Editing History of Australia (section)

==From autonomy to federation==

===Colonial self-government and the gold rushes===
{{Main|History of Australia (1851–1900)}}

==== Towards representative government ====
[[File:William_Charles_Wentworth_(sepia).jpg|thumb|[[William Wentworth]] advocated for greater self-government, establishing [[Australian Patriotic Association|Australia's first political party]]]]

Imperial legislation in 1823 had provided for a Legislative Council nominated by the governor of New South Wales, and a new Supreme Court, providing additional limits to the power of governors. A number of prominent colonial figures, including [[William Wentworth]]. campaigned for a greater degree of self-government, although there were divisions about the extent to which a future legislative body should be popularly elected. Other issues included traditional British political rights, land policy, transportation and whether a large population of convicts and former convicts could be trusted with self-government. The [[Australian Patriotic Association]] was formed in 1835 by Wentworth and [[William Bland]] to promote representative government for New South Wales.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Curthoys|first1=Ann|title=The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume I|last2=Mitchell|first2=Jessie|year=2013|pages=152–55|chapter=The advent of self-government}}</ref>{{sfnp |Shaw |1983 |pp=89–93 }}<ref name="Tink">{{Cite book|author1=Tink, Andrew|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/28173894|title=William Charles Wentworth : Australia's greatest native son|date=2009|publisher=Allen & Unwin|isbn=978-1-74175-192-5}}</ref>

[[File:Opening of the partially elected Parliament in 1843 - Sydney.gif|thumb|300x300px|The opening of Australia's first elected Parliament in Sydney ({{Circa|1843}})]]

Transportation to New South Wales was suspended in 1840. In 1842 Britain granted limited representative government to the colony by reforming the Legislative Council so that two-thirds of its members would be elected by male voters. However, a property qualification meant that only 20 per cent of males were eligible to vote in the first [[1843 New South Wales colonial election|Legislative Council elections in 1843]].<ref>Hirst, John (2014), pp. 51–54</ref>

The increasing number of free settlers and people born in the colonies led to further agitation for liberal and democratic reforms.<ref>Curthoys, Ann; Mitchell, Jessie (2013). "The advent of self-government". ''The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume I''. pp.&nbsp;155–56.</ref> In the Port Phillip District there was agitation for representative government and independence from New South Wales.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Blainey|first=Geoffrey|title=A History of Victoria|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2013|isbn=9781107691612|location=Melbourne|pages=40–41}}</ref> In 1850, Britain granted Van Diemen's Land, South Australia and the newly created colony of Victoria semi-elected Legislative Councils on the New South Wales model.<ref>Curthoys, Ann; Mitchell, Jessie (2013). "The advent of self-government". ''The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume I''. pp.&nbsp;157–58.</ref>

==== The gold rushes of the 1850s ====
[[File:Mr E.H. Hargraves, The Gold Discoverer of Australia, Feb 12th 1851 returning the salute of the gold miners - Thomas Tyrwhitt Balcombe.jpg|left|thumb|''Mr E.H. Hargraves, The Gold Discoverer of Australia, Feb 12th 1851 returning the salute of the gold miners'' – Thomas Tyrwhitt Balcombe]]

In February 1851, [[Edward Hammond Hargraves|Edward Hargraves]] discovered gold near [[Bathurst, New South Wales]]. Further discoveries were made later that year in Victoria, where the richest gold fields were found. New South Wales and Victoria introduced a gold mining licence with a monthly fee, the revenue being used to offset the cost of providing infrastructure, administration and policing of the goldfields.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Goodman|first=David|title=The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume I|year=2013|pages=170–76|chapter=The gold rushes of the 1850s}}</ref>

The gold rush initially caused inflation and labour shortages as male workers moved to the goldfields. Immigrants poured in from Britain, Europe, the United States and China, many of whom sought to go to the goldfields. The Australian population increased from 430,000 in 1851 to 1,170,000 in 1861. Victoria became the most populous colony and Melbourne the largest city.<ref>Macintyre, Stuart (2020). pp. 95–96</ref><ref>Goodman, David (2013). "The gold rushes of the 1850s". ''The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume I''. pp.&nbsp;180–81</ref>

