What Did Australian Federation in 1901 - Essay Example

AUSTRALIAN FEDERATION IN 1901 Name: Course: Date: In 1889 at Tenterfied in New South Wales, Henry Parkes the then Premier of New South Wales, delivered a speech that called for unity of the six Australian colonies. He wanted the colonies to form a single national government to govern the affairs of Australia. At the time, the population that occupied the colonies composed mostly of people born in Australia, even though the parents and grandparents of the people were mostly migrants. Unlike the previous two generations, the people who had been born in Australia considered themselves Australian and not British.1 They considered the divisions of the colonies as unnecessary since it only served to separate them yet they shared similar values, culture and language. In addition, colonial separation brought many inconveniences especially in travel and trade, and could prove disastrous in times of war as it presented a difficulty in organizing defense for the entire Australia. The imagination of Australia as one nation without the colonial divisions was a different thing. In fact, songs and poems composed at the time were already celebrating a united Australia; there was even an Australian cricket team that composed of players from all the colonies which had played the team from England. However, uniting the colonies into one nation was a completely different thing2. The colonies were again urged to unite in 1890 by Henry Parkes, this time a consideration was given to the proposition by all the colonies. The following year, the possibility of uniting the colonies was explored at a constitutional convention held in Sydney. Seven delegates from each of the colonial parliaments attended the convention in which New Zealand was represented by three delegates. Andrew Clark from the Tasmanian delegation had already researched on the United States’, Swiss and Canadian constitutions. This was important given that the three countries were federations, which was the model that Australia would adopt after attaining unity of the colonies. During the 1891 constitution convention, a draft constitution of a united Australia was approved. The constitution had been drawn up by Samuel Griffith, a delegate from the colony of Queensland. The convention agreed on a government structure with a two-house parliament constituting a house of representatives and a senate, while the colonies were to become states. A high court was also established to safeguard the constitution. Even though the idea and the entire process of federation had been borne and steered by politicians, the convention recognized the need for people participation, since they were crucial in democratizing the federation and making it successful as it had been envisioned. Following the need to involve the people in the federation process, a federal conference was held in Corowa in New South Wales, in which a scheme was devised by John Quick, a Victorian. The scheme suggested that the people should be responsible for electing delegates to constitutional delegations, and then at referenda to approve the constitution. Between 1897 and 1898, three federal conventions were held in Melbourne, Adelaide, and Sydney. The delegates to the conventions were elected by the people, with the mandate to consider and amend the constitution that had been adopted earlier own3. Referenda were then held in all the colonies to give every Australian a chance on the constitution adoption. In 1898, the first referenda were held in Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales, and Tasmania. However, the ‘yes’ votes in New South Wales fell short of the required by 80000 votes. This made the premiers from all the colonies to meet so as to settle any differences that could have caused the rejection of the constitution in New South Wales. The objective of the meeting was to make it more likely that any referenda held thereafter would realize success in all colonies with little resistance. Another referendum was successfully held in 1899 in Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, and Tasmania. In 1900, the draft constitution was escorted to London by chosen delegates from the convention so as to obtain assent from Queen Victoria and the Imperial Parliament. Western Australia, which had not participated in any of the previous referenda, held a successful referendum once it was ascertained that the federation of the colonies was imminent. This made it certain that Australia would be ‘a continent for a nation, and a nation for a continent.’4 The whole process of federation in Australia faced significant opposition from the various colonies and the people. However, the colonies had more reasons for federation than the reasons to continue existing separately. In the late 1800s, the colonial rivals of the British Empire in the Pacific had made the Australian colonies increasingly worried. Even though some of the Australian colonies had navies and armies, they still lacked a coordinated system of transport among themselves. The colonies feared that they would not be strong enough individually in case they faced threats from countries such as France, Germany or Russia. There was also a concern about the threat posed by China and Japan in case they were to attack the colonies in the future. This fear of attack brought the colonies together to federate because they felt they could better face the threats as one nation, and the unity would as well make them a significant British ally in other matters5. Meanwhile, the British government had in 1889 commissioned Major General Edwards to find out and report on the Australian defense forces. In his report, he recommended that federation was important if Australia was to be defended effectively. This meant that there was need for Australia to have a joint defense force in case of any external attacks from the British colonial rivals who were seen as a threat at the time. The presence of Germany and France in the Pacific was upsetting to those who believed that only Australia and Britain were supposed to rule the southern seas region. Queensland had tried to annex New Guinea in an attempt to stop Germany from taking it. However, Queensland was stopped by the British government who did not want any conflicts with Germany yet, especially in the South as they did not have a formidable force to fight a war at the time6. The 1890 speech by Sir Henry Parkes was motivated by the foreign threats that the Australian colonies faced from the British colonial rivals in the Pacific. However, most people did not buy into the idea of federation as they did not view defense as a substantial reason. The opposition to the federation was also rife because it was a popular act in which the people expressed their free will in the entire process. It was thus not easy to make all the people agree on the need for federation. “There was little to support the idea of a general community desire for federation.”