Federation essays

Federation essays The move to federation was not an easy one; there was lots of debating and disagreement, as Alfred Deakin wrote in 1900 its accomplishment must always appear to have been secured by a series of miracles. It was not until the late 1880s that a movement towards federation really started to gather strength. Before this the colonies held the believe that federation would do little for them, they were too busy in there own local problems. However a sense of nationalism was growing and Australia was primarily an Anglo Saxon, English speaking country and Australians were determined to keep it that way. By the 1880s 70% of Australian people were native born, these Australians regarded Australia as home. Australians had also become worried about the number of Chinese immigrants coming into Australia during the gold rush. There were also pacific islanders who came to work in Queensland on the sugarcanes.. There were a lot of problems with defence during the mid 1880s, the activities of Germany and France coursed concerns Because they were growing in power and they were interested in countries nearby. These countries were New Guinea and New Caledonia. States could not hold out attacks, They would need a united nation to help them. There were also problems of communication, train lines between the states were different widths. This meant that the passengers had to get of the train at each off the borders and wait for the train on the other sides. This also caused problems with defence, soldiers had to get of and wait for another train. This takes up time. In 1880 the father of federation Henry Parkes, also the premier of New South Wales suggested the formation of a federal council to address the publics questions about federation. This council was not formed until 1885. New Zealand were involved with the federal council but did not continue for long because their representatives found it to far to tra ...