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Federation Began
January 1st is when Federation began in 1901.The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia formed one nation. -
FEDERATION
Before 1901, Australia was not a nation. At that time, the continent consisted of six British colonies which were partly self-governing, but subject to the law-making power of the British Parliament. Each colony had its own government and laws, including its own railway system, postage stamps and tariffs (taxes). This caused a lot of problems and people began to think about the benefits of uniting as one nation, under a federal system of governance. -
Colonies
In 1860 there were six British colonies in Australia. The main laws of the colonies were made by the British Parliament.
The Idea of Being Australian
At first the colonies had little to do with each other. But in 1872 telegraph linked the colonies, and the idea of being 'Australian' began to be celebrated in songs and poems, and by the 1890s the idea of federation was becoming popular. People began to realise that for matters like defence, controlling immigration and economy, a nation would be s -
Imagine it
It's hard to imagine in contemporary Australia, but prior to Federation each of the Australian colonies was more like its own country with customs houses, railway gauges and even their own military. It was neither natural nor inevitable that Australia would be federated, in fact it wasn't even a very popular idea. -
Federation
The Premier of New South Wales, Henry Parkes, convinced the other premiers to discuss federation and in 1890 the Australasian Federation Convention , including representatives from New Zealand, was held in Melbourne. -
My Website links
Hi Mrs Ryan, here are the website links I used during my timeline;
I used almost all the ones on the sheet and that is all.;) -
Federation
Hard times across Australia drew people's attention away from federation for several years but in 1893 there was a conference of pro-federation groups. They agreed that a national meeting would redraft the constitution and that all Australians should have a chance to agree with the constitution by vote. -
Federation
The National Australasian Convention met in 1897 and in 1898. Each colony elected representatives to attend, except Queensland, which did not support federation. Committees debated each paragraph of the draft constitution, changes were made, and a new constitution was drafted by Edmund Barton, John Downer and Richard O'Connor. -
The Big Meeting
QLD,NSW,VIC,SA,TAS and WA all came together and had a big
meeting for whether or not they should join all the colonies. Some peaple agreed and some didn't.Nineteenth century campaigns for an Australian nation were punctuated by colonial rivalries and personality conflict. In the end, it was the voice of the people and a vote in the British Parliament that delivered nationhood. -
CREATING A NATION
A–Z for researchers Fact sheets Family history Popular research topics Australian Constitution and Federation Creating a nation Cabinet Defence Migration and citizenship Security and intelligence Snapshots of the collection Managing our collection Preserving our collection Publications and podcasts Creating a nation
An invitation to celebrate the opening of the Commonwealth Parliament in May 1901 and meet the Du -
Federation
There are many Australias, many Australian pasts and many ways of looking at history and we can't present them all here. Federation Story is intended as an overview to illuminate the larger picture and tell the wider story of Federation.
