Room U88 is located in the Press Gallery on the House of Representatives side of the Old Parliament House building and was used by press journalists to report and record political issues between 1927 and 1988. Part of the original plans for the building, U88 currently retains a similar form to how it would have appeared at the opening of Parliament House in 1927. The room was temporarily extended eastward onto the Parliament House roof in 1939 but these extensions were removed after 1985. The room was linked to rooms U87 and U91 by the 1950’s, but the door to U91 was partitioned shut during changes that occurred during the 1970s. Historically, Room U88 is significant as it was occupied by the Sydney Telegraph during 1947 to 1949 and the Mirror in 1950. It was later occupied by News Limited (The Australian).

Provisional Parliament House was one of the first of its kind to provide specially built accommodation for journalists within the legislative chamber (above the Speaker’s Chair) marking the increasing importance of the media to both parliament and in everyday life. After 1927, advances in technology led to radio and television broadcasts of parliament and the Press Gallery adapted to suit these changes. In both television and radio the first broadcasts marked historic occasions—with the first direct radio coverage being the announcement of the end of World War II, and the first televised broadcast marking the historic Joint Sitting of both Houses in 1974. In 1927, the Press Gallery held only 25 print journalists, but by 1988 it had expanded to house up to 300 print, radio and television journalists, as well as technicians and other