Chinese migration was a particular concern for colonial officials due to the widespread belief that it represented a danger to white Australian living standards and morality. Colonial governments responded by imposing taxes and restrictions on Chinese migrants and residents. Anti-Chinese riots erupted on the Victorian goldfields in 1856 and in New South Wales in 1860.<ref>Goodman, David (2013). "The gold rushes of the 1850s". ''The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume I''. pp.&nbsp;182–84</ref>

==== The Eureka stockade ====
{{main|Eureka Rebellion}}
[[File:Eureka stockade battle.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|[[Eureka Stockade]] Riot. J. B. Henderson (1854) watercolour]]

Faced with increasing competition, Victorian miners increasingly complained about the licence fee, corrupt and heavy-handed officials, and the lack of voting rights for itinerant miners. Protests intensified in October 1854 when three miners were arrested following a riot at Ballarat. Protesters formed the [[Ballarat Reform League]] to support the arrested men and demanded manhood suffrage, reform of the mining licence and administration, and land reform to promote small farms. Further protests followed and protesters built a [[Eureka Rebellion|stockade on the Eureka Field]] at Ballarat. On 3 December troops overran the stockade, killing about 20 protesters. Five troops were killed and 12 seriously wounded.<ref>Goodman, David (2013). "The gold rushes of the 1850s". ''The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume I''. pp.&nbsp;177–78</ref>

Following a Royal Commission, the monthly licence was replaced with a cheaper annual miner's right which gave holders the right to vote and build a dwelling on the goldfields. The administration of the Victorian goldfields was also reformed. The Eureka rebellion soon became a part of Australian nationalist mythology.<ref>Macintyre, Stuart (2020), p. 97</ref>{{sfnp |Shaw |1983 |pp=126–27 }}

==== Self-government and democracy ====
{{Main|Suffrage in Australia}}
[[File:"Interior of polling booth" - David Syne and Co (1880).jpg|thumb|300x300px|A polling booth in Melbourne – David Syme and Co ({{circa|1880}})]]

Elections for the semi-representative Legislative Councils, held in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Van Diemen's Land in 1851, produced a greater number of liberal members who agitated for full self-government. In 1852, the British Government announced that convict transportation to Van Diemen's Land would cease and invited the eastern colonies to draft constitutions enabling self-government.<ref>Curthoys, Ann; Mitchell, Jessie (2013). "The advent of self-government". ''The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume I''. pp.&nbsp;159–60.</ref>

The constitutions for New South Wales, Victoria and Van Diemen's Land (renamed Tasmania in 1856) gained Royal Assent in 1855, that for South Australia in 1856. The constitutions varied, but each created a lower house elected on a broad male franchise and an upper house which was either appointed for life (New South Wales) or elected on a more restricted property franchise. When Queensland became a separate colony in 1859 it immediately became self-governing. Western Australia was granted self-government in 1890.<ref name="Curthoys-2013">Curthoys, Ann; Mitchell, Jessie (2013). "The advent of self-government". ''The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume I''. pp.&nbsp;160–65, 168</ref>

The secret ballot was adopted in Tasmania, Victoria and South Australia in 1856, followed by New South Wales (1858), Queensland (1859) and Western Australia (1877). South Australia introduced universal male suffrage for its lower house in 1856, followed by Victoria in 1857, New South Wales (1858), Queensland (1872), Western Australia (1893) and Tasmania (1900). Queensland excluded Aboriginal males from voting in 1885.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.qld.gov.au/about/about-queensland/history/women/right-to-vote|title=Women's right to vote in Queensland|author=<!--Not stated-->|date=4 April 2019|website=Queensland Government|access-date=20 January 2022}}</ref> In Western Australia a property qualification for voting existed for male Aboriginals, Asians, Africans and people of mixed descent.<ref name="Curthoys-2013" />

