What happened in 1893 in australia federation

At the end of the 1800s, Australia was divided into six separate colonies instead of being one nation. But people had been talking for years about whether Australia should be one nation, and in the 1890s a series of meetings (called conventions or conferences) was held to discuss federation of the colonies.

The Premier of New South Wales, Sir Henry Parkes, had announced in 1889 that the time had come to form a national parliament and government. There were many who did not agree, but by 1891 there was a convention held in Sydney to write a federal constitution. This was then sent back to the colonial parliaments for approval. But at the same time, Parkes was losing the leadership of NSW and the issue of federation was no longer a top priority. Without the largest colony, the others could not proceed towards federation.

In 1893, a conference was held in Corowa on the Murray River and attended by politicians from NSW and Victoria, business representatives from Melbourne and people from Victorian branches of the Australian Natives Association, an organisation which wanted federation. John Quick, a lawyer from Bendigo, suggested that the whole process should start again, but with the people electing delegates to a new conference, which would then write a constitution and put it back to the people at referendums. His scheme was accepted enthusiastically by the conference.

There was then a meeting of colonial premiers in 1895 in Hobart and Quick's scheme was accepted by New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. However, Western Australia's parliament agreed only that it would elect delegates to a convention (rather than having the people elect them) and Queensland could not agree and was eventually not represented at the convention at all.

In 1897, elections were held to choose delegates to attend a convention to draw up a constitution. The convention was held in three sessions in three places: Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne. This draft constitution was then put to the people at referendums. People in NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania voted twice. The first time all four colonies voted 'yes' but the vote was not high enough in NSW to satisfy the level set by the parliament. As a result, some changes were made to the proposed constitution and the vote was taken again. This time, the NSW 'yes' vote was high enough and the referendum was put to voters in Queensland and Western Australia, who also voted 'yes'.

Some of the delegates then had to take the draft constitution to London, so that it could be passed by the British Parliament. After some debate and argument in London it was passed. As a result, the Australian Constitution is in the form of an Act of the British Parliament. As it happened, Western Australia was not mentioned in the preamble to this Act, because Western Australia voted later than the other colonies and was too late to be included.

The Commonwealth of Australia was proclaimed on 1 January 1901 at a ceremony at Centennial Park in Sydney.

Arguments in favour of Federation

• All the colonies were British and most white people spoke English.
• School systems (which had begun in the 1880s) were teaching patriotic songs, stories and verses.
• Many people moved between the colonies to find work.
• Customs duties hindered trade between the colonies.
• Laws could be enforced better if accused people could not escape to a neighbouring colony.
• Sporting teams had begun to represent Australia. Such a cricket team in 1877 had beaten England in a Test match.
• Popular writers such as Henry Lawson were writing about Australia as a land and nation made by the struggles of ordinary people.
• Germany and France had colonies in New Guinea and the Pacific Islands and could pose a threat. Each Australian colony only had a small armed force.
• Influential politicians were strongly in favour of Federation and travelled the country giving speeches about it.

Arguments against Federation

• New South Wales and Victoria were more powerful than the other colonies.
• Each colony had its own characteristics that might be lost after Federation.
• All the colonies already had parliaments of their own.
• Federation would be expensive to achieve and a federated country would be expensive to run.
• The colonies had different policies about immigration, trade and other matters.
• Customs duties protected factories in the smaller colonies from goods made in factories in the larger colonies.

The issue of trade

One of the big issues about Federation concerned trade. People found it annoying that they had to pay customs duties to take goods over the borders between colonies.

Victoria had a policy of high duties so that it could protect its industries from overseas competition. New South Wales had a policy of low duties so that the cost of goods could be kept as low as possible and to encourage trade.

New South Wales and Victoria, as the two largest colonies, were jealous of each other. Although they could agree that it would be better to have free trade within a new nation of Australia they could not agree about what to do about goods coming from overseas. Should they be taxed (in an effort to protect local industries) or should there be completely free trade?

The smaller colonies also had policies of protection but their customs duties were not as large as those of Victoria. This made New South Wales suspicious about joining a federation. As well, some people in New South Wales thought that since it was the oldest and largest colony, the other colonies should become part of New South Wales if they wanted to become one country.

