Australian Federation, 1901
A set of study materials for Years 7-10 Australian History
These notes are included on the educational multimedia CD-ROM Oz I.D. -The Search for Australian Heritage and Identity published by the Board of Studies NSW.
| 1. Reasons for federation | 2.
Background to Colonial politics |
| 3. A Classroom Simulation
| 4. Sydney in 1901 |
Sydney on Federation Day, January 1st 1901
On New Year's Eve, 31 December 1900, people who lived on the Australian continent had a lot to celebrate: a new year, a new century, and a new nation.
The next day, January 1st, 1901, nearly 250,000 people lined the streets of Sydney to watch a procession from The Domain to Centennial Park. 100,000 people gathered in Centennial Park for the Swearing-in of the first Governor-General. That evening, many celebrations were organised.The 500 Sydney pubs were busy that night.
What were they celebrating?
They were celebrating the creation of the Commonwealth of Australia.
The Commonwealth of Australia operates under a written Constitution,
unlike Great Britain. This Constitution was drafted by representatives
of the colonies who met at five Conventions - in 1890, 1891, 1897
(twice) and in 1898. Each colony then held referendums, the constitution
was then modified further at a Premier's Conference in 1899, and
another series of referendums. Australian delegates went to London
with a Bill that included the Constitution, there were some further
amendments, and legislation was enacted in British parliament in
1900.
The new Commonwealth then came into being on January 1st, 1901. Because Melbourne got Parliament until a Capital was built, the main celebrations for the Commonwealth were to be held in Sydney. (The Capital, the politicians had agreed, must be over 150 kilometres from Sydney, but was to be inside NSW.)
Why did thousands of people come out to celebrate the new Australian nation on the first day of the first year of the new century, and what was it like to live in Sydney at the time of these celebrations?
What is in these study materials?
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What was the procession like on January 1st?
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Why did the Australian Colonies federate to form "The Commonwealth of Australia"?
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What did Sydney people think about Federation?
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What were the results of the Referenda?
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The results of the first Federation Referendum
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Was Trade the main reason for Federation?
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Who wanted federation and why?
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Racism - a reason for Federation?
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Why weren't Aboriginal people included as Australian citizens"?
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Why were they so concerned about "race"?
- Defence as reason for federation
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What was the economy like at the turn of the century?
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Background to Colonial Politics
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The history of voting in Australia
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What was happening in politics in 1901?
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When Australian States achieved political reforms:
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Women given the vote
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What was the Role of the Governor-General to be?
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The Australian Flag: The Search for a uniquely Australian symbolism?
- What was Australia to do about a Capital?
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The 1899 Referendum in NSW - A Simulation
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What were State and federal responsibilities?
- Important events of the time...
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What was it like to live in Sydney at the time of Federation?
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What did Sydney look like on January 1st, 1901?
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Where did people live?
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The Importance of the Churches in Sydney in 1901
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What is a "Federation" style house?
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What was it like going to school in 1901?
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Youth culture
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What were the big events of the time?
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How was society changing at the time of Federation?
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Who were the most famous people in Sydney in 1901?
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What did Sydney people usually eat at the turn of the Century?
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Were Aussie's big meat eaters?
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What was it like, working in the kitchen without modern conveniences?
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Did people eat take-away food in 1901?
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What was the price of food like in 1901?
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Where did Sydney People buy their food?
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How did people travel around in Sydney in 1901?
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Australia's 2 and a half million horses
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Did improvements in transport make Federation more likely?
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The breaking down of isolation
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Sydney Trams and Road Accidents in 1901
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No cars, but lots of traffic
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Trams versus Buses in Sydney
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How big was Sydney in 1901?
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The rapid growth of Sydney
Here is how the big procession began on New Years day, 1901...
This is the way that the report in the Sydney Morning Herald the following day, reported it:
Sydney yesterday rose to the high occasion as only the capital of a great and noble country can rise. It was feared by some who did not know their Sydney that the day's pageantry would be injuriously affected by her citizen's lack of experience in such matters. But this fear was emphatically falsified by the issue, and Sydney conducted the magnificent performance of yesterday as if it were a part of the ordinary programme of a citizen's daily life. Every man, woman and child wanted to see the procession and used the best available efforts thereto, but not so as to prevent every other person from obtaining his fair view.
