00:03Back where it all began.
00:06Laurie Oakes still looms large in Old Parliament House, his more than 60 years in political
00:12journalism has now been formally recognised.
00:16There's no better job in fact than working in the press gallery, everyone here knows
00:20that.
00:20Along with the still hard working doyenne of the press gallery, Michelle Grattan.
00:25In her absence, I pay tribute to a legend.
00:29Working media left its old home almost four decades ago.
00:34When they did, evidence of 61 years of storytelling went too.
00:40Where were you exactly in this ABC bureau?
00:42I was over here in the corner.
00:45In Barry Cassidy's view it was time for a historical omission to be addressed, and it
00:51has been.
00:51This building had captured the role of the politicians, a lot of the staff.
00:56What was missing was the gallery.
00:57A full rebuild of a once larger press gallery wasn't possible, so down the corridors in
01:03the pokey rooms that remain, an operation was launched to retell aspects of how news was
01:10gathered, written and reported.
01:12Lots of bureaus didn't keep their tech once it got old or obsolete.
01:16We've basically been looking for any kind of technology, things like tape recorders or
01:21cameras.
01:21Through wars, depression, party splits and changes of government, the press gallery wrote
01:27a first draft of the nation's history from here.
01:30In fact, around half of the time since Federation, it was based right here in this building, back
01:36at a time when the term information technology had barely been heard of, and when a typewriter,
01:42a pen and a tape recorder got the news out because it had to.
01:47Fun filled days of jokes, smokes and mostly blokes there for all to share.
02:00Looking back at the genes.
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