Essay: Federation of Australia By Tristan Scheirs Defence A very important reason why Australia decided to become a nation (having a federal government) was because of an inadequate defence force. Each of the six colonies in Australia had their own military force. But when it came to patrolling the extensive Australian coastline, they had to rely on the British navy to fulfil that task. Due to there being a number of countries such as Germany, France, and Russia who had colonised parts of the Pacific, there was a growing fear that one of them could have attacked Australia. There was a report released by British Major - General Sir J Bevan Edwards in 1889, states the individual colonies of Australia did not have enough soldiers, …show more content…
Transport
There was a very significant argument in favour of Australia having a federal government, which was the need for a uniform railway system. In the late 1800s progress was restricted in the colonies for having a different railway gauge. The colonies were operating independent of each other, whilst the railway systems were built. They faced a problem when there was a need to integrate and connect the tracks (for example from Victoria to New South Wales) when the gauges were of different lengths. This meant that trains could not cross colonial boarders, which ultimately would have restricted the main way of transporting people and goods on land from colony to colony. It was a great inconvenience when people had to change trains at the border of each colony.
Tariffs
Colonial governments applied tariffs (extra payments for imported goods) when goods were being transferred across borders. These taxes also created unnecessary tension between the colonies. Support would have grown towards Australia becoming a federation in order to remove restrictive trade taxes. People in the late 19th Century would have seen the benefits of creating a single market as strengthening the economy.
Growing national pride
As time progressed, colonists began to identify as Australian rather that British. During the time of federation over 80% of the population were Australian born. There were people
On the 1st of January 1901, six British colonies were legalised by the British parliament to govern as a part of the Australian Federation. With the legalisation of unification also held the birth of national independence of Australia. Under a federal system, powers were divided between a central government and several regional governments. Power was divided between the federal government and the governments of the six colonies, which were renamed 'states' by the Constitution. One of the first pieces of legislation passed in the new Federal Parliament was the Immigration Restriction Act. Now known as the infamous White Australia Policy. This immigration restriction made it significantly difficult for Asians and Pacific Islanders to migrate to Australia.
Continuing of the Bill to unite the six colonies Barton helped the creation of the Australian Constitution he insisted on many things to be apart of the Constitution and most were not added and some we implemented later on like the bill for trade in the country be made restriction
Each and every colony would have had a different system whether it was their laws, taxes, railway systems, tariffs and transport, this was a problem.
The patterns of change and continuity in Australia at the time of federation influenced Australia to become its own nation through the creation of the Australian identity. At time of Federation, the majority of people living in the Australian colonies were Australian-born. Colonists were also starting to see themselves as Australian, not as British. This meant people wanted their own identity that didn’t link back to Britain. The way of life in Australia helped build the identity, which was shaped by its differences to the typical Britain life. This was affected by the native flora and fauna, the weather and activities, sports and hobbies. There was also a change in the styles of literature and art, becoming more specifically Australian. This contributed to the growing national identity. For example, the popular oil canvas painting named Near Heidelburg by Arthur Streeton (Source 4.41, page 196, Oxford Big Ideas Australian Curriculum History 9) depicts the grasslands of Australia, and shows how people dressed accordingly to the weather. The change of the crops grown in Australia due to the climate, impacted the lifestyle of the people living in the colonies. This is a different landscape to Britain’s, where most of the population had
Federation in Australia was a big Debate at the time in the 1890’s some states wanted it to happen and some didn’t. They were also 6 different colonies being the same as they are today except for the ACT, South Australia, Northern Territory (as it was a part of South Australia) and Tasmania as they had not legislated for single-member electorates.
On January 1st 1901, the commonwealth of Australia was born when the six separate states united under a single federal constitution. Sir Henry Parkes first voiced the need for a united defense of the Australian continent in his Tenterfield oration in 1889. Prior to his speech, the proposal was considered unpopular as each colony had their own characteristics and traditions independant from the rest of Australia. However with issues such as transportation and communication growing, many people understood that a federation be more beneficial towards these matters. With the threatening approach with other countries growing, politicians and high ranked defense officers ,now recognized as the most important figures in Australian history, realised
Unique, and hopefully historic, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Retreat is perhaps the first meeting of its kind, focused on the hard politics of renegotiating the federation, since the 1899 ‘secret’ premiers conference which cleared the final path to union itself.