From early morning trams and trains and ferry boats carried hundreds of passengers to the great city, which itself teemed with thousands who were inclined to miss no chance of seeing what was to be seen. At an hour when citizens are generally engaging in the consumption of the meal which equips them for the labours of the forenoon, these same citizens were hurrying to the city in quest of the spots from which they had chosen to view the procession. The note of preparation was still in the air. Awnings and extempore balconies were being erected, or the finishing touch was being put to them. Even the weather was no bar. We had all looked forward to the fine weather which is seasonable at the time of the year, and the gloom which hid the sun on this first morning of the Commonwealth of Australia gave many an anxious moment in the households of the holiday-makers. Armed with umbrellas and macintoshes rather than dressed in the costume which befits a New South Wales summer, citizens sallied forth much to their discontent. But the occasion was one not to be missed. Yesterday was the greatest day in the history of Australia., and everybody who was not absolutely prevented was determined to assist, however humbly, in its celebration.
Entirely a people's festival, it was not so much that the heart
of the people was enthusiastically with the federal movement as
that Sydney the high duty - pleasant as it was pressing - to welcome
visitors and to acclaim the inauguration of the Commonwealth. In
all parts of the city arose as if by magic triumphal arches and
other tributes to the cause which has made yesterday memorable in
the history of Australia.
Sydney Morning Herald, January 2, 1901
Try this
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Compare the writing style of 1901 with a newspaper front page now. You will find that today, for example, the paragraphs, sentences and words are all shorter. What else do you discover about the way things were reported differently?
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Try rewriting this article about what happened in shorter, more modern newspaper form.
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Is there any less information presented this way?
Talk about this
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Did the newspaper say all Sydney residents supported "The federal movement"?
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See the section on voting in the Referendums, and the newspaper report of the second referendum day.
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How did people come to the city to watch the procession? (See the section on Sydney's transport).
For further research
Use Manning Clark's description of the event in Volume V of A History of Australia, and the front page of the January 2 Sydney Morning Herald to work out the route.
Why did the Australian Colonies federate to form
"The Commonwealth of Australia"?
There were many different reasons for many people, but one thing we do know is that it was mostly something that politicians wanted, rather than ordinary people - especially to start with.
One of the first reasons for calling the States together was a report on defence in 1889. Major General Edwards had been commissioned by the British government to report on the Defence forces of the Australian colonies. On October 9, he reported, recommending that only defence of Australia that was possible was through the federation of the defence forces of the Australian colonies.
France and Germany had been active in the Pacific, and this upset some who considered Australia, and Britain, should rule "the Southern Seas". Queensland had been so far as to try and annex New Guinea to stop the Germans from getting it, but the British government had stopped Queensland from doing it.
On 15 October, 1889, Sir Henry Parkes cabled all Australian Premiers seeking a conference to discuss the report and federation. At Tenterfield, NSW, Parkes delivered a speech openly calling for the creation of a nation for all Australia, with lots of references to a foreign threat, but defence was not enough to get most people very interested in the idea of Federation.
Try this
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Pretend that you are a student in school in the period 1890 to 1901. Find an historical atlas, and draw a map of the Pacific-Australian-South East Asian region in the 1890's period.
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Colour in the "bits" that are part of the British Empire (Pink was the colour they used in the old atlases for the British Empire).
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Now, colour in the bits that belong to other nations, such as Germany, France, Russia, Holland, etc.
Talk about this
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Who do you think might have been our enemies?
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Was there any evidence of them wanting to attack us?
For further research
You might like to research the events surrounding Queensland trying to annex New Guinea to stop the Germans from claiming it. The Queenslanders who were concerned about this became strong federation supporters, in the hope that the new nation of Australia would take over New Guinea.
What did Sydney people think about Federation?
'The Federation of Australia was a popular act, an expression of the free will of the people of every part of it.", says one historian, while another says, "Working people like a great proportion of the general population were not much interested in Federation". Another historian says "There is little to support the idea of a general community desire for Federation."
Why is there such disagreement between Historians?
The people of Australia were asked to vote yes or no to the Constitution, and the idea of Federation, without there having been much discussion of what was to be in the Constitution. We have the campaigns and results of the referendums to go by to judge whether Australians were interested or not.
What were the results of the Referenda?
Only in SA and WA were women allowed to vote in the referendum. There were two Referendums all over Australia about the Federal Constitution, one in 1898 and one in 1899. In the first one (in four colonies), only 45.4% of the eligible voters actually voted, and 60.71% in the second one, (in all six colonies). This means that only 30% in 1898 and in 1899, 43% of all voters actually voted for Federation.