(Katharine 2009, 32) Moreover, during the referenda, the people were only told to vote either yes or no to the idea of federation and the constitution without being told what was actually in the constitution. Workers, who formed a large portion of the Australian people, did not see anything they stood to gain from the federation and were, therefore, not interested.7 Apart from defense, trade was also an area that motivated the federation of the Australian colonies. Before federation, trade among the colonies had not been free; hence there was need for more cooperation to boost trade. At the time, goods that moved between any of the colonies were subjected to tax, which made them expensive to sell. Each colony had set up customs houses to monitor smuggling of goods across their borders. During the federation conventions, the delegates agreed that abolishing of inter-colonial tariffs would allow manufacturers to access markets in any of the colonies hence this would boost production. Despite the advantages that Australia stood to gain from federation, colonies were still unwilling to lose their independence. Even though in the earlier federation conventions they had discussed how to come together and draft a common constitution for Australia, Edmund Barton in the 1897 convention held in Adelaide raised issue with the terms of association among the colonies.8 The same issues of superiority of the colonies in the federation made some colonies oppose the federation move. For instance, many people from the colony of New South Wales viewed the proposed senate as an undemocratic body since populations were not equally represented in it. In the proposal, each state was expected to have six senators representing it to the senate yet the population of New South Wales formed 40 per cent of the entire Australian population. Another form of inequality was noted in the House of Representatives, where there was to be one elected member for every 30000 voters. However, Aborigines, women and Asian migrants were not allowed to vote except the state of South Australia. This had to be changed first before the elections of 1903 to make all states equal. Deciding the location of the capital for the Commonwealth of Australia also faced significant opposition. The need to have a new capital city divided as well as united opinion around the federation issue. Representatives from each colony wanted the capital city located in their colonies. The debate was so heated that a convention held in January 1898 in Melbourne concluded that none of the colonial capitals would be adopted as the capital city for the Commonwealth of Australia. In a secret conference held the following year in Melbourne and involving the premiers of the six colonies, George Reid of the New South Wales successfully convinced the others that the new capital should be located in his state. However, they categorically stated that the capital must be located outside of 100 miles from Sydney. This called for the building of a new capital city, Canberra. In the meantime, Melbourne was settled upon as the temporary capital for the Commonwealth of Australia. The cues used in deciding the location of the capital city included accessibility, climate, physical conditions, food supply, and the capacity to support a large population.9 Defense of Australia against foreign attacks and trade were the main reasons why the colonies federated. The merchants and bankers who were doing trade in Australia at the time, especially those that did trade in more than one colonial territory favored federation as it was going to help them during trade and making of payments. Many businessmen wanted the creation of a common market in Australia and federation presented this opportunity since it would free the tariff barriers among the colonies. For instance, the sugar producers from Queensland were subjected to payment of import duties just like other business people whose sugar came from overseas. The well established manufacturers in Victoria wanted federation because it would assure them of a free internal market in Australia. This would be advantageous as it would allow them to trade freely yet it would protect them from the rest of the world as there would be a common tariff for Australia. However, manufacturers from South Australia that had grown their industries under a protective tariff regime were opposed to federation. They did not have enough confidence to compete with their Victorian counterparts in a free market. Wheat farmers from South Australia favored federation since they were efficient and confident of beating competition in the local market. Still on trade, merchants who concentrated on overseas trade were opposed to federation. Melbourne and Sydney were competing for Riverina trade through differential railway gauges and tariffs. Riverina merchants and farmers supported federation because it would allow trade to flow naturally and clear uncertainty. Federation was also supported by miners, most of who migrated across the colonial borders often and had no concern for petty colonial rivalries. Forces opposed to federation of the Australian colonies were many and it was only through determination of some leaders that federation was possible. The biggest force towards federation came from the need to defend Australia from British colonial rivals in the Pacific as well as China and Japan. This force came mostly from the British government which was Australia’s colonial master. However, the other factors and the convincing of the delegates and the people to adopt the federation concept met a lot of opposition from groups that were more determined to safeguard their interests than to see the colonies federate into a single nation. Sir Henry Parkes’ and Sir Edmund Burton’s determination among others saw the successful federation of the colonies into the Commonwealth of Australia. Bibliography Birrell, Bob. Federation: The Secret Story. Sydney: Duffy and Snellgrove,  2001.  Cahill, A. E., "Cardinal Moran and Australian Federation", Australasian Catholic Record, vol.78, no.1, (2001): 3-15. Clarke, Patricia, ed. Steps to Federation. Melbourne: Australian Scholarly  Publishing, 2001. (Ch. 7 "The Freest Spirit of Australasian  Democracy", pp. 103-128)  Hearn, Mark and Patmore, Greg, eds. Working the Nation: Working Life  and Federation. Sydney: Pluto Press Sydney, 2001. Katharine, Sturak. Getting It Together: From Colonies to Federation - The National Story. Canberra: Museum of Australian Democracy, 2009.  Lake, Marilyn. "In the interests of the home: Rose Scott’s Feminist  Opposition to Federation", in Makers of Miracles: the Cast of the Federation Story, ed. David Headon and Stuart Macintyre (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2000).  Meaney, Neville, "Britishness and Australian identity: The problem of  nationalism in Australian history and historiography", Australian  Historical Studies, 32, no. 116, (April 2001):76-90. Read More