Henry Parkes was a major person in process of Federating Australia. He first announced his idea of Federation to the public during the tenterfield Oration in 1889. In his speech he stated 6 major problems that Federation would fix. The 6 issues were that rail gauges were different for each colony and supplies had to be moved from train to train, each colonies
A better way of protecting Australia was to have a better "defensive" country. Prior to federation the colonies struggled to defend themselves without the equipment needed. Each colony had its own military, however they relied on British forces to assist them with patrolling the vast Australian coastline. Different Australian colonies were highly afraid of different nations such as Germany, France and Russia. The colonies were also afraid of Asian countries, as they were very close to Australia. These countries were mostly China and Japan, who had big military backgrounds.
Despite the Constitution’s role as the structure of Australian political procedure and indeed the very fabric of Australian society, in the past there have been reasons for federal and parliamentary concern. The growing number of Federal powers and the diminishing number of states powers, is of immense concern to the state parliaments. A great many Commonwealth powers, under section 51, are concurrent with those of the states, and it is by this that the Commonwealth has been able to extend its control. Section 109 states that if Commonwealth legislation conflicts with state legislation, the Commonwealth immediately takes precedence, thus encroaching on what was once state political territory. In recent years there has also been growing concern over the role and powers of the Senate. Under section 53 the Senate is not able to introduce or amend money or taxation legislation, these powers reside in the H of Reps alone. In all other aspects the Senate is on equal terms with the H of Reps. However the Senate can simply reject, defer or refuse to pass money bills. The implications of this are massive, without the Supply Bills, there is no money for government or the Public Service. The powers of the governor general have also caused some unease. In effect the constitution give the G-G the power to be government. The man/woman has the power to dissolve government, is the
By federating Australia would be able to become their own country in the world, therefore being able to ditch Britain’s long hold on the continents image. Before Australia federated we were 6 British colonies, each consisting of many British people who helped develop the colony into a stable community. But in 1870 a report published showed that non-indigenous born people had a higher percentage over the people who were born in Britain . These Australian’s did not like calling themselves British and looked for something else to call themselves, around this time people stopped wearing British fashion and paintings of Australia started showing a less “Little Britain” theme and a more rustic, dry Australian theme. It was also around this time when the Australian Anthem was performed for the first time, only strengthening Australia’s push to be their own.
Analyse the major factors that contributed to Federation and the development of democracy in Australia
After the landing of the First Fleet in Australia in 1788 and the establishment of the penal colony the image of Australia underwent a lot of change over time. Between the years 1830 and 1850 the image of Australia was changed to a more complimentary one. A favourable depiction of the native born currency lads, who seemed not to have inherited their father’s sins led to the image of Australia as a land of opportunity for the ex-convicts and England’s surplus population. During this time there was a major tussle between the impulse to be distinctively Australian and the lingering sense of British heritage in creating the Australian cultural identity. But they were also seen as part of a new group of transplanted, predominantly Anglo Saxon emigrant societies, with the likes of USA and Canada. Many felt that just as America had seperated from Britain, Australia would also follow suit. This is often regarded as the context from where an incipient Australian Cultural Nationalism
The Australian Government did not work to improve or support primary production within Australia. Throughout Australia’s early history it relied predominantly upon primary production of goods and crops; including wool, wheat and cattle. Funds that Australia borrowed from overseas countries were mainly to boost the primary industries. The government believed that they could repay loans at a later date. To receive sufficient profits from the
To begin, the creation of a national defence force is a significant reason why Australia federated. Henry parkes was one of the first people to think about having an army which is from each colony During the 1800s ,there were different governments and armies so there was always the fear of invasions.Every colony relied on the British navy to periodically patrol the coastlines of each colony.People also wanted federation because if the ammunition