It is fair to say that many Sydneysiders were apathetic about Federation.
Nearly 40% of all qualified voters around the Australian colonies expressed no opinion on the adoption of the Australian Constitution, while more than a third of those who did vote on it, were opposed to its adoption.
Here are the results of the first Federation Referendum, for example...
| NSW | VIC | SA | Qld | WA | Tas | Total | |
| Yes | 72,000* | 100,000 | 36,000 | Not | Not | 12,000 | 220,000 |
| No | 66,000 | 22,000 | 17,000 | held | held | 3,000 | 108,000 |
*not just a majority, but 80,000 votes were required for NSW to win a "Yes" victory.
Talk about this
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Do you agree with the statements above that "It is fair to say that many Sydneysiders were apathetic about Federation."?
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Why do you think that Historians disagree over whether Australians really wanted Federation?
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What is your opinion?
Try this
Find the results of the second referendum and compare them with the first. What do you discover?
Why did some people oppose Federation?
Many people in NSW believed that the Senate as proposed by the Constitution was an undemocratic body: each State got six senators. NSW had 40% of Australia's population but only got the same vote as Tasmania.
In the House of Representatives, there was to be one elected member for each electorate of 30,000 voters, but this excluded Aborigines, many Asian migrants, and women of all States except South Australia. this last was changed for the election of 1903.
Talk about this
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Do you think that most people might have thought "One Australian Nation" was a good idea, but they voted "No" because they thought the Constitution wasn't good enough?
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Many Labor Party people were very upset because "One Person One Vote" was not included in the Constitution.
Was Trade the main reason for Federation?
Bankers and merchants who did business in more than one of the colonies favoured Federation as a way of helping them trade and make payments.
A Tasmanian Federalist said:
"Gentlemen, if you vote for the Bill you will found a great and
glorious nation under the bright Southern Cross, and meat will be
cheaper; and you will live to see the Australian race dominate the
Southern seas, and you will have a market for both potatoes and
apples..."
From B.R. Wise, The Making of the Australian Commonwealth, 1889-1900,
1913, p. 356
Talk about this
Which seems more important to this Tasmanian politician - Nationalism or Trade?
Who wanted federation and why?
Many businesspeople wanted federation to create a "common market" within Australia, free from tariff barriers between colonies. Queensland sugar farmers sending their sugar to other colonies had to pay import duties in the same way as sugar brought in from overseas. Well-established Victorian manufacturers pushed for federation, because it gave them a free internal Aiustralian market, and a common Australian tariff against the rest of the world. South Australian manufacturers whose industries had grown up under protective tariffs opposed federation, however, because they did not feel confident about competition with Victorians in a free market. South Australian wheat farmers were efficient producers, and they believed they could beat any competition in the local markets - they were free traders favouring Federation.
Merchants who relied mainly on overseas trade, however, opposed federation. Sydney and Melbourne competed for Riverina trade through tariffs and differential railway gauges. Riverina farmers and merchants tended to support federation, because it would clear away the uncertainty and allow trade to flow along natural channels. Miners supported Federation, especially West Australian miners. Miners often migrated across Colony borders, their Trade Union was a Federated body and they were not concerned about petty Colonial rivalries.
Try this
After reading the information above, start making a list of the groups of people you think would support or oppose federation. Start this way:
Pro- or Anti- Federationist?
Tasmanian Apple-growers: |
__________ |
West Australian miners: |
__________ |
Overseas trade Merchants: |
__________ |
Riverina farmers: |
__________ |
South Aust. wheat farmers: |
__________ |
South Aust. manufacturers: |
__________ |
Victorian manufacturers: |
__________ |
Queensland sugar farmers: |
__________ |
Many Labor Party voters: |
__________ |
Queenslanders interested |
__________ |
Racism - a reason for Federation?
After Federation had taken place, the political leaders sought to define what Australia was to be. It was, they all agreed to be a White Australia. This is how writer Donald Horne explains it in his biography of Billy Hughes:
"Federation had proved disappointing. The deal put together by conservative politicians as the Commonwealth Constitution (and ratified by 41.01% of the electors)... was neither an expression of any democratic aspiration, nor of national inspiration. It had not been fought for by war or revolution; unlike the constitutions the colonies themselves had gained it had not been associated even with agitation in the streets and town halls. A common view was that Australia was not a "nation". All that had happened was that the colonial politicians had come to a new arrangement.
