![Visitors exploring one of Blueprints interactive walls. Picture supplied Visitors exploring one of Blueprints interactive walls. Picture supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/hU74HdTxzzWB78D7znDAb9/593c5548-89b9-41b0-8b23-4609eb0ba2d0.jpg/r0_83_4171_2428_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
What makes Australia's democracy so Australian?
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Is it that the people involved are Australian or is it items like a boomerang-shaped petition calling for constitutional recognition in 2013?
That's what the latest exhibition at the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House, examines in detail.
Blueprint looks at the fundamental principles that make Australian democracy characteristically Australian through the lenses of fairness, civil freedoms, accountability and justice, and how it has changed over time.
"It's not a timeline but what it does do is through some of the objects, we've got some of the features at different points in time," Museum of Australian Democracy acting director Andrew Harper says.
"For example, there's a ballot box, which was carried on the back of a camel in the late 1800s and early 1900s, hundreds of kilometres into remote parts of Australia. It's demonstrating the examples of efforts over time to make sure people get to vote and that it gets picked up.
![Items in the Blueprint exhibition, clockwise from left: Margaret Chisholms Federation dress. Boomerang petition made by Munganbana Norman Miller, 2013. Remote polling ballot box, used 1890-1910, designed to be carried by camel. Pictures supplied
Items in the Blueprint exhibition, clockwise from left: Margaret Chisholms Federation dress. Boomerang petition made by Munganbana Norman Miller, 2013. Remote polling ballot box, used 1890-1910, designed to be carried by camel. Pictures supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/hU74HdTxzzWB78D7znDAb9/95b3dfd2-a8db-4856-9ffb-3e833e0cd0b7.jpg/r0_0_2000_1124_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"Another great object is a ball gown, which was created to celebrate the achievement of Federation. It was a handmade dress, and it has an unofficial coat of arms that had been painted onto it.
"It gives you a sense of how Federation was actually widely celebrated and in a very overt way. So it's bringing up some of these things that may not be obvious to everyone."
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This exhibition offers several hands-on experiences including an interactive wall where you can test your right to vote throughout history, a place to check your democracy facts, have your say fridge magnet style and explore democracy as a three-dimensional sculpture.
There is also a digital installation by director and filmmaker Patrick Abboud which explores different Australians' relationships with democracy.
From an 11-year-old aspiring prime minister to Australia's first female Muslim stand-up comedian, from remote Western Australia to the Torres Strait, the five personal stories explore the ways democracy plays out in the lives of everyday Australians.
![Museum of Australian Democracy acting director Andrew Harper inside the new Blueprint exhibition. Picture supplied Museum of Australian Democracy acting director Andrew Harper inside the new Blueprint exhibition. Picture supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/hU74HdTxzzWB78D7znDAb9/4b71b547-4fcc-44b5-bbad-bef51b407aee.jpg/r0_694_4464_3204_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"There are people from diverse backgrounds across Australia and to really showcase that people are often engaging with democracy on a daily basis and may not even be that conscious of it," Harper says.
"This is important because democracy is never finished, it's always evolving and needs people to engage with and that happens in various ways.
"This is a nice way to showcase five people from everyday life, who are demonstrating interest and action around democracy. Democracies are not just for politicians, or public servants, or the key institutions, it's for every Australian."
Blueprint is the sixth exhibition to open at the museum after an eventful year which included major restoration work following the devastating fire at the front of the building.
"Knowing how Australian democracy works is vital for making change. Understanding how the parts fit together empowers each of us to participate in ways that are meaningful to us," Harper says.
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