Societies to promote women's suffrage were formed in Victoria in 1884, South Australia in 1888 and New South Wales in 1891. The Women's Christian Temperance Union also established branches in most Australian colonies in the 1880s, promoting votes for women and a range of social causes.<ref>Bellanta, Melissa (2013). "Rethinking the 1890s". ''The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume I''. p. 233-34</ref> Female suffrage, and the right to stand for office, was first won in South Australia in 1895.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Museum of Australian Democracy, Old Parliament House|title=Constitution (Female Suffrage) Act 1895 (SA)|url=https://www.foundingdocs.gov.au/item-sdid-44.html|access-date=26 August 2021|website=Documenting a Democracy}}</ref> Women won the vote in Western Australia in 1899, with racial restrictions. Women in the rest of Australia only won full rights to vote and to stand for elected office in the decade after Federation, although there were some racial restrictions.<ref>Hirst, John (2014. p. 58</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Bellanta|2013|p=220}}</ref>

=== The long boom (1860 to 1890) ===
From the 1850s to 1871 gold was Australia's largest export and allowed the colonies to import a range of consumer and capital goods. The increase in population in the decades following the gold rush stimulated demand for housing, consumer goods, services and urban infrastructure.<ref>Goodman, David (2013). "The gold rushes of the 1850s". ''The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume I''. pp.&nbsp;180–81.</ref>

In the 1860s, New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia introduced Selection Acts intended to promote family farms and mixed farming and grazing.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Frost|first=Lionel|title=The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume I|year=2013|pages=327–28|chapter=The economy}}</ref> Improvements in farming technology and the introduction of crops adapted to Australian conditions eventually led to the diversification of rural land use. The expansion of the railways from the 1860s allowed wheat to be cheaply transported in bulk, stimulating the development of a wheat belt from South Australia to Queensland.<ref>Hirst, John (2014), pp. 74–77</ref><ref>Macintyre, Stuart (2020). p. 108</ref>

[[File:William Strutt Bushrangers.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|[[William Strutt (artist)|William Strutt]]'s ''Bushrangers on the [[St Kilda Road, Melbourne|St Kilda Road]]'' (1887), scene of frequent hold-ups during the [[Victorian gold rush]] by bushrangers known as the [[St Kilda Road robberies]].]]

The period 1850 to 1880 saw a revival in [[Bushranger|bushranging]]. The resurgence of bushranging from the 1850s drew on the grievances of the rural poor (several members of the [[Ned Kelly|Kelly gang]], the most famous bushrangers, were the sons of impoverished small farmers). The exploits of Ned Kelly and his gang garnered considerable local community support and extensive national press coverage at the time. After Kelly's capture and execution for murder in 1880 his story inspired numerous works of art, literature and popular culture and continuing debate about the extent to which he was a rebel fighting social injustice and oppressive police, or a murderous criminal.<ref>Macintyre, Stuart (2020). pp. 47, 107–08</ref>

[[File:Seizure of blackbirder Daphne.jpg|thumb|right|The seizure of the blackbirder ship 'Daphne' ca.1869;<br> The [[Blackbirding|Pacific Slave trade]] operated between 1863 and 1904 saw tens of thousands of [[South Sea Islanders]] brought to the [[sugarcane]] plantations of Queensland either as [[Indenture|indentured workers]] or [[Slavery|slaves]]]]

By the 1880s half the Australian population lived in towns, making Australia more urbanised than the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada.<ref>Macintyre, Stuart (2020). p. 118</ref> Between 1870 and 1890 average income per person in Australia was more than 50 per cent higher than that of the United States, giving Australia one of the highest living standards in the world.<ref>Frost, Lionel (2013). "The economy". ''The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume I''. p. 318</ref>

