Australia Yearbook - 2001

56 Year Book Australia 2001
2.1 VOTES FOR AND AGAINST FEDERATION, Australian Colonies
First vote (1898) Second vote (1899, 1900)
Colony For Against For Against
New South Wales 71 595 66 228 107 420 82 741
Victoria 100 520 22 099 152 653 9 805
South Australia 35 800 17 320 65 990 17 053
Tasmania 11 797 2 716 13 437 791
Queensland .. .. 38 488 30 996
Western Australia .. .. 44 800 19 691
Total 219 712 108 363 422 788 68 501
Source: Scott Bennett, Department of the Parliamentary Library.
An Australian delegation travelled to London to
oversee the Constitution Bill’s passage through
the UK Parliament. During that time, when
there were British attempts to introduce
amendments, the Australian delegates strongly
defended the Bill in the form that had been
approved by the Australian people. The
Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act
was passed by the UK Parliament on 5 July and
received Royal Assent on 14 July 1900.
Delays in Western Australia, caused by the
colonial Government’s doubts, meant that
Western Australian voters had not had a chance
to vote in a referendum on the Constitution Bill
before it was sent to the UK. Various local
Western Australian bodies urged that a
referendum be held, including a ‘separation for
federation’ movement, based on Albany, which
threatened to secede from Western Australia if
the Government did not act. Western
Australians eventually voted, a fortnight after the
Constitution had become law in the UK. The
majority came largely from votes cast on the
eastern goldfields, many of which were cast by
‘T’othersiders’ who had come from other
colonies.
The Commonwealth of Australia was proclaimed
by Queen Victoria on 17 September 1900, and
on 21 September the Earl of Hopetoun was
appointed the first Governor-General. The
Commonwealth of Australia was inaugurated on
1 January 1901 in a ceremony in Centennial
Park, Sydney, that included the singing of
‘Advance Australia Fair’ as well as ‘God Save the
Queen’. Governor-General Hopetoun was
sworn in, followed by the first Commonwealth
Government, led by Edmund Barton.
The first Commonwealth elections were held in
March 1901, and on 9 May the Duke of York
opened the first Commonwealth Parliament in
the Exhibition Building, Melbourne.
Following a design competition that drew
32,823 entries, a flag for the new nation was
flown for the first time in Melbourne on
3 September. It caused controversy, especially
in New South Wales, due to its similarity to the
Victorian flag. Many Australians in fact still
regarded the Union Jack as the national flag.
Despite this, the patriots’ cry of “One People,
One Destiny” had been achieved.
The constitutional basis of
government
Australia is a constitutional democracy based on a
federal division of powers. The constitutional
basis of government consists of:
the Commonwealth Constitution, including
amendments made to that Constitution;
legislation passed by the Commonwealth, State
and Territory Parliaments;
High Court judgments;
State and Territory Constitutions, including
amendments; and
Significant conventions of responsible
government that were adopted from the
system of government in use in the UK (the
‘Westminster’ system) that are in use at both
the Commonwealth and State levels of
government.