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Father of Federation
sir Henry Parkes gives his speech, the 'Tenterfield Oration', to people from all the colonies addressing the issue of federation. he thought it was time for Australia to federate. -
Big Steps
the first draft of the constitution is drawn up but is deemed not democratic enough and is made at a bad time for australia so it does not pass. -
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A Turn For The Worse
The Australian colonies dive into an economic depression and discard most thought of federation for the time being. -
corowa conference
A peoples conference in Corowa NSW urges the colonies to give federation a second go and draw up a more democratic constitution. -
More Conferences
A conference between the Premiers of the colonies is held and they decide to hold a convention to write up a draft constitution. -
Bathurst Conference
a second peoples conference is held, this time, in Bathurst and recomends that another convention is held to draw a draft of the constitution. -
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Big decisions
The second Australian constitution convention is held in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney and the terms, conditions and laws of the constitution are decided upon. -
Big Secrets
The premiers from each of the colonies hold a secret meeting and make several changes to the constitution. -
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People's Vote
The people from all the colonies vote on federation. It passed with a clear majority win in all the colonies except WA. -
WA Decides
on the last day of July, voters in WA took to the ballot boxes and decided, by an overwhelming majority, that they would be part of Australia's federation. -
Australia Federates
in 1901, Australia finally federated. the first parliament was held at the Melbourne Exhibition Building. It was opened by the Duke of Cornwall and York and was the start of modern australia.
