Tally Room goes the way of the buggy whip makers

Buggy whips are still being made though, in fact whips have diversified somewhat and now can be found in certain speciality shops in Fyshwick, or so I’m told.

johnboy said :

It would make a great talking piece for the right bar in Kingston!

“The Tally Room” – would make for a cool name and décor theme for an inner-south dining establishment. Guaranteed the fly in-fly out crowd would love it.

Sad, but the leaders of the major parties seemed to have given up on it long ago – as I recall it, Rudd was in Brisbane on election night in 2007, and Howard in Sydney in 1996. So I assume that famous night in 1983 with Bob and Hazel was the last time a winner has put in an appearance in the Tally Room(?)

Perhaps we could have those hologram thingys that the American networks used in 2008 and 2012.

Masquara said :

It looks as though the tally board will be up for grabs. Killesteyn said he thinks the Museum of Australian Democracy won’t take the board as it is two storeys high and too big for them. Any suggestions as to where it might fit and be kept for posterity? Maybe it could be cut up artistically and used architecturally in a bar in Kingston? … or incorporated into APH somewhere as a shrine for JB and other politix junkies …

Cut up artistically for a bar in kingston…

I recall a bar in Gertrude St Collingwood that had an honour board, with blackboard paint over the names of the fallen, displaying the soup du jour and frappucino prices.

Look at the closet psephologists, wanting to bore people with allegedly interesting electoral facts at The Bellwether and Green.

Holden Caulfield said :

Oh, well the Kevin07 night at the NTR was good fun. Can’t imagine the numbers at the tally room this year, in Canberra, would be as high given the inevitable result.

There’s no inevitable result anymore, and I’ve yet to meet a Liberal supporter yet who want’s Abbott to lead the party. I think Rudd will fall short, but all it takes is one longer form interview for Abbott (which he’s been avoiding like hell) and it’s Hewson mkII

johnboy said :

It would make a great talking piece for the right bar in Kingston!

is there a right bar in kingston these days?

It’ll make the TV coverage on election night fairly boring. No more shots of Bob Hawke, et al claiming victory with the board in the background and everybody cheering. Still, it was always a bit disconcerting to see the panel talking about the count in such and such seat saying Party X had won it, only to be contradicted by a member of Party Y on the panel saying he’d spoken to scrutineers on his mobile and that they were now in front. It’s a bit like when the chalkies left the stock exchange. The march of progress comes before pretty pictures on the TV.

Hopefully there’s a large and otherwise-boring wall somewhere suitable located, to preserve it..

Sometimes it’s nice to preserve tradition, though I guess $1m is a serious sum. I’m glad I got down to EPIC last election night for a gander.

What a shame. Now will all of the gawkers go on election night. That board would make for one hell of a bonfire.