Henry Parkes first proposed the idea of an Australian federation in 1867 when he suggested forming a Federal Council body while serving as Colonial Secretary of New South Wales. The states were starting to worry about issues like communication infrastructure, immigration control, unionization of workers, taxation uniformity, and defense against threats in Papua New Guinea. Most states agreed at a 1890 conference that a federal government seemed beneficial, but spent the next 10 years debating what type of governmental system to adopt before finalizing plans for a federation of Australian states.

1. Australian Federation
Or “How the States Learned to Stop
Worrying and Love Being a Nation”

2. Australian Federation
Or “How the States Learned to Stop
Worrying and Love Being a Nation”
I’m not worried!

3. What was Australia Like
Before Federation?
Why did people start to become
interested in what it meant to be
Australian?
What was the first state to be created?

4. What was Australia Like
Before Federation?
Before 1901, Australia was just a
number of separate British Colonies,
who were more or less like separate
countries.
Australia as one nation, under one
government, didn’t exist.

5. We don’t actually exist yet.
A Divided Country
We have nice weather,
So we’re fine.
We have all the best
Resources and we’re keeping them
To ourselves.
We don’t have to listen
to anything those Victorians say
Where is
Tasmania?
We look after ourselves
No-one on the
mainland
Cares about us

6. The Changing States

7. So who wanted Federation
then?
In 1901 Australia’s population
numbered 3,788,123, but these
people were split over 6 states. (The
NT and ACT didn’t exist yet.)
Australia had been settled over 100 years earlier, which
meant that a lot of people (that is, people from European
backgrounds) in the country had actually been born there,
rather than being shipped in from overseas.
Understandably, these people were interested in what it
actually meant to be Australian.

8. The Rise of Nationalism
The idea of being "Australian" began to be
celebrated in songs and poems. It was also helped
by improvements in transport and
communications, such as the establishment of a
telegraph between the colonies in 1872.
This surge of interest in what it meant to be
Australian led to a movement called “Nationalism”.
Nationalists wanted to define Australia as a country,
instead of just a group of separate states.

9. What was Australia Like
Before Federation?
Why did people start to become
interested in what it meant to be
Australian?
What was the first state to be created?

10. The United States
Why were some Australians so
inspired by the USA?
What was the cause of some concern, given what had
happened in the USA?

11. The United States
Nationalists were very inspired by
what had recently happened in the
USA.
Like Australia, the USA had started out as a mostly British
Colony. However, tensions had broken out between the
British and American Colonists, mostly to do with having
to pay tax to the British.
These tensions led to open warfare in 1775. To
combat the British, the Americans formed a
government to co-ordinate the states in their military
effort. It was the first time the states had functioned as
one country.

12. Civil War
However, it wasn’t all clear sailing for the
Americans. After winning the war with the
British, more and states became part of the
Union, which led to more tensions!
Arguments over the rights and powers of
individual states (mostly to do with slavery and
how much control the federal government would
have) ended up in the States going to war with
each other in 1861. Lots of people died.
You can understand why some Australians would be
worried about forming such a Union…

13. The United States
Why were some Australians so
inspired by the USA?
What was the cause of some concern, given what had
happened in the USA?

14. The Road to Federation
Who was Henry Parkes?
When did he first suggest Australia
should become one nation?
What were the states starting to
worry about?
When did most states meet and agree
that Federation sounded like a good
idea? What did they then spend 10
years deciding?

15. The People of Federation
Henry Parkes, then the Colonial Secretary of New South
Wales, first proposed a Federal Council body in 1867.
Born in 1816, Henry had no formal
education. He first worked as a brickie
before starting his own business which
quickly failed.
He actually left Australia in 1838 with
his wife (the daughter of a butcher)
to find work in the UK.
6 months later, after working as a
labourer, he and his family returned to
Sydney, where he found work as an
Ironmonger.

16. Henry Parkes
Henry then opened an Ivory Tuner
business, which failed, leaving him in
deep financial trouble.
By this time though, Henry had
started becoming involved in local
politics and had taken up writing.
For a lousy businessman with no formal
education, it seems Henry could
actually write really well. He had several
books of poetry published that were
very well received.

