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is often called the 'Father of Federation' for his role as a long-time agitator for the cause.
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There were 6 British colonies in Australia. They could decide some things themselves, but the laws were made in Britain.
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The transportation of convicts to Australia ceases.
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Each colony was now able to elect their own government, but still the big decisions were made in Britain. People in the colonies were starting to talk about joining together to be one nation instead of 6 little colonies. Joining together like this is called federation.While Federation was an idea that had lots of popular support amongst Australians, there were a few individuals whose contributions to the movement stood out.
Three of these individuals were Sir Henry Parkes & Sir Edmund Barton -
A meeting was held to discuss federation. Each colony sent 7 people. They started to write a constitution which is a list of rules about how the nation's parliament will work.
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The Federation groups decided that the people of Australia should vote to decide if Federation should take place.
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Meetings discussed the draft constitution and made changes and a new draft. Queensland was the only colony that did not send people to the meetings. Because some colonies were much smaller than others, it was decided to have parliament the way the United States did - the number of people from each state in the House of Representatives depends on how many people live in the state, but each state has the same number of people in the Senate. People in all the colonies except Queensland and Western
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First session of the National Australasian Convention is held in Adelaide to work towards a Federal Constitution. All colonies except Queensland attended.
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Second session of the National Australasian Convention is held in Sydney.
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Third and final session of the National Australasian Convention is held in Melbourne. Delegates agree on a draft Constitution.
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The premiers met to discuss the things that worried those three colonies, and changes were made to the Constitution. One change was that there would be a new capital built between Sydney and Melbourne, because both thought they should be the capital city. People in all colonies except Western Australia voted for the new Constitution, and this time it was successful.
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A committee took the Constitution to London to persuade the British Parliament to pass a law allowing five colonies to join together to become a nation. The law was passed in May and signed by Queen Victoria in July saying that on 1st January 1901, New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania would become states in the Commonwealth of Australia. Meanwhile, there was a gold rush in Western Australia and people from all over the country went there to look for gold. The West
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On 1st January 1901 the first Governor General, Lord Hopetoun, officially declared that there were now six states forming the Commonwealth of Australia. The first parliament was opened in Melbourne on 9th May. Sir Henry Parkes' role in federation was to make it a popular cause amongst Australians.
