An outline, era by era

Australian colonies federate (1901)

Late Modern Era / 19th Century · ~1800 – 1914

On 1 January 1901 the six British colonies of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania joined to form the Commonwealth of Australia. The union was created by an Act of the British Parliament, the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900, after a long process of conventions and referendums held in the colonies. It created a federal system in which powers are divided between a national government and the states.

Before federation each colony had its own government, laws, tariffs and railways, and the colonies had grown up separately from the first British settlement at Sydney in 1788. Debates over defence, trade, immigration and the Murray River water led many colonists to favour union. The new nation had a written constitution and a national parliament, which first met in Melbourne. The Constitution provided for a High Court, which was set up in 1903. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were not consulted and were largely left out of the new constitution's provisions, a fact that shapes how federation is remembered today.

Things happened, and the rest is history

  1. Henry Parkes and the Tenterfield Oration

    Event

    What happened

    In October 1889 Sir Henry Parkes, premier of New South Wales, speaks at Tenterfield after receiving a report from Major-General Sir Bevan Edwards on colonial defences. Edwards had recommended closer defence cooperation between the colonies. Parkes calls for a single national government for all Australia. He follows this in 1890 with a conference in Melbourne.

    The rest is history

    The Melbourne conference of February 1890 agreed in principle to pursue federation, and a National Australasian Convention met in Sydney in 1891. That convention produced a draft constitution, largely shaped by Samuel Griffith, but colonial parliaments failed to act on it amid economic depression. The speech is often treated as the start of the modern federation movement, though historians note that earlier federal schemes existed. Parkes died in 1896, before the movement succeeded.

    Sources

    1. BookLa Nauze, J. A. The Making of the Australian Constitution. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1972.
    2. BookMartin, A. W. Henry Parkes: A Biography. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1980.

  2. The Constitutional Conventions of 1891 and 1897-98

    Event

    What happened

    In 1891 delegates meet in Sydney and adopt a draft constitution. After colonial parliaments let it lapse, a new convention of elected delegates meets in Adelaide in 1897, then in Sydney and Melbourne in 1897 and 1898. It revises the draft, settling disputes over the powers of the Senate, the role of the states and financial arrangements.

    The rest is history

    The 1898 draft was put to voters in referendums. It passed in Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and New South Wales, though in New South Wales the vote fell short of the required minimum. After further changes agreed at a premiers' meeting in 1899, new referendums were held in 1899 and 1900, and Queensland joined in 1899. The finished Constitution was then sent to London for approval.

    Sources

    1. BookIrving, Helen. To Constitute a Nation: A Cultural History of Australia's Constitution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
    2. BookLa Nauze, J. A. The Making of the Australian Constitution. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1972.

  3. The Imperial Act and the proclamation of the Commonwealth

    Event

    What happened

    Delegates from the colonies travel to London in 1900 and negotiate with the British government over the Constitution, including a compromise on appeals to the Privy Council. The British Parliament passes the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act, which receives royal assent on 9 July 1900. Western Australia votes to join in July 1900. The Commonwealth is proclaimed in Centennial Park, Sydney, on 1 January 1901.

    The rest is history

    Edmund Barton became the first prime minister, and the first federal election was held in March 1901. The first Parliament opened in Melbourne in May 1901 and sat there until 1927. A key dispute in London was over appeals from Australian courts to the Privy Council, which was settled by a compromise. The Act remains the basis of Australia's constitution.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryCommonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 (UK). Act of the British Parliament, royal assent 9 July 1900.
    2. BookIrving, Helen. To Constitute a Nation: A Cultural History of Australia's Constitution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.

  4. The Australian colonies and their separate paths

    Event

    What happened

    After settlement at Sydney in 1788, further colonies are founded: Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) in 1803-04, Western Australia in 1829, South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851 and Queensland in 1859. Each gains its own parliament and responsible government in the 1850s, with Queensland following in 1859 and Western Australia in 1890. The colonies set their own tariffs and build railways on different gauges.

    The rest is history

    These differences created friction at borders, notably customs duties and unmatched rail gauges. They gave practical weight to arguments for union. The gold rushes of the 1850s and a growing sense of shared identity added to this. By the 1890s many colonists favoured a single national market and common defence.

    Sources

    1. BookClark, Manning. A History of Australia, Volume 3. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1973.
    2. BookMacintyre, Stuart. A Concise History of Australia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.

  5. Federation and the White Australia policy

    Event

    What happened

    Through the 1880s and 1890s colonial governments pass laws restricting Chinese and other non-European immigration. After federation, the new Parliament passes the Immigration Restriction Act in December 1901. It uses a dictation test to exclude would-be migrants.

    The rest is history

    Historians generally agree that the wish to control immigration was one motive among several for federation. The policy, known as the White Australia policy, was dismantled in stages from the late 1940s, and the dictation test was repealed in 1958. Racial restrictions were formally ended in the 1960s and 1970s.

