Editing Republicanism in Australia (section)

===Federation and decline===
[[File:The Bulletin front cover.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Front cover of an 1890 edition of the republican magazine ''[[The Bulletin (Australian periodical)|The Bulletin]]'', warning that federation of the colonies may ensure Australia's membership of the British Empire.]]
At the Australian Federation Convention, which produced the first draft that was to become the [[Constitution of Australia|Australian Constitution]] in 1891, a former Premier of New South Wales, [[George Dibbs]], stated the "inevitable destiny of the people of this great country" would be the establishment of "the Republic of Australia".<ref>Justice Kirby: ''The Australian Republican Referendum 1999{{spaced ndash}}Ten Lessons'', 3 March 2000 [http://www.lawfoundation.net.au/ljf/app/&id=DF4206863AE3C52DCA2571A30082B3D5 Source]</ref> The fervour of republicanism tailed off in the 1890s as the labour movement became concerned with the [[Federation of Australia]]. The republican movement dwindled further during and after [[World War I]] as emotional and patriotic support for the war effort went hand in hand with a renewed sense of loyalty to the monarchy. ''[[The Bulletin (Australian periodical)|The Bulletin]]'' abandoned republicanism and became a conservative, Empire loyalist paper. The [[Returned and Services League]] formed in 1916 and became an important bastion of monarchist sentiment.

The conservative parties were fervently monarchist and although the Labor Party campaigned for greater Australian independence within the Empire and generally supported the appointment of Australians as [[Governor-General of Australia|Governor-General]], it did not question the monarchy itself. Under the Labor government of [[John Curtin]], a member of the Royal Family, [[Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester]], was appointed Governor-General during [[World War II]]. [[Royal tours of Australia|The royal tour]] of Queen [[Elizabeth II]] in 1954 saw a reported 7 million Australians (out of a total population of 9&nbsp;million) out to see her.<ref>D.Day, ''Claiming a Continent'', Harper Collins 1997, pp. 384–385</ref>

The [[1975 Australian constitutional crisis]], which culminated in the dismissal of Prime Minister [[Gough Whitlam]] by Governor-General [[John Kerr (governor-general)|John Kerr]], raised questions about the value of maintaining a supposedly symbolic office that still possessed many key constitutional powers and what an Australian president with the same reserve powers would do in a similar situation.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://theconversation.com/palace-letters-reveal-the-palaces-fingerprints-on-the-dismissal-of-the-whitlam-government-142476|title='Palace letters' reveal the palace's fingerprints on the dismissal of the Whitlam government|first=Chris|last=Wallace|date=14 July 2020|website=The Conversation|accessdate=16 October 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://jacobin.com/2020/07/gough-whitlam-dismissal-letters-john-kerr-australia|title=In the 1970s, a Soft Coup Removed Australia's Left-Wing Prime Minister|last=Rundle|first=Guy|date=16 July 2020|work=[[Jacobin (magazine)|Jacobin]]|accessdate=16 October 2022}}</ref>