The origin of Australia

Australia is a federation, and its official name is "Commonwealth of Australia". So why is it a federation? It turns out that before the formation of a unified federation, Australia had six independent colonies. Each colony has its own parliament, its own prime minister, its own set of laws and policies, and even its own different tariff system for foreign trade.

1788, the so-called "First Fleet" loaded with the first batch of British exiles arrived at the east coast of the Australian mainland and began to establish the first colonial settlement. The colonies at that time were very large, including Tasmania, Queensland and Victoria. Later, two colonies, Western Australia and South Australia, coexisted with the colony of New South Wales.

1850, the British government agreed to grant these colonies limited autonomy, and Australia was divided into six independent colonies. Why did Australia not directly establish a unified colony at that time, but was divided into six pieces, and it took another 50 years to form a unified federation?

At first, Britain will divide Australia into six different "dominions". Unlike a real colony, it is basically autonomous, but it is entrusted by Britain in foreign affairs and national defense. These six territories are independent of each other. Why? Because Australia is very big, it is as big as thirty Britain. 1788, when the colony was first established, only one colony was established. At that time, Governor Philip led the first fleet to land in Sydney, and developed along the east coast from north to south, to Brisbane in the north and to Tasmania and Victoria Melbourne in the south. These settlements were managed by the colonial government in New South Wales, Sydney. But soon they found that the distance was too far and it was too inconvenient for a place to manage a colony so far away. Tasmania, for example, needs sailboats, and it takes several weeks to go back and forth. So at that time, a deputy governor was set up in Tasmania, which had great autonomy. Later, Tasmanian immigrants and officials demanded that they should simply take care of themselves and not be controlled by the New South Wales government. They made this request to Britain, which succeeded in 1825, and Tasmania became a colony directly under British administration. For the same reason, Victoria in 185 1 and Queensland in 1859 also left the NSW government and became independent colonies. South Australia and Western Australia are farther away from Sydney, and they were not under the control of the New South Wales government from the beginning of their establishment.

According to historical records, in fact, when Britain decided to hand over the management rights to these six colonies in 1850, there was already a saying of establishing a unified federation. Later, the local governments also found it necessary and possible. First of all, they have this foundation, because the six dominions are all from the same clan, all from Britain or Ireland, speaking the same language, having the same cultural background and the same way of life, which is the foundation. The second is the conditions, the first is the great improvement of traffic and communication. 1844 telegraph appeared in America, 1854 Australia established the first telegraph line between Melbourne and Geelong. 1858, telegraph lines from Melbourne to Sydney and from Melbourne to Adelaide were opened. 1877, the cable and telegraph line from Perth, the capital of Western Australia, to Adelaide was also opened. In terms of transportation, the more roads are built, the better, and railways have appeared. 1883, the railway from Sydney to Melbourne was completed. 1887, the railway from Melbourne to Adelaide was opened. 1889, the railway from Sydney to Brisbane was also opened. In this way, these traffic and exchanges have brought these six territories closer and closer together.

In addition, they find that more and more * * * need to connect them. For example, the first is national defense. In national defense, they can't rely on Britain, which is more than 10 thousand kilometers away, and need self-defense. Six colonies are like six small countries, and it is expensive and not strong enough to establish their own national defense system. If put together, it is both effective and powerful. Especially from 1883 to 1884, Germany occupied New Guinea, Australia's northern neighbor. Germany was an enemy of Britain at that time, and naturally it was also an enemy of British colonies or dominions. Then the enemy came to the gate, and these dominions immediately felt a sense of urgency and wanted to unite to defend themselves. In addition, in diplomacy, it is more powerful for the six small countries to speak together. At that time, Queensland had already negotiated with Britain because Germany occupied New Guinea and asked Britain to take action. As a result, Britain ignored it. Queensland felt that if the six dominions spoke together, Britain would not look down on us so much. Another common need is to stop the invasion of colored people, especially China people. During the gold rush that began in May 1850, a large number of Australians came to Australia. At that time, there were no access restrictions, and whoever wanted to come. 1860, China people were banned from entering Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales. However, China people are allowed to enter Queensland. 1870 years later, a large number of China people went to Queensland. At one time, Chinese accounted for one-tenth of Queensland's population. Once in Queensland, they can go to other places by land. So other dominions think it is necessary to take unified action to ban all colored people from entering Australia and make Australia a white country.

Although they have so many common needs, so good conditions and foundations, each dominion has its own interests, which are in conflict. For example, South Australia demands that BrokenHill, a mining town on the western border of New South Wales, be its own, saying that this town is closer to itself and most of its residents are from South Australia. Victoria thinks that murray river Plain, Australia's most important agricultural area, should be completely under the jurisdiction of Victoria, but New South Wales certainly disagrees. Dominions with a small population are afraid of being bullied by populous territories. Because of the establishment of the Federation, the populous New South Wales and Victoria will be in the majority in the parliament, and they will pass bills that are beneficial to them, and their younger brothers will suffer. Of course, they came up with a way later, that is, the number of members of the House of Representatives, that is, the lower house, is determined by population, but in the Senate, it is only divided by state, and the number of members in each state is the same, not by population. A bill passed by the House of Representatives must be approved by the Senate before it can take effect, so that if New South Wales and Victoria pass a bill in their favor, the Dominion can unite in the Senate to veto it.

There are endless arguments about where the capital is. At that time, New South Wales and Victoria were equal in economic strength and population. Later, a compromise was reached, and the capital was neither located in Sydney nor Melbourne, and another capital was built. Where is the location chosen? The final location is in New South Wales, but it must be more than 0/00 miles away from Sydney/KLOC, so as not to be greatly influenced by Sydney. At the same time, before the new capital is completed, the temporary capital is located in Melbourne, giving Melbourne some compensation.

Speaking of the Australian Federation, we can't help mentioning one person, that is Sir henry parks, who is known as the father of the Federation. If you have a $5 bill or 1 Australian coin in hand, there may be a portrait of Sir Parks on it.

Henry parks was once a very influential figure in colonial politics, and served as the Prime Minister of the colonial government of New South Wales for five consecutive terms. Some people say that his speech has the passion of an actor, and his long white hair and sideburns give people the impression that he is a disciple of Christ, which makes him have many followers.

This politician with a technical background can be said to have an extraordinary vision for the future of Australia. 1887, he first proposed the idea of renaming New South Wales as "Australia". Unfortunately, his efforts to get rid of the influence of British colonies failed. Without fear, Parks continued to actively promote the ideal of unifying the colonies into one country. 1889, he delivered a historic speech at Tenterfield Art School, calling on the representatives of the colonies to get together, formulate constitutions, establish a federal parliament and a unified country. This speech had a far-reaching impact on Australian politics, and he was therefore known as the "father of the Australian Federation".

190 1 year, the Commonwealth of Australia was formally established. It's a pity that Parks didn't see this day with his own eyes.

On the centenary of Parks' death, the Royal Australian Mint issued an Australian dollar coin with his portrait, and officially called him "the father of the Federation". Later, a $5 bill with his portrait was issued to commemorate his indelible contribution to Australian history.