The size of the government sector almost doubled from 10 per cent of national expenditure in 1850 to 19 per cent in 1890. Colonial governments spent heavily on infrastructure such as railways, ports, telegraph, schools and urban services. Much of the money for this infrastructure was borrowed on the London financial markets, but land-rich governments also sold land to finance expenditure and keep taxes low.<ref>Hirst, John (2014). pp. 79–81</ref><ref>Macintyre, Stuart (2020). p. 103</ref>

In 1856, building workers in Sydney and Melbourne were the first in the world to win the eight hour working day. The 1880s saw trade unions grow and spread to lower skilled workers and also across colonial boundaries. By 1890 about 20 per cent of male workers belonged to a union, one of the highest rates in the world.<ref>Hirst, John (2014). pp. 82–86</ref><ref>Macintyre, Stuart (2020). p. 134</ref>

Economic growth was accompanied by expansion into northern Australia. Gold was discovered in northern Queensland in the 1860s and 1870s, and in the [[Kimberley (Western Australia)|Kimberley]] and [[Pilbara]] regions of Western Australia in the 1880s. Sheep and cattle runs spread to northern Queensland and on to the [[Gulf Country]] of the Northern Territory and the Kimberley region of Western Australia in the 1870s and 1880s. Sugar plantations also expanded in northern Queensland during the same period.<ref>Goodman, David (2013). "The gold rushes of the 1850s". ''The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume I''. pp.&nbsp;187</ref><ref name="Macintyre-2013">{{Cite book|last1=Macintyre|first1=Stuart|title=The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume I|last2=Scalmer|first2=Sean|year=2013|pages=213–16|chapter=Colonial states and civil society}}</ref>

From the late 1870s trade unions, Anti-Chinese Leagues and other community groups campaigned against Chinese immigration and low-wage Chinese labour. Following inter-colonial conferences on the issue in 1880–81 and 1888, colonial governments responded with a series of laws which progressively restricted Chinese immigration and citizenship rights.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Willard|first=Myra|title=History of the White Australia Policy to 1920|publisher=Melbourne University Press|year=1967|location=Melbourne|pages=56–94}}</ref>

=== 1890s depression ===
{{further|Australian banking crisis of 1893}}
[[File:The labor crisis. - The riot in George Street, Sydney (1890).jpg|thumb|''"The labor crisis. – The riot in George Street, Sydney"'' ({{circa|1890}})]]

Falling wool prices and the collapse of a speculative property bubble in Melbourne heralded the end of the long boom. A number of major banks suspended business and the economy contracted by 20 per cent from 1891 to 1895. Unemployment rose to almost a third of the workforce. The depression was followed by the "[[Federation Drought]]" from 1895 to 1903.<ref>Macintyre, Stuart (2020). pp. 138–39</ref>

In 1890, a strike in the shipping industry spread to wharves, railways, mines and shearing sheds. Employers responded by locking out workers and employing non-union labour, and colonial governments intervened with police and troops. The strike failed, as did subsequent strikes of shearers in 1891 and 1894, and miners in 1892 and 1896.<ref>Macintyre, Stuart (2020). pp. 131–34</ref>

The defeat of the 1890 [[1890 Australian maritime dispute|Maritime Strike]] led trade unions to form political parties. In New South Wales, the [[NSW Labor Party|Labor Electoral League]] won a quarter of seats in the [[1891 New South Wales colonial election|elections of 1891]] and held the balance of power between the [[Free Trade Party]] and the [[Protectionist Party]]. Labor parties also won seats in the [[1893 South Australian colonial election|South Australian]] and [[1893 Queensland colonial election|Queensland elections of 1893]]. The world's first Labor government was formed in Queensland in 1899, but it lasted only a week.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bellanta|first=Melissa|title=The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume I|year=2013|pages=229–30|chapter=Rethinking the 1890s}}</ref>

At an Inter-colonial Conference in 1896, the colonies agreed to extend restrictions on Chinese immigration to "all coloured races". Labor supported the Reid government of New South Wales in passing the ''Coloured Races Restriction and Regulation Act'', a forerunner of the White Australia Policy. However, after Britain and Japan voiced objections to the legislation, New South Wales, Tasmania and Western Australia instead introduced European language tests to restrict "undesirable" immigrants.<ref>Willard, Myra (1967). pp. 109–17</ref>

===Growth of nationalism===
{{Main|Federation of Australia}}

[[File:Tom Roberts - Shearing the rams - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|left|The origins of a distinctly Australian style of painting are often associated with the [[Heidelberg School]] movement, [[Tom Roberts]]' ''[[Shearing the Rams]]'' (1890) being an iconic example.]]

