Steps to Federation
Conflict 1846-1882To start with the different Australian colonies did not work together at all. Early suggestions for federation met with little interest since each colony was concerned with its own problems and development to the exclusion of the others who were viewed as rivals. In 1850, the Australian Colonies Government Act, passed by the British Parliament, suggested that the Australian colonies might wish to unite. However, each colony preferred to deal with its own afairs. In fact colonies were still forming at this time. In 1851 Victoria separated from NSW to become a separate colony as did Queensland in 1859. Historians have commented on this individualism of the colonies. Until the 1880s, the colonies generally led quite separate lives. They were really like separate nations. They had their own economic policies, their own transport systems, their own political parties and governments, and even their own defence forces. They cooperated on mail services but on few other matters.
Don and Glen Garden, AUSTRALIANS IN THE LANDSCAPE A student history, Heinemann Education, 1996, p 148. Before 1856 there was little to make people living in various parts of the Australian continent feel that they had much in common. Many saw Australia as a land of exile, and for them Britain was "home." Even those who looked upon the colonies as their native land had no real concept of Australia as a nation. Enormous distances and the lack of effective transport and communications encouraged isolation from other colonies, even from other parts of the same colony. The coming of self-government in the 1850s gave each colony an identity of its own, and the power to pursue its own policies. For a long time the interests of the colonies did not coincide, at least in the eyes of most of their citizens. People became Victorians, New South Welshmen, Tasmanians, but not Australians.
W P Driscoll and E S Elphick, BIRTH OF A NATION, Rigby, 1974, p. 223.
Consultation 1882-1889The colonies began consultation when difficulties and problems emerged among the various colonies. Click on the various sections of this diagram to discover how the movement towards Federation gained momentum during the 1880s and 1890s.
 Intercolonial problems, however, were more likely to bring colonies closer together, chief among them being foreign affairs and immigration. We have seen that almost from the time of the first settlement there was a fear that other nations would try to gain control of parts of the continent. These fears had no real justification for many years but from about 1870 onwards European interest in establishing empires became stronger and their activity in Africa and Asia increased. In the 1880s Germany became interested in New Guinea, and France started to colonise New Caledonia and the New Hebrides. In alarm, the Queensland Premier, Sir Thomas McIlwraith, tried to annex the southeastern part of New Guinea in the name of the Queen. This was in April 1883. The British Government disallowed this action but under colonial pressure gave in and took possession, provided that the colonies helped provide money for administrative costs. It was said at the time that if there had been a united Australia Germany would have gained no foothold in New Guinea (by 1884 Germany had control of north-eastern New Guinea.) Similar united action was needed to deal with the immigration problem. In the wake of the gold rushes when Chinese flocked to the gold fields, the colonies felt the need to control the immigration of Chinese and the trade unions were also strongly opposed to the use of Kanaka labour from the Pacific islands. However, no law by a single colony could control migration, as the Victorians found. The Chinese simply landed in New South Wales or South Australia and crossed into Victoria. Councils and Conventions Matters of common concern such as those discussed above led to the establishment in 1885 of a Federal Council of the colonies, New Zealand and Fiji, though New Zealand and New South Wales decided not to participate. It was, according to Sir Henry Parkes, a "rickety body" without real power, and though it debated a number of inter-colonial matters, little was achieved. Without revenue and minus one of the leading colonies, it was really only a debating society.However, three events in 1887, 1888 and 1889 had a more lasting impact on a federal movement. In 1887 the six colonies and New Zealand drew up a naval agreement, consenting to pay for protection by the British Royal Navy. In the following year a British soldier, Major-General Sir J. Bevan Edwards, in a critical report on colonial defences, recommended that all colonial forces be amalgamated and that a uniform railway gauge be established, together with other measures designed to overcome the difficulties of defending Australia. 
 Then in 1889 Henry Parkes delivered his famous speech on federation at Tenterfield.
Parkes on foreign affairs: Turning from that field to the field of the South Sea Islands, I have no doubt whatever in my mind that if there had been a central government in Australia -- if Australia could have spoken with one voice in the year 1883, New Guinea would have belonged to Australia. . . . those great armed powers of Europe which are shut in from the sea are not only wanting more earth for their multitudes to live upon, but are wanting the earth which fronts the ocean in any part of the world.... Now, Australia ought to be mistress of the Southern seas. The trade, the commerce, and the intercourse of those groups of rich islands ought to centre in our ports, and with these advantages we ought to hold the mastery of the hemisphere. That is our destiny, and it will come. But why should we not let it come with the least pains and penalties, with the least delays, and with the least possible loss of time and opportunities These are two very great objects which can only be properly attained, properly promoted, by a Federal Government. Source: Henry Parkes, speech in 1890.
