How was federation achieved in Australia? What contributions did Henry Parkes make to federation?
In 1860 there were 6 separate colonies on the continent; New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania. The colonies were pretty much completely separate and the laws which governed them were made by the British Parliament. By the late 1880s, early 1890s the idea of federation had become fairly popular, it was realised that one country would be far stronger than 6 small colonies. There would be one centre for defense, one economy etc. It was Henry Parkes, the then Premier of New South Wales who convinced the other premiers to discuss the idea of federation and in 1890 the Australasian Federation Convention was held in Melbourne. Another convention was held in Sydney the following year. Initially representatives from New Zealand also took part in the discussions although they decided early on to form their own country. Work began on a first draft of an Australian constitution by Edmund Barton (who later became our first Prime Minister), Andrew In