By the late 1880s, a majority of people living in the Australian colonies were native born, although more than 90 per cent were of British and Irish heritage.<ref>D.M. Gibb (1982) ''National Identity and Consciousness''. p. 33. Thomas Nelson, Melbourne. {{ISBN|0-17-006053-5}}</ref> The [[Australian Natives' Association|Australian Natives Association]], campaigned for an Australian federation within the British Empire, promoted Australian literature and history, and successfully lobbied for the 26 January to be Australia's national day.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hirst|first=John|title=The Sentimental Nation, the making of the Australian Commonwealth|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2000|isbn=0195506200|location=South Melbourne|pages=38–39}}</ref>

[[File:Banjo Patterson.jpg|thumb|The [[bush ballad]]eer [[Banjo Paterson]] penned a number of classic works including "[[Waltzing Matilda]]" (1895), regarded as Australia's unofficial national anthem.]]

Many nationalists spoke of Australians sharing common blood as members of the British "race".<ref>Hirst, John (2000). p. 16</ref> [[Henry Parkes]] stated in 1890, "The crimson thread of kinship runs through us all...we must unite as one great Australian people."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Parkes|first=Henry|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hl4i60&view=1up&seq=96|title=The federal government of Australasia : speeches delivered on various occasions (November, 1889 – May, 1890)|publisher=Turner and Henderson|year=1890|location=Sydney|pages=71–76}}</ref>

A minority of nationalists saw a distinctive Australian identity rather than shared "Britishness" as the basis for a unified Australia. Some, such as the radical magazine ''[[The Bulletin (Australian periodical)|The Bulletin]]'' and the Tasmanian Attorney-General [[Andrew Inglis Clark]], were republicans, while others were prepared to accept a fully independent country of Australia with only a ceremonial role for the British monarch.<ref>Hirst, John (2000). pp. 11–13, 69–71, 76</ref>

A unified Australia was usually associated with a white Australia. In 1887, ''The Bulletin'' declared that all white men who left the religious and class divisions of the old world behind were Australians.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Russell|first=Penny|title=The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume I|year=2013|pages=479–80|chapter=Gender and colonial society}}</ref> A white Australia also meant the exclusion of cheap Asian labour, an idea strongly promoted by the labour movement.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Irving|first=Helen|title=The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume I|year=2013|pages=248|chapter=Making the federal Commonwealth}}</ref>

The growing nationalist sentiment in the 1880s and 1890s was associated with the development of a distinctively Australian art and literature. Artists of the [[Heidelberg School]] such as [[Arthur Streeton]], [[Frederick McCubbin]] and [[Tom Roberts]] followed the example of the European Impressionists by painting in the open air. They applied themselves to capturing the light and colour of the Australian landscape and exploring the distinctive and the universal in the "mixed life of the city and the characteristic life of the station and the bush".<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Dixon|first1=Robert|title=The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume I|last2=Hoorn|publisher=Jeanette|year=2013|pages=500, 508|chapter=Art and literature}}</ref>

