There is a tremendous sense of occasion at the Museum of Australian Democracy (MoAD) today as the beloved national institution reopens four months after a fire at the doors of the building caused extensive damage.

The reopening will be marked with two new “fantastic” exhibitions: Democracy DNA: the People, the Prime Ministers and the World, and Statement: Jack Green’s Paintings.

With the team working “enormously hard” to reopen as soon as possible, MoAD director, Daryl Karp, lamented the fact a museum dedicated to democracy has been closed while the federal election has been called.

“It’s been so difficult to be closed, especially as an election has been called,” Karp told Canberra Daily.

“We’re one of the very, very few museums of our kind in the world, and to have a museum of the democracy closed in the lead up to an election was tragic, not to mention the tragedy of the devastation to the building.

Thankfully, the fire wasn’t as bad as first thought.

MoAD received some “really good news” in terms of the damage done to the building, with the doors “largely” repairable.

Constructed with four layers of jarrah pressed together, the door had hardened with age and was able to withstand the immense heat.

“Despite the intensity of the fire, the doors were so well built … we’ll lose one layer of the door that was totally singed, but because of the way it was built we were able to salvage it,” Karp said.

“Whilst it is substantial in the context of dollars, it is less than we expected.”

The fire did, however, damage the front stairs, the portico, and some of the works inside the building, while the sprinklers in the entrance caused water damage to its original parquetry floors.

MoAD’s main entry reopens in August, in part because the stairs must be retiled. Guests will continue to enter through the side door, with the main entry to be used ceremonially into the future.

‘See yourself in the story’ with Democracy DNA

Beautifully set in the old Parliamentary Library, Democracy DNA blends the room’s historic features with contemporary elements that activate it in ways that would have been unimaginable when it was first designed.

The alcoves once lined with books are now home to a revamped Prime Minister’s Gallery, decorated with stunning new illustrations of Australia’s 30 Prime Ministers from Barton to Morrison, produced by New Zealand artist, Nigel Buchanan.

The process involved a substantial research element, with MoAD researchers going through historical documents like passports and old forms to uncover small details not immediately available, like the eye colour of Australia’s early PMs.

The timeline is different from the original incarnation in the old Prime Ministers of Australia gallery; it now shows them in the context of the events and people of their day.

“We wanted to make this rich, colourful people you can connect with, and the ideal at the end of it all is that you can see yourself in that story,” Karp said.

The gallery has been built around a central space featuring five futuristically styled stations, each centred on one of the five big debates of democracy: freedom, equality, common good, defending democracy, and crisis.

“Democracy is very much about the people, and so we wanted very much to link the PMs and the people in those key decisions.”

Karp said some of the most common feedback she’s received from the public in her nine years running the Museum is that people “don’t feel heard” in Australia’s political process.

“What we’re trying to do is give people a sense of being heard,” she said. “We’re weaving the concerns that our visitors are giving us into the sorts of stories that we’re telling, and hopefully they’ll come away engaged, informed, and excited that we have one of the top democracies in the world.

“What I want people to walk away from the gallery is with the understanding that democracy is a conversation and a journey, it’s not a fixed point in time, and they are part of that conversation.”

Democracy DNA: the People, the Prime Ministers and the World is open at MoAD from 28 April. Admission is free, but bookings are essential via moadoph.gov.au

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