The doors to one of Canberra's favourite museums are re-opening on Thursday, but something quite integral will be missing.
The actual front doors of Old Parliament House are still undergoing restoration work, after they were set on fire by protesters in December.
They were removed from their hinges after the fire, but won't be ready in time for the long-awaited reopening of the Museum of Australian Democracy housed inside the historic building.
The man behind the intensive restoration work, Doug Rogan, said the doors, made of heavy West Australian jarrah, were integral to the fabric of the building.
Mr Rogan has handled million dollar artworks from Vincent Van Gough, Da Vinci and Rembrandt, the Banks and Solander specimens collected on Captain Cook's first voyage to New Zealand, been to Antarctica and worked at Scott's Hut and Shackleton's Huts and worked on the boots Sir Edmund Hillary wore when climbing Mount Everest.
"You sometimes pinch yourself, when you realise the stuff you get to work on," he said.
Thankfully, due to the old-school craftsmanship of the doors, they were able to be salvaged after the fire, unlike the portico at the entrance, which was damaged beyond repair.
"The doors are original to the building," Mr Rogan said. Old Parliament House itself is highly significant and the doors are a fairly integral part of that," said Doug Rogan, who works for Sydney-based consultancy International Conservation Services.
The original front doors of were made in Sydney and first unlocked by the then Duke of York, later King George VI, during the opening of what was then called Provisional Parliament House in 1927.
Since their opening, the doors have been witness to decades of Australian history from Queen Elizabeth's first royal visit to Australia in 1954 to the establishment of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in 1972 and the dismissal of Gough Whitlam as Prime Minister in 1975.
The hardwood used in their construction is known for its durability and density which makes it naturally fire resistant.
Thankfully, Commonwealth chief architect John Smith Murdoch's 1924 decision to use jarrah would ultimately save the doors from burning to ash 98 years later.
Mr Rogan, who began his career as a botanist, said an early assessment of the building after the December fire showed extensive damage, but it was clear early on that the doors could be saved.
"We came through and did an assessment first, in early January, sort of immediately after the fire," he said.
"It's been a bit of an ongoing process, because some of the damage wasn't immediately obvious, a lot of soot had gotten through and got a lot further than we realised. Soot got into light fittings in the two chambers, so it's gone all the way through and risen with the smoke."
For Mr Rogan, restoration and conservation work hinges on the principle of "retaining as much original fabric as possible", to preserve the original feel and look of the place and object.
For the doors of Old Parliament House, this meant replacing the top layer of timber while maintaining the inner core layers of the original doors and rescuing the brass handles, with the Commonwealth Coat of Arms embossed on them, and push panels.
"The good thing about the doors is there is about four layers of timber," he said.
"So the front layer was completely burnt and that has been basically sacrificed. So the front layer will be replaced with new timber, but all of the rest, we're only putting in small areas of timber."
The doors were transported to Sydney where they were pulled apart, the glue was softened, and charred wood was scrapped off the top layer and replaced, "so as soon as you open it, you'll see the internal side of the original".
The fire has also been an opportunity to deep-clean Old Parliament House and help its future maintenance.
"As much as the fire damage causing the current issues of OPH is terrible, hopefully there are a lot of things that we can do, [while] still working within that heritage fabric, that will improve the long term sustainability of the building and the fabric," he said.
For example, the hardwood floors were coated in ash and soot, and are now being cleaned more thoroughly than they would have been in the past.
"We're actually possibly getting an even better solution than they were before the fire."
Rogan acknowledges that it is not cheap, the damage to Old Parliament House is estimated to cost $4 million and will take months to fully fix, but said it is still important to "maintain the fabric of Australian history."
"You're actually doing something that would benefit future generations and benefit society. Often times you actually see people's reaction when you clean a sculpture, especially if you work in public, like in the middle of Civic and you clean something up and people go that's really great, they really appreciate things looking better."
"There's a lot of people that really love Old Parliament House and will be very glad to see it back."
- The Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House will reopen Thursday 28 April and will be open 9am to 5pm daily. Tickets are free but booking is essential.