In the 1890s Henry Lawson, [[Banjo Paterson]] and other writers associated with ''The Bulletin'' produced poetry and prose exploring the nature of bush life and themes of independence, stoicism, masculine labour, egalitarianism, anti-authoritarianism and mateship. Protagonists were often shearers, boundary riders and itinerant bush workers. In the following decade Lawson, Paterson and other writers such as [[Steele Rudd]], Miles Franklin, and Joseph Furphy helped forge a distinctive national literature. Paterson's ballad "[[The Man from Snowy River (poem)|The Man from Snowy River"]] (1890) achieved popularity, and his lyrics to the song "[[Waltzing Matilda]]" (c. 1895) helped make it the unofficial national anthem for many Australians.<ref>Macintyre, Stuart (2020), p. 140-41</ref>

===Federation movement===
{{Main|Federation of Australia}}
Growing nationalist sentiment coincided with business concerns about the economic inefficiency of customs barriers between the colonies, the duplication of services by colonial governments and the lack of a single national market for goods and services.<ref>Hirst, John (2020). pp. 45–61</ref> Colonial concerns about German and French ambitions in the region also led to British pressure for a federated Australian defence force and a unified, single-gauge railway network for defence purposes.<ref>Irving, Helen (2013). p. 252</ref>

A [[Federal Council of Australasia]] was formed in 1885 but it had few powers and New South Wales and South Australia declined to join.<ref>Irving, Helen (2013). pp. 250–51</ref>

[[File:HenryParkes Melbourne.jpg|left|thumb|[[Henry Parkes|Sir Henry Parkes]] delivering the first resolution at the federation conference in Melbourne, 1 March 1890]]

An obstacle to federation was the fear of the smaller colonies that they would be dominated by New South Wales and Victoria. Queensland, in particular, although generally favouring a white Australia policy, wished to maintain an exception for South Sea Islander workers in the sugar cane industry.<ref>Hirst, John (2000). pp. 107, 171–73, 204–11</ref>

Another major barrier was the free trade policies of New South Wales which conflicted with the [[Protectionism|protectionist]] policies dominant in Victoria and most of the other colonies. Nevertheless, the NSW premier [[Henry Parkes]] was a strong advocate of [[Federation of Australia|federation]] and his [[Tenterfield Oration]] in 1889 was pivotal in gathering support for the cause.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Irving|first=Helen|title=The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume I|year=2013|pages=249–51|chapter=Making the federal Commonwealth}}</ref>

In 1891, a National Australasian Convention was held in Sydney, with all the colonies and New Zealand represented. A draft constitutional Bill was adopted, but the worsening economic depression and opposition in colonial parliaments delayed progress.<ref>Irving, Helen (2013). "Making the federal Commonwealth". ''The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume I''. pp.&nbsp;252–55</ref>

Citizen Federation Leagues were formed, and at a conference in [[Corowa Conference|Corowa]] in July 1893 they developed a new plan for federation involving a constitutional convention with directly elected delegates and a referendum in each colony to endorse the proposed constitution. The new NSW premier, [[George Reid]], endorsed the "Corowa plan" and in 1895 convinced the majority of other premiers to adopt it.<ref>Irving, Helen (2013). pp.&nbsp;255–59</ref>

All of the colonies except Queensland sent representatives to a constitutional convention which held sessions in 1897 and 1898. The convention drafted a proposed constitution for a Commonwealth of federated states under the British Crown.<ref>Irving, Helen (2013).  pp.&nbsp;259–61.</ref>

Referendums held in 1898 resulted in solid majorities for the constitution in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. However, the referendum failed to gain the required majority in New South Wales.<ref>Irving, Helen (2013). p. 262</ref> The premiers of the other colonies agreed to a number of concessions to New South Wales (particularly that the future Commonwealth capital would be located in that state), and in 1899 further referendums were held in all the colonies except Western Australia. All resulted in yes votes.<ref>Irving, Helen (2013). p. 263</ref>

In March 1900, delegates were dispatched to London, including leading federation advocates [[Edmund Barton]] and [[Alfred Deakin]]. Following negotiations with the British government, the federation Bill was passed by the imperial parliament on 5 July 1900 and gained Royal Assent on 9 July. Western Australia subsequently voted to join the new federation.<ref name="Irving-2013">Irving, Helen (2013). pp. 263–65</ref>