This very emptiness of "purpose" in the constitution may have
given sharp, extra meaning to the idea of "Australia for the White
Man". In Canada there was a "White Canada" movement and there was
agitation against coloured immigrants in the United States. But
in neither country was race chauvinism used as the exclusive means
of defining the nation, alone giving it public identity and purpose.
In Australia it was given this function. This unique emphasis may
have been provided by the accident that in 1901 a federation occurred
without proper rhetorical warning: federation was given retrospective
meaning by the Commonwealth's implementation of the White Australia
policy. immigration restriction was not one of the prime purposes
of Federation, but when the newly-elected MP's met in Melbourne
in their borrowed houses they had to act like statesmen, who had
some important occasion for their coming together. they needed a
great self-defining debate: that ritual debate proved to be on immigration
policy. It was not even a debate - only two speakers raised any
doubts. It was a ceremony of affirmation that the prime national
purpose of Australia was to be a continent of unique racial purity."
Donald Horne, The Little Digger - A Biography of Billy Hughes,
1979 p.43
The origin of the White Australia Policy
Here are some other quotations from politicians at the time to do with this issue:
Commenting on the first federal election campaign, George Reid,
leader of the Free Trade Party wrote:
"The doctrine of a "White Australia" - a term I invented - would
have been a leading question if it had not commanded almost universal
assent."
George Reid, My Reminiscences, p.203
Labor Senator J.C. Stewart of Queensland:
"If we are going to succeed as a nation, we must build upon the
foundation of a White Australia. We must lay upon the foundation
of a white Australia. We must lay the foundations of this young
community in the purest and whitest of marble without streak or
stain."
Commonwealth Parliamentary Debates, May 22, 1901, vol. 1,
pp. 266-267
R. E. W.O'Connor, leader of the Protectionist Party in the Senate:
"It has become the fixed opinion of Australia from end to end that
this continent shall be kept for all time for the white races. That
is a principle which has been forced upon people for social reasons
- reasons so sound, to my way of thinking, that I have no hesitation
in saying that whatever happened to the sugar industry, or to any
other industry, I think that the social objections to the growing
up in our midst of a race inferior to ourselves impossible to admit
into our political system is fraught with so many dangers, and so
full of such possibilities of degradation to white people, that
I should prefer to see that industry brought to an end rather than
that the principle should ever be embodied in our Constitution of
allowing the admixture of black with white races of Australia."
Commonwealth Parliamentary Debates, May 22, 1901, vol. 1,
p121
Investigate this
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How was the White Australia Policy put into action?
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Find out about the immigtration Exclusion Act and the "Dictation Test".
Why weren't Aboriginal people included as Australian citizens?
Here is an exchange in parliament that dose show what many people thought at the time:
"Senator Matheson: We all admit that the black people have to
live. What we say is that the black people should live in their
own country.
Senator Walker: This was a blackfellows country before it was a
white man's country.
Senator Matheson: The honourable gentleman said that to me privately
yesterday, and he seemed to think that that settled the question.
He fails to recognise that we have taken this country from the blacks,
and made it a white man's country, so that there is no earthly use
in the honourable gentleman saying that 100 years ago this was a
black man's country.
Senator Walker: There are still 100,000 aborigines in Australia.
Senator Matheson: We are aware of that fact, and it is very regrettable,
and the only consolation we have is that they are gradually dying
out.
Commonwealth Parliamentary Debates, May 22, 1901, vol. 1,
p152
Investigate this
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It was a common belief of the time that the aboriginal people would just "die out."
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What evidence was there that might lead people at the time to this conclusion?
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What is the current Aboriginal population of Australia?
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When did Aboriginal people become citizens of Australia?
Why were they so concerned about "race"?
In the 1863, Captain Louis Hope planted 20 acres of sugar-cane at Ormiston, near Brisbane, and got a very good harvest. At that time all the land-clearing, cultivation, planting and harvesting had to be done by hand, amongst the rich undergrowth of the tropical Queensland climate. To compete with the sugar grown by cheaper "black" labour in Fiji, Java, and South Africa, the Queensland sugar planters had a problem - in Australia, the demand for labour exceeded supply - to pay European wages would have made "white" sugar too expensive to sell. The sugar planters began to import labour from the islands in the Pacific, and pay them very low wages to clear, plant and cut sugar-cane.