The issue of free trade versus protectionism threatened to stand in the way of Federation for some time in the 1890s. But it was resolved by leaving the issue to be decided after Federation had taken place.

Timeline

A timeline of events at the time of Federation is available in one of the other classroom activities.

Federation resources

A collection of websites, books, CD-ROMs and videos provides more resources about Federation.

Back to Centenary of Federation: Debates that shaped the nation

1770 - Captain James Cook mapped the east coast and claimed the continent for Britain.  

1788 - the First Fleet arrived and a prison colony was established in Sydney. A colony is an area or country controlled by a more powerful country that is often far away. Britain's prisons were overflowing so the decision was made to send convicts to Australia, along with soldiers and free settlers.

1860 - there were now six British colonies in Australia. The main laws of the colonies were made by the British Parliament. The colonies were completely separate, and had very little to do with each other.

1872 - telegraph linked the colonies, increasing communication between them.  The idea of being 'Australian' rather than British began in songs and poems, and by the 1890s the idea of  federation was becoming stronger as people in the colonies started talking about joining together to be one nation instead of six little colonies.  They began to realise that for matters like defence, controlling immigration and economy, a nation would be stronger than individual colonies.  Each colony was now able to elect its own government, but still the big decisions were made in Britain, and people were starting to feel these decisions were being made hundreds of miles away by people who'd never seen and experienced Australia.  

1890 - The Premier of New South Wales, Henry Parkes, convinced the other premiers to discuss federation and the Australasian Federation Convention, including representatives from New Zealand, was held in Melbourne.  

At the Federal Convention in 1891, delegates agreed on a draft Australian Constitution. It was then sent to the colonies’ parliaments for consideration and amendment. It was not made a priority, however, because the parliaments had become preoccupied with the economic depression between 1891 and 1893. The smaller colonies were waiting for New South Wales to act, but it too was hesitant.

The supporters of Federation were losing patience and faith in parliamentarians. They wanted to keep the movement going. Federal leagues, supported by the Australian Natives Association, sprang up in New South Wales and Victoria to build support for Federation among the people themselves.

By 1893, all of the Australian colonies had responsible government and colonists were well versed in electing representatives to their parliaments. At a conference to promote Federation in Corowa in 1893, John Quick, a lawyer from Bendigo and member of the Australian Natives Association, proposed a plan to ensure the involvement of the people in the decision to federate. Importantly, the Premier of New South Wales, George Reid was won over by Quick’s idea, and got the Premiers of the other colonies to agree to it as a way to continue on the road to Federation.

Discover how John Quick’s Corowa plan influenced the course of Federation.

Activities

1. Examine John Quick’s 1894 Australian Federal Congress Bill. Draw a flow chart outlining his proposal. Compare your flow chart to a classmate’s and make amendments if needed.
2. In small groups, use a concept map to brainstorm the meaning of ‘democracy’. Re-read John Quick’s Bill. Does it fit your group’s definition of a democratic process? What are the advantages of a democratic system? What are some possible disadvantages? Share your thoughts as a class.
3. In pairs, examine the ‘Britannia’ cartoon. Consider the following questions.
   • Britannia is a symbol of which country?
   • What do the other women represent? What are they holding?
   • What does the caption tell you about what is happening in the cartoon?
   • Do you think the cartoon supports John Quick’s plan?
   • Share your responses with the class.
4. As a class, discuss the following questions.
   • Do you think John Quick’s plan would help solve the problems shown in the cartoon?
   • How might the road to Federation have been different without Quick’s plan?
5. Choose one of the following to demonstrate your understanding of John Quick’s contribution to Federation.
   • Create a political cartoon promoting John Quick’s plan and the people’s voice in the Federation process.
   • In small groups, use your knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of democracy to recreate the scene at the Corowa conference when John Quick proposed his plan. Make sure to include two arguments for and two arguments against the people’s involvement.
   • In small groups, think of other ways in which people might have been involved in the Federation debates and process. Use one of these as a basis for creating a charade, and perform it for the class.