guided tours give access to both chambers and the Long Room and do not require advance booking. It is worth checking availability ahead of time, as tours do not run on days when Parliament is sitting.

The Long Room was once a working space of the customs house where goods arriving from the port were recorded and processed. It is now one of the few spaces in the building that still recalls its original purpose.