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australia goverment unit

Colonies In 1860 there were six British [|colonies] in Australia. The main laws of the colonies were made by the British Parliament. The Idea of Being Australian At first the colonies had little to do with each other. But in 1872 telegraph linked the colonies, and the idea of being 'Australian' began to be celebrated in songs and poems, and by the 1890s the idea of federation was becoming popular. People began to realise that for matters like defence, controlling immigration and economy, a nation would be stronger than individual colonies.

Action Begins

The Premier of New South Wales, Henry Parkes, convinced the other premiers to discuss federation and in 1890 the //Australasian Federation Convention//, including representatives from New Zealand, was held in Melbourne. Next, the //National Australasian Convention// was held in Sydney in 1891. Each colony sent seven representatives. Work began on an Australian constitution. A draft was drawn up by a committee: Edmund Barton (New South Wales), Andrew Inglis Clark (Tasmania), Samuel Griffith (Queensland), and Charles Kingston (South Australia).They looked at the constitutions of Great Britain, the United States, Canada and Switzerland.

Delay Hard times across Australia drew people's attention away from federation for several years but in 1893 there was a conference of pro-federation groups. They agreed that a national meeting would redraft the constitution and that all Australians should have a chance to agree with the constitution by vote.

Drafting the Constitution

The //National Australasian Convention// met in 1897 and in 1898. Each colony elected representatives to attend, except Queensland, which did not support federation. Committees debated each paragraph of the draft constitution, changes were made, and a new constitution was drafted byEdmund Barton, John Downer and Richard O'Connor.

Equal Representation

The smaller colonies were afraid that the larger ones would have more say in a federal parliament, so the conference adopted the practice of the United States: in the House of Representatives each state is represented according to the number of residents; in the Senate each state has an equal number of representatives.