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Federation Gateway Image:
An invitation to meet Their Royal Highness the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York in celebration of the opening of the first Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia. [1901].
Chromolithograph; 23 x 29 cm.
NLA Call no. PIC S40098

THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA'S
FEDERATION GATEWAY


Chronology

Pre white settlement Aboriginal population living in Australia.
1600s European explorers such as William Dampier and Abel Tasman map parts of Australia.
1700s Indonesian and other Asian traders establish contact.
1788 Colony of New South Wales established.
1823 New South Wales Act (UK) establishes powers of for a state government, Legislative Council established in 1824.
1863-1888 Intercolonial conferences considered uniform tariffs and trade (Melbourne 1863, 1870); uniform postal services (Melbourne 1867); the exclusion of Chinese immigrants (Sydney 1881; Brisbane 1888); and the establishment of a Federal Council (Sydney 1883)

Held at the National Library:
1873 NPf 383.4994 INT
1881 MS7887 box 59
1887 N+ 382.71 I61
1871 (Melbourne) Australian Natives' Association (originally called the Victorian Natives' Association) established. A federated Australia is one of its major platforms.
1889 (Tenterfield, NSW 24 October) "The Tenterfield oration" by Sir Henry Parkes pledges the support of NSW. After the speech the other colonial premiers agree to an Australasian Federation Conference in 1890.
1890 Australasian Federation Conference, Melbourne, 6-14 February, 1890.
1891 National Australasian Convention, Sydney, 2 March to 9 April, 1891.
1893 (Corowa 31 July - 1 August) "Corowa Conference" Unofficial gathering of Federation supporters who called for the election of representatives to a constitutional convention. The final Constitution would be put to a referendum vote
(Sydney 22 June) Australasian Federation League, chaired by Edmund Barton, established.
1894 (Hobart 29 February) Premiers' conference discusses the possibility of a convention of 10 elected representatives from each colony to frame a federal constitution to be put to the popular vote.
1896 (Bathurst, NSW 17-21 November) "Bathurst People's Federal Convention" Accepts the 1891 National Australasian Convention constitution as the basis of Federation.
1897-98 Australasian Federal Convention of 1897/8 in three sessions:
1899-1900 Successful referenda on the Australian Constitution South Australia (April 1899), New South Wales (June 1899), Victoria and Tasmania (July 1899), Queensland (September 1899), Western Australia (July 1900).
1900 Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act (UK) passed on 5 July, receives royal assent 9 July.
1901 1 January Australian offically becomes a nation, first Commonwealth Parliament meets in Melbourne on 9 May, celebrations across the nation.