AUSTRALIAN FED'ERA'TION. On Janu ary I, 1901, the five Australian colonies of Great Britain, together with Tasmania, united to form a Federal State under the name of the Common wealth of Australia. The movement toward fed eration had its beginnings probably as early as 1850, though the first step toward consolidation was not made till 1885. The union of the Aus tralian colonies was favored by the fact that in the main they possessed a hothogeneous popula tion, with the English-speaking race predominant, and almost identical political institutions. Eco nomic ditlerences there prevailed to a certain extent, as, for instance, between New South Wales, which possessed a large urban population and a highly developed industrial system, and South or Western Australia, occupied almost ex clusively by a mining population. Nevertheless this difference in wealth between different sec tions of the continent could not, and in the end did not, prove an insuperable obstacle toward the attainment of an object which so many other causes united to favor. The first important ad vance toward federation was made in 1885, when the Federal Council of Australasia was cre ated by act of the Imperial Parliament. This body, which was composed of two delegates from each of the five Australian colonies, and from New Zealand, Tasmania, and Fiji, was endowed with certain limited powers in minor legislation and the administration of justice; but in its very nature it was merely sin advisory body, possessed of little authority to impose its will upon the different colonies, and although it continued in existence until the institution of the new Com monwealth, in 1901, its usefulness had ceased long before that time. In 1891 a National Con vention, assembled at Sydney, declared in favor of Australian union and laid down the principles upon which the new Commonwealth should be based, the fundamental idea being that of a Fed eral Government with ample powers over foreign affairs, customs, and public defense, but circum scribed in its scope by the provision that all powers not expressly granted to the Central Gov ernment remained vested in the States. No defi
nite result, however, followed the action of the Convention until 1895, when a conference of colo vial premiers, meeting at Hobart, succeeded in drafting an Enabling Act providing for the elec tion of delegates to a Constitutional Convention, and the act was submitted to the legislatures of the various colonies.
On March 22, 1897, the Constitutional Conven tion met at Adelaide, whence it adjourned to Syd ney and finally to Melbourne, completing its work on March 17, 1898. The constitution as drafted was submitted to the people of the colo nies, and was adopted by a majority vote of five to one in Victoria, of two to one in South Aus tralia, and of five to one in Tasmania. In New South Wales, 71,412 votes were cast in its favor, and 65,954 votes against it; but as the legis lature had stipulated that a minimum of 80,000 votes or about one-third of the total electorate should be necessary for ratification, the constitu tion was declared rejected. Queensland and Western Australia took no action in the matter. After certain changes demanded by New South Wales had been effected in the constitutional draft, the instrument was once more submitted to the people in 1899, and though opposition was still strong, the Federalists won by a decided ma jority in New South Wales, and by increased ma jorities in the other colonies that had previously taken action. Queensland ratified the constitution before the end of the year. Early in 1900 the constitution was submitted to the Imperial Par liament at Westminster, and was adopted with but a single modification, to be noted hereafter. By the statute of 63 & 64 Viet. chap. 12, the five colonies which had ratified the constitu tion were merged into the new Commonwealth of Australia, with the provision that Western Australia should be admitted to the Common wealth on ratifying the constitution, which ac tion it took July 31, 1900. On January 1, 1901, the new nation was proclaimed in the capitals of the former colonies, now known as original States.