By Izzy

How and why did Australia become a nation? Australia first became a nation on the 1 st of January, Before federation, Australia was made up of 6 different colonies. These colonies were ruled by people in Britain, and the decisions that were made, were to benefit the British. In 1893, the federation groups decided that the Australian people should vote to decide whether federation should take place. All of the colonies, except NSW, voted yes. The majority of people were in NSW, so the vote failed. Once Australia was its own nation, it was able to make up its own laws, and the original colonies were renamed states, by the Constitution.

How did Australian Society Change during ? Before 1890, each colony had a different border tax. This meant that when someone wanted to sell something to another colony, they had to pay a tax. This changed when federation happened. Also before 1890, the train tracks were different widths. This was a great problem when people wanted to travel, as they had to get off at the station, just before the border, and change trains. In the early 20 th century, the train tracks were changed to be all the same width.

Who were the people that came to Australia? In 1889 the population was over 3 million. In the early years of federation(1901+) the population reached 4 million. People from all over the world migrated to Australia, after federation. Nearly all of the people were from English speaking countries. The way people from non-English speaking countries didn’t migrate, was that they had to pass a certain test. This test was called the ‘Dictation Test’, and was written in a European language that the people were not necessarily familiar with. The policy was called ‘The White Australia Policy’, and therefore anybody not white, had to take the ‘Dictation Test’, in which they would fail.

Sir Henry Parkes (The Father of Federation) Sir Henry Parkes, was the Premier of NSW five times, in 19 years. In 1890 (at the Melbourne conference) he persuaded the other Premiers, and politicians to take federation seriously. He also suggested the title for the new nation, The Commonwealth of Australia. In 1889, Henry Parkes did a speech which had a big effect on the movement towards federation. In his speech, he said (about the colonies): “unite and create a great national government for all Australia”.

Bibliography: arkesTheFatherofFederation.aspx projects/people-cultures-and-government/government-project federation-l7.html