Parliament House serves as the meeting place for the Australian national legislature. A legislature is an organized group with the power to make laws for a government. Parliament House is located in the Australian capital city of Canberra, on Capital Hill. In Australia, the federal legislative branch, called Parliament, makes laws for the entire country. Parliament is made up of an elected House of Representatives, an elected Senate, and the monarch, represented by the governor general. Because Australia is part of the British Commonwealth, the monarch is the current king of England. 
The building’s design uses two curved walls to divide Parliament House into four zones. The western side of the building houses the Senate. The eastern section contains the House of Representatives. The executive government wing is on the south end of the building. The central zone, in the middle of Parliament House, contains ceremonial spaces and areas open for public access. The central zone was built directly into Capital Hill. Builders removed rock and soil so that the roof of the building was at the top of the hill. The area was then covered in grass to recreate the appearance of the hill.
Parliament House is among the largest buildings in the southern hemisphere. The building has over 4,500 rooms and takes up an area of over 20 acres (8 hectares). When Parliament is in session, about 5,000 people work in Parliament House.
The flag mast marks the exact center of the building. It flies the Australian flag, the Aboriginal flag, and the Torres Strait Islander flag. At 265 feet (81 meters) tall, the pole is one of the largest stainless-steel structures in the world.
The Forecourt is the main entrance of Parliament House, located at the north end of the structure. It was designed as a large open space to encourage members of the public to view the democratic process. Decorating the entrance is a mosaic based on the 1985 painting Possum and Wallaby Dreaming. The painting was created by the Australian Aboriginal artist Kumantje Nelson Jagamara, also known as Michael Nelson Tjakmarra and by other variations of the name. Jagamara was a member of the Warlpiri peoples. Jagamara used elements of the Warlpiri tradition of sand painting to create the mosaic.
Visitors can identify which legislative house each room belongs to based on its color. Following the traditions of the British Parliament, green is used for the House and red for the Senate. However, the exact shades have been changed to better represent the Australian natural landscape. 
Parliament House was commissioned in the 1980’s, after the legislature grew too large for the building it had been using since 1927. The building was designed by the Italian architect Romaldo Giurgola. Over 10,000 people worked on the construction of the new building, which was primarily built with Australian materials. It was opened by Queen Elizabeth II on May 9, 1988. The building cost $1.1 billion to construct.