17. The Road to Federation
Henry quickly rose through the political
world and was soon the Colonial
Secretary of NSW.
In 1867, he put forward the idea for a
National Union to the NSW
government.
Unfortunately, the
British
Representative for NO!!
the Colonies said
no.

18. The Road to Federation
continues…
Luckily, Henry didn’t give up. Even if he was getting older and
his beard was getting longer. (check out the picture to the left)
Henry ended up being the Premier of
NSW 5 times between 1872 and 1891. In
1880, as Premier, he brought up the idea
of Federation again at a meeting of all of
the Australian Premiers.
I still think we should
have a national
government. What do
you guys reckon?

19. Worries…
The heads of the individual states were starting to worry
about quite a few things.
Communication… a telegraph system was
already established in most parts of the country
but needed more expansion. Who was going to
pay for it and organise it?
People were also worried about the number of
Chinese workers coming to Australia. They
wanted to set up some form of Immigration
Control.

20. More Worries…
They also worried about the workers
bandying together and forming unions,
which would make them harder to control.
People also wanted to make sure taxes would be
more or less the same across the country. Too
many takes would be bad for business and trade
with other countries.
Also, people were a bit nervous
about the large number of Germans
and French who were gathering in
Papua New Guinea. Australia
needed a military force of its own…

21. The First Federation
Because of these fears, a Federal Council of
Australasia was formed in 1888, to represent the
affairs of the colonies in their relations with the
South Pacific islands.
New South Wales and New Zealand didn’t join.
Without NSW, the Federation wasn’t as strong as it
should have been. NSW was one of the strongest,
wealthiest states. All the same, it was a good start.

22. Getting Closer…
Henry Parkes was still keen to establish a Federal
Government involving all of the states. Not many
people thought he would be able to do it though.
At a conference in 1889, he claimed:
”I could confederate these
colonies in twelve months"
To which someone replied that he
should, as it would be a great finish
to his life. In other words, doing so
would kill him.

23. Conferences and Congresses
By the end of a conference in 1890 (which took
place in February in a blistering 39 degrees), most
people seemed to think a Federal Government
was a good idea.
However, first off they had to decide what
sort of government they wanted. A lot of
arguments went on about this over the
next few years.
Some people thought it was a good
idea to have an American System of
Government. (The Americans were
seen as being a good example to the
young Australian nation.)

24. Which Government?
 British Government was split between
two houses, an upper house and lower
house. It also provided a good model for
government beneath a Monarch, unlike
the US.
Ultimately the American model was mixed with the British
system. Members of the upper house would be chosen by
Ministers appointed by the government. These Ministers
would come from whichever party had the majority in the
lower house.
Everything was sorted, now they just needed to get the
Australian people (the white Australians anyway) to agree to
join a federation.

25. The Road to Federation
Who was Henry Parkes?
When did he first suggest Australia
should become one nation?
What were the states starting to
worry about?
When did most states meet and agree
that Federation sounded like a good
idea? What did they then spend 10
years deciding?

26. Federation
What is a referendum?
Who was the last state to join? Why
do you think they took so long to
join?
What happened to Henry Parkes?

27. Referendums
 A referendum is a poll in which citizens of a state
or a country vote on whether to make a major
change.
 In 1898, NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia
voted to become part of the federation.
 In 1899, they voted again and even more people
thought it was a good idea. Queensland also agreed to
join the Federation.
 In 1900, Western Australia finally voted to join.
In 1901, the first Australian Federal Government
was created.

28. The Death of Henry Parkes
The last few years of Henry’s life were pretty
rough.
He went through immense personal turmoil
following the death of his first wife. He remarried
quickly to Eleanor Dixon and they had two more
children. Dixon soon died. Parkes remarried yet
again, this time to Julia Lynch, but died of
pneumonia on April 27, 1896, four years before
Australia became a federation.

29. Federation
What is a referendum?
Who was the last state to join? Why
do you think they took so long to
join?
What happened to Henry Parkes?