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When democracy had begun
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When constitution was approved
During the 1890s representatives from the six Australian colonies came together at meetings called 'constitutional conventions' to draft a document which would provide for a new level of national government. By 1898 the delegates had agreed on a draft which they took back to their respective parliaments to be approved. -
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First Australian prime minister (Edmund Barton)
One of the key architects of Australia's Constitution, Barton became the new nation's first Prime Minister at a grand ceremony in Centennial Park, Sydney, on 1 January 1901. He retained this role after the first federal election in March 1901, where he was elected the member for Hunter. -
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When aboriginals and Torres strait islanders could vote
The 1967 referendum did not give Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples the right to vote. This right had been legislated for Commonwealth elections in 1962, with the last State to provide Indigenous enfranchisement being Queensland in 1965.