Series 11:
Federation delegate, 1884-1944 (bulk 1887-1900)
Deakin was a member of the Federal Council of Australasia in 1889, 1895, 1897 and 1899. He was a delegate to the Australasian Federation Conference of 1890, the National Australasian Convention of 1891 and the Federal Convention of 1897-1898. He was also the Victorian delegate to London in 1900 to secure the passage of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Bill through the Imperial Parliament. This series contains correspondence, invitations, notes for speeches, a Federation badge, a briefcase, press clippings, pamphlets, printed material and other papers relating to such subjects as the Australian Natives' Association, the debates of the Federal Council of Australasia 1889, 1895 and 1899, the Federal Conventions of 1890, 1891 and 1897-1898, a complimentary banquet held in Deakin's honour, 1899, the various enabling bills of the colonies, 1898-1899, the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Bill and the Act to Constitute the Commonwealth of Australia, 1900. The series also includes Deakin's manuscript 'The inner history of the federal cause', which was written between 1898 and 1900. This series contains Items 11/1 - 11/1426. The bulk of the items in this series have been digitised, and are available online through this finding aid. Please note that where printed items were duplicated within the series, the duplicates have not been digitised.
|
| Subseries 11.1
|
Correspondence, 1888-1900 Correspondence with many of the leading federalists from all of the colonies, although few copies of Deakin's own letters were retained. The bulk of the correspondence dates from 1897 to 1900. Among the correspondents are Edmund Barton, James Bryce, James Dickson, Sir John Forrest, William Gay, Sir Samuel Griffith, John Winthrop Hackett, George Higinbotham, Walter James, C.C. Kingston, George Leake, Elliott Lewis, Alan McLean, Richard E. O'Connor, Sir Henry Parkes, John Quick, George Reid, C. Carty Salmon, A. Bruce Smith, Josiah Symon, Sir George Turner, B.R. Wise and H.J. Wrixon.
This subseries contains Items 11/1 - 11/171.
|
| Subseries 11.2
|
Ephemera, press clippings and other documents, 1896-1900 Much of the ephemera relates to the March 1897 elections for delegates to the Australasian Federal Convention. There is also a Federation badge, together with pamphlets, press clippings and other papers, including 'The present Federal crisis' by Deakin, from Proceedings, People's Federal Convention, Bathurst, November, 1896 (1897), 'The case for Clause 74' by J.H. Symon, from The Gleam magazine, 1900, and typescript notes from a speech by Deakin, possibly given at the National Australasian Convention debates, Adelaide, 1897.
This subseries contains Items 11/172 - 11/203.
|
| Subseries 11.3
|
Federal Council of Australasia, 1889-1899 Copies of the Official record of debates for the third session, 1889, sixth session, 1895 and eighth session, 1899. The Federal Council of Australasia was a legislative body established to consider matters of joint interest to the Australian colonies. The first session of the Council was held in Hobart in 1886, attended by representatives from Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, Tasmania and Fiji. New South Wales refused to join the Council, and representatives from South Australia attended only one of the eight sessions. The final session was held in Melbourne in 1899.
This subseries contains Items 11/204 - 11/206.
|
| Subseries 11.4
|
Australian Natives' Association, 1884-1908 Correspondence, a summary of an address by Deakin on the Association's aims and objects, 1888, programs and menus for banquets in Deakin's honour, 1887-1901, agendas, printed material, a poster and a certificate. The Australian Natives' Association was established in Melbourne in 1871 as a non-political and non-sectarian friendly society, promoting the moral, social and intellectual improvement of its native-born (male) members. Deakin was an Honorary (Life) member of the Association's Prahran branch.
This subseries contains Items 11/207 - 11/223.
|
| Subseries 11.5
|
Notes for speeches, c.1890-1897 Manuscript notes for speeches by Deakin on such themes as 'Election of Victoria', 'Ethics of federalism', 'Responsible government', 'Resolutions - March 1890 - from Federal Conference' and 'Notes on federalism'. Among the papers are many fragments of speeches and incomplete notes.
This subseries contains Items 11/224 - 11/246.
|
| Subseries 11.6
|
Vice-Regal documents, 1888-1900 Certificates of Deakin's appointment to or election as a delegate to such events as the Intercolonial Conference on the Chinese Question, 1888, the Federal Council of Australasia, 1889 and 1895, the Australasian Federal Convention, 1897 and the Australian delegation to London in support of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Bill, 1900.
This subseries contains Items 11/247 - 11/253.
|
| Subseries 11.7
|
Complimentary banquet, 1899 Correspondence and telegrams from Edmund Barton, C.C. Kingston, George Reid and others regarding attendance at the banquet, together with programs, notes for Deakin's speech and related papers. The banquet in Deakin's honour was held on 21 August 1899 in his constituency of Essendon and Flemington, in recognition of his great efforts in the cause of Federation.
This subseries contains Items 11/254 - 11/285.
|
| Subseries 11.8
|
Australasian Federation Conference, 1890 Copy of the Official record of the proceedings and debates (1890), together with Deakin's briefcase from the conference. The Australasian Federation Conference was held in Melbourne from 6 to 13 February 1890, and attended by representatives from the colonial parliaments and New Zealand. Delegates resolved to form a union of the colonies, and planned a national convention to consider a federal constitution.
