Climate change, the National Broadband and the Mining Tax all have something in common with the Federation debates in the 1890s that people could be passionate about the topic but not agree with a specific policy. Cardinal Moran was passionate about Federation and, in March 1897, Armidale men were given a chance to vote for him to be one of the 10 delegates who would represent NSW at the Federation Convention. This week we conclude our reflections on Cardinal Moran with a look at his role in the Federation story.
Patrick Francis Moran was a high profile and politically prominent Catholic Archbishop of Sydney. From his arrival in Australia in 1884 he quickly recognised the importance of a united Australia for defence purposes. Henry Parkes (who served as Premier of NSW five times), said of Cardinal Moran: “His calls for Federation reached thousands of people we can never hope to reach.” The Cardinal was invited to be the keynote speaker at the Peoples’ Convention in Bathurst in 1896 when the movement was kick-started again, and procedures were agreed upon for electing delegates for the special Convention to draft the Australian Constitution.
Until 1897 there was little local attention to the Federation issue in Armidale, and it was impossible to gauge the attitude of the Armidale people, irrespective of the strong pro-Federation views expressed by the two Armidale papers, the Armidale Express and the Armidale Chronicle.
In February 1897 the Express accurately noted “this will be the first time in the history of the colony that the people have been asked to give a direct vote upon the question of Federation.” Two weeks later the paper claimed “The addresses so far have served to awaken interest in the subject and have caused it to be discussed wherever two or three are gathered together.” However, the initial interest in the election was not maintained. At the end of February the editor lamented that “in this city there is no enthusiasm amongst the people.” By March, the editor saw but one conclusion: “that Australian Federation occupies but very little the thoughts and attention of the Armidale public.”
Ten of the 50 candidates who were standing in NSW visited Armidale. The local newspapers were not supporting any particular candidates, but encouraged all eligible male electors to vote when polling for the National Convention was held at the Town Hall on Thursday, March 4, 1897.
In the Armidale electorate the highest number of votes went to Edmund Barton, and to the former Member for New England in the NSW Parliament, Henry Copeland. Next came George Reid, William Lyne, R E O’Connor and William McMillan. Cardinal Moran was also strongly supported. This local result was significantly different from the colony-wide result, because Copeland and Cardinal Moran were not among the chosen ten. Their defeat “caused great surprise” to the editor of the Express, who expected that both candidates would have been elected. Henry Copeland came thirteenth and the Cardinal came fourteenth in a field of fifty.
Cardinal Moran’s nomination had resulted in a great deal of Protestant agitation, with a well organised ‘Stop the Cardinal’ campaign, which caused more Catholics and Protestants to vote than would otherwise have done so, because voting was not compulsory. During the 1899 Federation Referendum, Cardinal Moran played a vital role in the narrow victory which resulted in Federation on January 1, 1901. Tony Cahill, an historian who had spent much of his career researching Moran’s life and labours, advanced the view in 2001 that Cardinal Moran did more to achieve Federation than any other individual from Church or State.
Last week the Armidale Independent was one of just two newspapers which marked the centenary of Cardinal Moran’s sudden death on the morning of August 16, 1911. There will be more about Armidale and Federation in my column later this year.
