Sir Edmund "Toby" Barton, was an Australian politician and judge who was 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 Samuel Walker Griffith, was an Australian judge and politician who served as the inaugural Chief Justice of Australia, in office from 1903 to 1919. He also served a term as Chief Justice of Queensland and two terms as Premier of Queensland, and played a key role in the drafting of the Australian Constitution.
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.
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 Frederick William Holder was an Australian politician. He was Premier of South Australia from June to October 1892 and again from 1899 to 1901. He was a prominent member of the inaugural Parliament of Australia following Federation in 1901, and was the first Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives.
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).
William Arthur Trenwith was a pioneer trade union official and labour movement politician for Victoria, Australia.
Sir John William Downer, KCMG, KC was an Australian politician who served two terms as Premier of South Australia, from 1885 to 1887 and again from 1892 to 1893. He later entered federal politics and served as a Senator for South Australia from 1901 to 1903. He was the first of four Australian politicians from the Downer family dynasty.
Dalgety is a small town in New South Wales, Australia, on the banks of the Snowy River between Melbourne and Sydney.
Sir John Alexander Cockburn was Premier of South Australia from 27 June 1889 to 18 August 1890.
William Astley was an Australian short-story writer who wrote under the pseudonym "Price Warung".
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.
Adolphus George Taylor was an Australian journalist and populist politician, active in New South Wales the 1880s and 1890s.
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.
A series of referendums on the proposed constitution of Australia were held between 2 June 1898 and 31 July 1900 in the six colonies that were to become the states of the Commonwealth of Australia. The first four referendums were held in New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria in June 1898. Although all four saw a majority vote in favour, the majority in New South Wales was insufficient. Knowledge of the result in New South Wales led to low voter turnout in South Australia.
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.