    Sources

    1. BookTavan, Gwenda. The Long, Slow Death of White Australia. Melbourne: Scribe, 2005.
    2. PrimaryImmigration Restriction Act 1901 (Cth). Act of the Commonwealth Parliament, December 1901.

  6. The Constitution and Aboriginal people

    Event

    What happened

    The 1901 Constitution contains two references to Aboriginal people. Section 51(xxvi) lets Parliament make special laws for people of any race, excluding Aboriginal people, and section 127 excludes them from the census count.

    The rest is history

    Aboriginal people were not consulted in drafting the Constitution, and in most states were often excluded from voting. A referendum in 1967 removed both exclusions with a large majority, allowing the Commonwealth to make laws for Aboriginal people and count them in the census. The 1967 vote is often remembered as granting citizenship or the vote, which it did not.

    Sources

    1. BookAttwood, Bain, and Andrew Markus. The 1967 Referendum: Race, Power and the Australian Constitution. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press, 2007.

  7. Women and the vote in the new Commonwealth

    Event

    What happened

    South Australia gives women the vote and the right to stand for parliament in 1894, and Western Australia grants the vote in 1899. At federation, the franchise follows state rules. In 1902 the Commonwealth Franchise Act gives most white women the right to vote and stand in federal elections.

    The rest is history

    Australia was among the first countries to give women the federal vote. The 1902 Act, however, excluded Aboriginal people unless they were already on a state roll, a restriction that lasted until 1962, when the federal vote was extended to all Aboriginal people. Women could stand for federal office from 1903, and the first woman was elected to the federal Parliament in 1943.

    Sources

    1. BookOldfield, Audrey. Woman Suffrage in Australia: A Gift or a Struggle? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.

  8. The Federal Capital and Canberra

    Event

    What happened

    The Constitution requires a national capital in New South Wales at least 100 miles from Sydney. After years of dispute, the site at Canberra is chosen in 1908. An international design competition in 1912 is won by the American architect Walter Burley Griffin.

    The rest is history

    Parliament moved from Melbourne to Canberra in 1927. The compromise between Sydney and Melbourne rivals shows how federation involved bargaining among the colonies. Canberra is today the seat of the federal government.

    Sources

    1. BookReid, Paul. Canberra Following Griffin. Canberra: National Archives of Australia, 2002.

  9. Federation was a peaceful, unanimous decision

    Popular belief

    The legend

    It is often said that Australia became a nation peacefully and by general agreement, without any fighting, and that all Australians welcomed the union.

    The rest is history

    There was no war, and the process was by votes. But it was far from unanimous: referendum results were close in places, and New South Wales needed a second vote. Western Australia joined only at the last minute, and many working people were unenthusiastic. Women could vote in some colonies, but Aboriginal people were largely left out. Historians also note that the colonies had only recently experienced economic depression in the 1890s.

    Sources

    1. BookIrving, Helen. To Constitute a Nation: A Cultural History of Australia's Constitution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.

  10. The Australian Constitution was copied from the United States

    Popular belief

    The legend

    Some say the Australian Constitution is simply a copy of the American one, because both create federal systems with a Senate.

    The rest is history

    The framers did study the United States Constitution, as well as those of Canada and Switzerland. But Australia kept the British system of responsible government, in which ministers sit in Parliament and need its confidence. This mix of American federalism and Westminster government has been called a hybrid. The Constitution also differs from the American one by retaining the Crown, and uses a referendum to amend it. Only eight of 44 proposals have passed since 1901.

    Sources

    1. BookLa Nauze, J. A. The Making of the Australian Constitution. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1972.

  11. The name Australia was chosen in 1901

    Popular belief

    The legend

    Some believe the name Australia was invented for the new nation at federation.

    The rest is history

    The name is much older. Terra Australis was a Latin name for a hypothesised southern land on European maps. Matthew Flinders popularised the word Australia for the continent after his 1814 book, and Governor Lachlan Macquarie used it in the 1810s. The framers chose Commonwealth of Australia over other options in the 1890s.

    Sources

    1. BookFlinders, Matthew. A Voyage to Terra Australis. London: G. and W. Nicol, 1814.

  12. Federation Day was a day of national joy across the continent

    Popular belief

    The legend

    The first of January 1901 is imagined as a day when the whole country celebrated together.

    The rest is history

    The ceremony in Sydney drew large crowds. Elsewhere, responses varied, and for Aboriginal people it brought no new rights. Later generations have marked 26 January instead as Australia Day, which many Aboriginal people call Invasion Day or Survival Day. Federation itself has no public holiday.

    Sources

    1. BookIrving, Helen. To Constitute a Nation: A Cultural History of Australia's Constitution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.

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