They were called "Kanakas" from the Hawaiian word for man. Between 1868 and 1876 just over 11,000 kanakas arrived in Queensland.
The kanakas (Pacific Islanders) on Queensland's sugar plantations, in foreign surroundings were often in trouble with the law: In 1891 they were 1.72% of the population, but 5.52% of the gaol population, and between 1895 and 1905, they were 45% of the State's executions.
Many thought the Queensland's sugar plantation industry was creating a system of slavery. Many working people felt that cheap foreign labour would hurt the standard of living that they were used to. Between 1868 and 1885, the Queensland government passed laws that protected the Kanakas (Pacific Islanders) from some of the greed and cruelty that was common on the plantations.
This meant they had to give better wages to the kanakas, and gradually, new machines replaced manual labour. By 1896, European farmers working for themselves and using labour-saving machinery were gradually replacing large plantations with black labour.
Many Queenslanders, and people in the other colonies, wanted the black Kanaka labour to be sent home, and they opposed any other "foreign labour" being brought in for other industries, because it would lower the standard of living if they worked for less wages than "Australians", and because they firmly believed they were creating a white British nation in the south seas.
Investigate this
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What happened to the Melanesian Kanakas (Pacific Islanders) after federation?
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Did they get sent home?
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Where was home for them?
For your information
- The White Australia Policy, gradually taken apart in the period 1958 to 1972 was based upon ideas that most people do not hold today.
- In the period 1890 to 1945, it was common opinion that humans could be divided into a number of distinct "races". These races were distinguishable not only by physical differences, but also unchangeable intellectual, moral and temperamental charcteristics. They talked about "higher races" and "lower races", and thought that humanity could be divided into five major groups, Black, Brown, Red, Yellow and White.
- Many Australians at federation really did believe that Australia
was to be safeguarded from the "coloured races" that surrounded
our shores and wanted to invade us, and that there task was to
pass on to the next generation their "white heritage."
Prejudice against the Chinese
Humphrey McQueen, an Australian historian, in his book, A New Britannia, says that:
"There is much evidence that while the Chinese were very law-abiding, they were still prejudiced against. While they were a very small percentage of Australia's population, there were times and places where they were a majority. For example, at the Palmer River Gold diggings near Cooktown, in 1877, the Chinese outnumbered Europeans by 17,000 to 14,000. In Narrandera, in the 1880's every second man in town was Chinese. In the mid-1850's one adult male in five in Victoria was Chinese.
These large concentrations served to keep alive the belief that they were "an advance guard" of others to follow..."
Many people wanted to stop Chinese immigration, for reasons of racial prejudice, and because they saw them as a possible invading force.
Defence as reason for federation:
The following are some quotations from federal parliamentary debates after federation about the need for an Australian defence policy:
Labor member Josiah Thomas, a miner, who had been President of
the Amalgamated Miners' Union during the great mining strike on
the Barrier in 1892:
"I say that if England was prepared to go to the Transvaal and take
it from the Boers, we might expect Russia or France to act similarly
towards us."
Commonwealth Parliamentary Debates, 1901, vol.III, p3316
Sir John Quick, a Protectionist, an Australian authority on constitutional
law, and had been a staff member of the Melbourne Age:
"The nations of the world are massing their forces and increasing
their fleets, and we hear of bloated armaments in various parts
of Europe."
Commonwealth Parliamentary Debates, 1901, vol.III, p2968
R.A.Crouch, a Protectionist, a solicitor, Life member of the Australian
Natives' Association, and a member of the Imperial federation League:
"It is not from the European nations that I think we Australians
have to expect any great difficulties, but from those great nations
of the East, China and Japan, which we are unfortunately teaching
European methods of utilising their military resources."
Commonwealth Parliamentary Debates, 1901, vol.III, p2959
Labor senator G.F. Pearce:
"...a possibility of the Earth hunger in Eastern nations leading
them to pick a quarrel with Australia for the purpose of securing
these valuable and only partially populated lands."
Commonwealth Parliamentary Debates, 1901, vol.I, p260
Talk about this
Was there any evidence that China or Japan was going to invade Australia?
Try this
See if you can summarise the reasons for the need for an Australian defence policy that are given in the above quotations.
| 1. Reasons for federation | 2.
Background to Colonial politics |
| 3. A Classroom Simulation
| 4. Sydney in 1901 |
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