Sir Edmund "Toby" Barton was an Australian statesman, barrister and jurist who served as the first prime minister of Australia from 1901 to 1903, holding office as the leader of the Protectionist Party. He resigned to become a founding member of the High Court of Australia, on which he served until his death.
Sir George Houston Reid was an Australian politician, diplomat and barrister who served as the fourth prime minister of Australia, from 1904 to 1905, holding office as the leader of the Free Trade Party. He previously served as the 12th Premier of New South Wales from 1894 to 1899, and later the High Commissioner to the United Kingdom of Australia from 1910 to 1916.
In Australian history, the term Constitutional Convention refers to six distinct gatherings.
Sir Walter Hartwell James, was the fifth Premier of Western Australia and an ardent supporter of the federation movement.
Sir Robert Randolph Garran was an Australian lawyer who became "Australia's first public servant" – the first federal government employee after the federation of the Australian colonies. He served as the departmental secretary of the Attorney-General's Department from 1901 to 1932, and after 1916 also held the position of Solicitor-General of Australia.
Sir William John Lyne KCMG was an Australian politician who served as Premier of New South Wales from 1899 to 1901, and later as a federal cabinet minister under Edmund Barton and Alfred Deakin. He is best known as the subject of the so called "Hopetoun Blunder", unexpectedly being asked to serve as the first Prime Minister of Australia but proving unable to form a government.
The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, and Western Australia agreed to unite and form the Commonwealth of Australia, establishing a system of federalism in Australia. The colonies of Fiji and New Zealand were originally part of this process, but they decided not to join the federation. Following federation, the six colonies that united to form the Commonwealth of Australia as states kept the systems of government that they had developed as separate colonies, but they also agreed to have a federal government that was responsible for matters concerning the whole nation. When the Constitution of Australia came into force, on 1 January 1901, the colonies collectively became states of the Commonwealth of Australia.
In Australia, referendums are public votes held on important issues where the electorate may approve or reject a certain proposal. The term is commonly used in reference to a constitutional referendum which is legally required to make a change to the Constitution of Australia.
The Australian republic referendum held on 6 November 1999 was a two-question referendum to amend the Constitution of Australia. The first question asked whether Australia should become a republic with a President appointed by Parliament following a bi-partisan appointment model which had been approved by a half-elected, half-appointed Constitutional Convention held in Canberra in February 1998. The second question, generally deemed to be far less important politically, asked whether Australia should alter the Constitution to insert a preamble acknowledging indigenous ownership prior to European arrival. For some years opinion polls had suggested that a majority of the electorate favoured a republic. Nonetheless, the republic referendum was defeated, in large part due to division among republicans on the method proposed for selection of the president.
Sir Thomas McIlwraith was for many years the dominant figure of colonial politics in Queensland. He was Premier of Queensland from 1879 to 1883, again in 1888, and for a third time in 1893. In common with most politicians of his era, McIlwraith was an influential businessman, who combined his parliamentary career with a prosperous involvement in the pastoral industry.
Sir Edward Nicholas Coventry Braddon was an Australian politician who served as Premier of Tasmania from 1894 to 1899, and was a Member of the First Australian Parliament in the House of Representatives. Braddon was a Tasmanian delegate to the Constitutional Conventions.
Sir John Quick was an Australian lawyer, politician and judge. He played a prominent role in the movement for Federation and the drafting of the Australian constitution, later writing several works on Australian constitutional law. He began his political career in the Victorian Legislative Assembly (1880–1889) and later won election to the House of Representatives at the first federal election in 1901. He served as Postmaster-General in the third Deakin Government (1909–1910). He lost his seat in 1913 and ended his public service as deputy president of the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration (1922–1930).
Dalgety is a small town in New South Wales, Australia, on the banks of the Snowy River between Melbourne and Sydney.
Arthur Bruce Smith, commonly referred to as A. Bruce Smith, was a long serving Australian politician and leading political opponent of the White Australia policy. He has been described as the most prominent Australian advocate for classical liberalism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
John Henry "Jack" Want was an Australian barrister and politician, as well as the 19th Attorney-General of New South Wales.
Sir William McMillan was an Australian businessman and politician. He was a member of the first federal parliament and served as deputy leader of the Free Trade Party under George Reid, but served only a single term before resigning. He had earlier served in the Parliament of New South Wales, including as Colonial Treasurer, and was prominent in the movement for Federation. He was born in Ireland and became a successful businessman in Australia after moving to Sydney at the age of 18.
The Corowa Conference was a meeting of Federationists, held in 1893 in the New South Wales border town of Corowa, which debated the proposed federation of Australian colonies. Although patchily attended and without any immediate consequence, the 'road map' to Federation devised at the Conference was ultimately highly influential.
The Constitution of Australia is a constitutional document that is supreme law in Australia. It establishes Australia as a federation under a constitutional monarchy and outlines the structure and powers of the Australian Government's three constituent parts: the executive, legislature, and judiciary.
Atlee Arthur Hunt was a senior official in the Australian Public Service. He was appointed Secretary of the Department of External Affairs in 1901, the year of Australia's Federation.
The Australasian Federal Conventions elections were held on 4 and 6 March 1897 in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania for the purpose of choosing ten representatives from each colony to constitute the Australasian Federal Convention, a key milestone in the Federation of Australia. The election of delegates to such a convention was almost entirely without historical precedent, but the method of electing representatives was criticised at the time, and later, as not well serving of democratic principles.