This subseries contains Items 11/286, 11/1426.
|
| Subseries 11.9
|
National Australasian Convention, 1891-1892 Information for delegates, Convention papers, notes, drafts and criticisms of a bill to constitute the Commonwealth of Australia. The National Australasian Convention was held in Sydney from 2 March to 9 April 1891. Seven representatives from the six colonial parliaments attended, together with three representatives from New Zealand. At this inaugural constitutional convention, delegates prepared a draft constitution and agreed to adopt the name 'Commonwealth of Australia'.
This subseries contains Items 11/287 - 11/291, 11/1419a - 11/1425.
|
| Subseries 11.10
|
Commonwealth acts and bills, 1898-1900 Drafts of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Bill, 1898-1900, together with proposed amendments, and related papers.
This subseries contains Items 11/293 - 11/330.
|
| Subseries 11.11
|
Miscellaneous printed material, 1891-1900 Selection of articles, pamphlets and other printed material relating to federation, including On effective voting (1896) by Reverend T.J. Smith, The history of federation (1894) by G.G. Read Murphy, A digest of federal constitutions (1896) by John Quick, Federation, as proposed by the Adelaide Convention (1897) by W.M. Hughes and W.T. Dick, Annual report for the year ending 30 June 1899 (1899) by the Australasian Federation League of New South Wales, 'Equitable representation' (n.d.) by Professor Nanson, Suggestions (1897) by Luogo, Historical sketch of Australian federation, extracted from The Year Book of Australia (1891) by G.B. Barton, Proceedings, People's Federal Convention, Bathurst, November, 1896 (1896), The Australian Commonwealth Bill : the Spectator's criticism : a reply (1900) by J.H. Symon, The Australian Commonwealth Bill : observations by Mr J.H. Symon, Q.C., in reply to Chief Justice Way's attack upon the delegates and Mr Chamberlain's 'compromise' as to Clause 74 (1900) by J.H. Symon, The attainment of federation : what was lacking in the Convention Bill (1898) from the Daily Telegraph, The Canadian Dominion and proposed Australian Commonwealth : a study in comparative politics (1895) by J.G. Bourinot, Honour to whom honour is due, a federal retrospect (1899) by Bruce Smith and Draft federation bill : speech (1897) by J.H. Want.
This subseries contains Items 11/331 - 11/345.
|
| Subseries 11.12
|
Press clippings, 1898-1913 Press clippings relating to such subjects as the debate between H.B. Higgins and J.E. Mackey, the Federal Convention Bill and The making of the Australian Commonwealth, 1889-1900 (1913) by B.R. Wise, together with issues of Punch, June 2 1898, and The Critic, June 4 1898.
This subseries contains Items 11/346 - 11/365.
|
| Subseries 11.13
|
London, 1900-1907 Correspondence, invitations, notes, parliamentary papers and related documents. Deakin was the Victorian delegate to London in 1900 to secure the passage of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Bill through the Imperial Parliament.
The correspondence includes a typescript of telegrams sent to and from Barton and the Government of New South Wales, many of which were joint cables from all the delegates to their various governments. In addition, there are cables between C.C. Kingston and Frederick Holder and drafts of Deakin's cables. Much of the remainder of the correspondence refers to social events and requests for Deakin to become a member of various clubs. Other subjects mentioned are requests for interviews, the Pacific Cable, the offer of a Doctorate of Civil Law from Oxford University, the position of Western Australia and New Zealand and support from the Irish Parliamentary Party. There is also some correspondence on the Constitution Bill itself from interested people in England.
This subseries contains Items 11/366 - 11/660.
|
| Subseries 11.14
|
'The inner history of the federal cause', 1898-1944 Deakin's manuscript, together with notes, Brookes' typescript draft and a copy of the 1944 edition. Deakin wrote 'The inner history of the federal cause' between 1898 and 1900. The manuscript was later edited by Herbert Brookes, and published as The federal story : the inner history of the federal cause (1944). J.A. La Nauze edited a second edition of this work (1963), and a later edition entitled 'And be one people' : Alfred Deakin's federal story was introduced by Stuart Macintyre (1995).
This subseries contains Items 11/661 - 11/1370.
|
| Subseries 11.15
|
Australasian Federal Convention, 1897-1898 Publications, reports and other documents circulated for delegates, together with drafts of the constitution. The first session of the Australasian Federal Convention was held in Adelaide from 22 March to 23 April 1897. 40 elected representatives prepared a draft constitution based on a draft adopted by the 1891 session of the National Australasian Convention. A second session of the Convention was held in Sydney, 2 September to 24 September 1897, and the third and final session was held in Melbourne, 20 January to 17 March 1898. On 16 March 1898 the Convention adopted 'A Draft of a Bill to Constitute the Commonwealth of Australia', to be submitted for consideration by Australian voters at a referendum.
This subseries contains Items 11/292, 11/1370a - 11/1416.
|
| Subseries 11.16
|
Draft of a bill to constitute the Commonwealth of Australia (1899) Copy of the Draft of a Bill to Constitute the Commonwealth of Australia, printed on vellum, 1899, together with associated documents. Drafted in various stages from 1890 to 1899, the Bill was endorsed by referendums in 1898, 1899 and 1900. The Bill was introduced in British Parliament on 14 May 1900, and the resulting Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act was passed on 5 July 1900.
This subseries contains Items 11/1417 - 11/1419.
|
|