Description of the Signatures of Oz interactive

Sportygirl introduces this interactive by asking players if they are ready to blast into the past and meet some parliamentary treasures.

This is a drag and drop interactive. Opening the interactive is the title 'Signatures of Oz' which writes across the screen. Underneath, six postcards are piled one on top of the other so that at least one corner of every card is visible. Each postcard highlights a parliamentary treasure. Six stamps are also on screen. Each stamp bares a year which matches one of the artefacts.

The aim of the game is to match the year on the stamps with a significant year in the life of each of the parliamentary treasures. A successful match results in the postcard being successfully delivered to the Parliament House post-box.

At the start of the interactive the user is invited to first select a postcard and then to click to flip the postcard over. This action reveals the message written by the 'treasure' on the back of the postcard. The user must then correctly drag and drop each stamp onto its corresponding postcard. When this happens a postmark is stamped on the postcard and the postcard 'flies' into the Parliament House post-box. If a stamp is incorrectly placed it springs back to its original position. The game may be restarted by clicking on the 'Reset' button and replayed by clicking on the 'Continue' button.

Each postcard contains the following:

• An image of a parliamentary artefact including the Mace, Black Rod, Australian Constitution, Despatch Boxes, Australian flag and the Magna Carta.
• A 'From' line containing the name of the artefact eg 'From: The Mace'
• Space for a stamp
• Text about the artefact

The postcard text includes:

Mace November 29, 1951
I had my first day in the Commonwealth Parliament today—a gift from King George VI to the House of Representatives. I guess the Members were glad to finally see me all shiny and new—silver and gold. Thanks Victorian Mace for standing in for me for the last 50 years. But it's my job now to point to the government!

Flag September 3, 1901
Move over Union Jack, I'm the new flag in town! Out of all the 30,000 designs they chose me. So I get to be the national flag, and my designers get £200 prize money which was contributed by the Commonwealth Government, a magazine from Melbourne called Review of Reviews and the Havelock Tobacco Company.

Constitution September 17, 1900
Finally! After years of writing and re-writing, Queen Victoria has given me her Royal Assent. They took me all over Australia to write me, they even drafted part of me on a yacht called Lucinda off the coast of Sydney! Oh well, I guess the holiday is over now and it's time to get to work.

Magna Carta 1297
I am one of the twelve originals of the 1297 Inspeximus issue of the Magna Carta. King Edward I is about to send me to Sussex to tell people about the new system of government. The other originals are going to other places throughout England . It is an important job—I think that I will be able to make a contribution to protecting the rights of citizens now and into the future.

Inspeximus issue of Magna Carta (Confirmation of Great Charter)(1297) King Edward I (1272-1307) Parliament House Gift Collection, Canberra. Courtesy of the Parliament House Art Collection, Department of Parliamentary Services Canberra ACT

Black Rod 1927
I'm making my first appearance in the Senate today. Finally! For the last 26 years the chamber has been working without a proper staff of office. It's strange because it's not as if I was expensive, or hard to design. I only cost £6 and they copied my design from the black rod used by the New South Wales Legislative Council.

Despatch Boxes 1927
Well, King George V has presented me to the Commonwealth Parliament to celebrate the first sittings in Canberra. He wants them to have despatch boxes that match the ones in the House of Commons in England. I've heard that the English ones get thumped when members are making speeches. I wonder if that will happen to me—guess time will tell!

Go to: Signatures of Oz Teachers' Notes

NOTE:
To view this interactive:
download the latest Flash Plug-in