Armidale marked the accession of Queen Elizabeth II 60 years ago when her popular father, King George VI, died in his sleep on February 6, 1952, aged just 56. He had been a heavy smoker and the stress of the Second World War also took its toll on his health. His popularity was revived recently by the acclaimed movie “The King’s Speech’. (His life and death are covered in Column No 36 , published on March 2, 2011.) The young Queen Elizabeth vowed to dedicate her reign to the service of her people and she has done so admirably for 60 years. When she became Queen, Australian Federation was 52 years old. Federation has now completed 110 years and she has been our Monarch for more than half that time, and has dealt with 12 Australian Prime Ministers (but that number might soon rise, if media speculation is true). We continue the Federation story from where we ended last time, when the 1891 Convention Bill stalled in the NSW Parliament.
Edmond Barton’s ongoing agitation for Federation had resulted in the formation of active Federation Leagues to stir up grass roots support for what to them had seemed like a politicians’ cause which had excluded the people and was lacking popular appeal. Among the people there were many true believers in Federation. Tired of waiting for politicians to take further action, some of the people took the lead. A popular meeting was called by the various Federation Leagues and Australian Natives Association (ANA). The meeting was held at the NSW border town of Corowa on the Murray River on July 31 and August 1, 1893.
Dr John Quick from Bendigo, Victoria, proposed that a new national convention be held, elected by the people, to draw up a Constitution which would be submitted to the people for approval. The great flaw in the Quick plan was that bypassing the Parliaments required Parliamentary approval before it could begin. Barton and the Leagues amended the plan so that parliamentarians could reconcile various proposals in the Constitution before submitting it to the people.
In mid 1894 the NSW elections resulted in George Reid defeating George Dibbs, and there was a new start to the Federation movement. Subsequently an informal Premiers’ Conference in Hobart in January 1895 considered how they would proceed on the path to Federation. They decided on another change to the Corowa plan. The proposed convention would draft a Constitution and would then adjourn to allow the Parliaments to suggest amendments which the convention, on reconvening, would consider before adopting a final version which would be submitted to the people at a referendum. The Premiers agreed to introduce the appropriate Enabling Legislation into their Parliaments to provide for the election of delegates for the desired convention. Little by little, giant steps were being taken.
However, there was yet another long delay, because the Premiers had agreed that NSW should act first on the new plan, but Reid would not allow the process to begin until he had carried out other policy matters. When the NSW Legislative Council blocked Reid he dissolved the Assembly with a proposal that the incoming Government would reform the Council. Meanwhile Sir Henry Parkes had strongly criticised the 1895 Premiers’ Conference plan. Sir Henry stood against Reid in East Sydney and was defeated. This was the end of Sir Henry’s parliamentary career. He died shortly afterwards on April 27, 1896. One result of the plethora of studies for the Centenary of Federation was that Sir Henry Parkes’ epitaph – “the Father of Federation” – has been revised, and others now rightly have that title.
Reid’s Free-traders had a great victory at the elections in July 1895. Reid duly introduced the Enabling Legislation in the NSW Parliament, where the Enabling Act was passed on December 23, 1895. Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia followed suit. During the summer of 1895-96 the relevant Bills were passed in four of the six Colonies. Queensland, however, delayed action. Although the Premiers had agreed at the 1895 Hobart Conference that there would be only one electorate in each colony, Hugh Nelson, the Queensland Premier, wanted his Parliament to elect the Queensland delegates. Reid waited for Queensland to resolve its problems.
When nothing further was forthcoming from the politicians the people again took the lead. A People’s Convention was held in Bathurst in November 1896. It attracted approximately 220 delegates and guests from all the Australian Colonies. The purpose of the Convention was to provide a forum where ordinary citizens could discuss the ideas and principles on which to form an Australian union. The delegates went through the 1891 Constitution Bill clause by clause. Some of the new ideas were later incorporated into the new Federal Constitution Bill. For instance, the Bathurst Convention wanted: some reference to God to be included in the Constitution; a directly elected Senate; and a different scheme for financial reimbursements to the States.
The Bathurst Convention was an impetus for the Parliaments to hold the election of delegates for the desired second National Convention. The elections were held in March 1897 in New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia. In Western Australia the delegates were elected by the Parliament. Queensland never resolved its problem about choosing its delegates, so Queensland would not be represented.
Unlike Tenterfield (which became famous because Sir Henry Parkes made a speech there on October 24, 1889), or Corowa or Bathurst (where Federation Conferences or Conventions had been held), Armidale had played no part in the Federation story. Our two local newspapers had published news items about the great events in the Federation story, and editors had offered their views, but there was no tool for ascertaining what the people thought. That would change in March 1897 when the adult males in Armidale had a genuine opportunity to express their views about Federation, at the election of delegates to represent NSW at the second National Convention. We’ll look at that next week.