Parkes had proposed a special conference, a proposal greeted coldly by the other Premiers, for Parkes had boycotted the Federal Council. Recent historians have suggested that Parkes' motives for supporting federation were more concerned with his own political position and a desire for honour and glory than with Australia's welfare, and that he does not deserve the title sometimes given him of "Father of Australian Federation." Whatever his motives in advocating federation at Tenterfield, his speech and subsequent organisation led to a conference in 1890 and a national convention in 1891 to draw up a federal constitution. It was obvious that the types of policies recommended by Major-General Edwards could only be put into effect by a federal government.
There were, of course, problems. If the principle of one-man one-vote was to be adopted, how could colonies with small populations avoid being ruled by more populous colonies? Should there be a strong or weak federal government? If the federal government controlled customs and excise duties, how much should the states get for revenue? Where should the capital be? To overcome these problems there was to be a House in which all states had equal representation--the Senate -- as well as a House elected on a population basis. Three quarters of customs revenue was to be returned to the states. Melbourne was to be the capital. Cooperation 1890-1901 The 1891 premiers' convention drew up a constitution that embodied a federal system with a national government exercising powers in some matters and colonial (or state) governments exercising powers in other fields. However, the New South Wales Parliament rejected the constitution and this, for the time being, ended the move to federate. Colonial differences were still too great and public interest was not high. Besides, as we have seen, most people in 1891 had other things on their mind. National Australasian Convention Sydney, March-April 1891 Forty-five delegates, seven from each Australian colony and three from New Zealand, met in Sydney to draft a federal constitution. At a banquet before the proceedings began, Sir Henry Parkes proposed a toast to 'One People - one Destiny'.Resolutions Moved by Sir Henry Parkes: That in order to establish and secure an enduring foundation for the structure of a federal government, the principles embodied in the resolutions following be agreed to:- - That the powers and privileges and territorial rights of the several existing colonies shall remain intact, except in respect to such surrenders as may be agreed upon as necessary and incidental to the power and authority of the National Federal Government.
- That the trade and intercourse between the federated colonies, whether by means of land carriage or coastal navigation, shall be absolutely free.
- That the power and authority to impose customs duties shall be exclusively lodged in the Federal Government and parliament, subject to such disposal of the revenues thence derived as shall be agreed upon.
- That the military and naval defence of Australia shall be entrusted to federal forces, under one command.
Subject to these and other necessary provisions, this Convention approves of the framing of a federal constitution, which shall establish:-- A parliament, to consist of a senate and a house of representatives, the former consisting of an equal number of members from each province, to be elected by a system which shall provide for the retirement of one-third of the members every seven years, so securing to the body itself a perpetual existence combined with definite responsibility to the electors, the latter to be elected by districts formed on a population basis, and to possess the sole power of originating and amending all bills appropriating revenue or imposing taxation.
- A judiciary, consisting of a federal supreme court, which shall constitute a high court of appeal for Australia, under the direct authority of the Sovereign, whose decisions, as such, shall be final.
- An executive, consisting of a governor-general, and such persons as may from time to time be appointed as his advisers, such persons sitting in Parliament, and whose term of office shall depend upon their possessing the confidence of the house of representatives, expressed by the support of the majority.
Issues Major issues included:- Composition and powers of the Senate (or States' House), claims by the small states for equal representation in the Senate, and equal powers of the Senate and the House of Representatives. A solution was reached known as the 'compromise of 1891', which gave the Senate equal powers except with regard to money bills.
- How to determine a federal tariff fair to all when there was a clear split between particular states over free trade as opposed to protectionist viewpoints.
- How to distribute surplus revenue among the states.
- The right of appeal to the Privy Council.
Outcomes Despite differences of opinion that threatened to divide the large from the small colonies, the convention produced a first draft of a constitution, which was then referred to the colonial legislatures. Many difficult issues were glossed over at this early stage, ensuring a need for a second convention. Nevertheless, Robert Garran later remarked that 'The whole process of drafting was completed in twelve days, during which federation came down from the skies to the earth, and from a vague aspiration was crystallised into a precise plan setting out the terms of a federal compact.' R.R. Garran, Prosper the Commonwealth, Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1958 p.98.
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