Editing History of Australia (section)

==From federation to war (1901{{Emdash}}1914)==
{{Main|History of Australia (1901–1945)|Federation of Australia}}
[[File:EBarton2.jpg|thumb|[[Edmund Barton]] (left), the first [[Prime Minister of Australia]], with [[Alfred Deakin]], the second Prime Minister]]

The Commonwealth of Australia was proclaimed by the [[Governor-General of Australia|Governor-General]], [[John Hope, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow|Lord Hopetoun]] on 1 January 1901, and Barton was sworn in as Australia's first prime minister.<ref name="Irving-2013" /> The first [[Elections in Australia|Federal elections]] were held in [[1901 Australian federal election|March 1901]] and resulted in a narrow plurality for the Protectionist Party over the Free Trade Party with the [[Australian Labor Party]] (ALP) polling third. Labor declared it would support the party which offered concessions to its program, and Barton's Protectionists formed a government, with Deakin as [[Attorney-General of Australia|Attorney-General]].<ref name="autogenerated22">{{cite book|author=R. Norris|title=ADBonline.anu.edu.au|publisher=ADBonline.anu.edu.au|chapter=Deakin, Alfred (1856–1919)|access-date=14 July 2011|chapter-url=http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A080275b.htm?hilite=alfred%3Bdeakin}}</ref>

The [[Immigration Restriction Act 1901]] was one of the first laws passed by the new [[Parliament of Australia|Australian parliament]]. This centrepiece of the White Australia policy, the act used a dictation test in a European language to exclude Asian migrants, who were considered a threat to Australia's living standards and majority British culture.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hirst|first=John|title=The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume 2|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2013|isbn=9781107011540|editor-last=Bashford|editor-first=Alison|location=Melbourne|pages=21–23|chapter=Nation building, 1901-14|editor-last2=Macintyre|editor-first2=Stuart}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=MacIntyre|first=Stuart|title=The Oxford History of Australia, Volume 4, The Succeeding Age 1901–1942|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1993|isbn=0195535189|location=Melbourne|pages=123–25}}</ref>

With federation, the Commonwealth inherited the small defence forces of the six former Australian colonies. By 1901, units of soldiers from all six Australian colonies had been active as part of British forces in [[Second Boer War|the Boer War]]. When the British government asked for more troops from Australia in early 1902, the Australian government obliged with a national contingent. Some 16,500 men had volunteered for service by the war's end in June 1902.<ref>Frank Crowley (1973) p. 22</ref><ref>Macintyre (1993). pp. 130–32</ref>

In 1902, the government introduced female suffrage in the Commonwealth jurisdiction, but at the same time excluded Aboriginal people from the franchise unless they already had the vote in a state jurisdiction.<ref>Hirst (2013). pp. 20–21</ref>

[[File:Opening of the first parliament.jpg|thumb|left|Opening of the first [[Parliament of Australia]] in 1901|300x300px]]
[[File:Melbourne-Punch-federation-Victoria-pest-Australian-Chinese-May-1888.jpg|thumb|Implementing the [[White Australia policy]] was one of the first acts of the new parliament. Pictured: The [[Melbourne Punch]] (c. May 1888)]]

The government also introduced a tariff on imports, designed to raise revenue and protect Australian industry.<ref>Hirst (2013). p. 24</ref> However, disagreements over industrial relations legislation led to the fall of Deakin's Protectionist government in April 1904 and the appointment of the first national Labor government under prime minister [[Chris Watson]]. The Watson government itself fell in April and a Free Trade government under prime minister Reid successfully introduced legislation for a Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Court to settle interstate industrial disputes.<ref>Hirst (2013). pp. 25–26</ref>

In July 1905, Deakin formed a Protectionist government with the support of Labor. The new government embarked on a series of social reforms and a program dubbed "new protection" under which tariff protection for Australian industries would be linked to their provision of "fair and reasonable" wages. In the [[Harvester case]] of 1907, [[H. B. Higgins]] of the Conciliation and Arbitration Court set a basic wage based on the needs of a male breadwinner supporting a wife and three children. By 1914 the Commonwealth and all the states had introduced systems to settle industrial disputes and fix wages and conditions.<ref>Hirst (2013). pp. 29–31</ref><ref>Macintyre (1993). p. 101</ref>

The base of the Labor Party was the [[Australian labour movement|Australian Trade Union movement]] which grew from under 100,000 members in 1901 to more than half a million in 1914.<ref>Stuart MacIntyre (1986) p. 86.</ref> The party also drew considerable support from clerical workers, Catholics and small farmers.<ref>Hirst (2013). p. 35</ref> In 1905, the Labor party adopted objectives at the federal level which included the "cultivation of an Australian sentiment based upon the maintenance of racial purity" and "the collective ownership of monopolies". In the same year, the Queensland branch of the party adopted an overtly socialist objective.<ref>McMullin (1991). pp. 55–57</ref>

[[File:8hourday.jpg|thumb|Procession in support of an eight-hour work day, [[George Street, Sydney]], 4 October 1909]]

After the [[1906 Australian federal election|December 1906 elections]] Deakin's Protectionist government remained in power, but following the passage of legislation for old age pensions and a new protective tariff in 1908, Labor withdrew its support for the government. In November, [[Andrew Fisher]] became the second Labor prime minister. In response, opposition parties formed an anti-Labor coalition and Deakin became prime minister in June 1909.<ref>Macintyre (1993). pp. 92–93.</ref>

In the [[1910 Australian federal election|elections of May 1910]], Labor won a majority in both houses of parliament and Fisher again became prime minister. The Labor government introduced a series of reforms including a progressive land tax (1910), invalid pensions (1910) and a maternity allowance (1912). The government established the Commonwealth Bank (1911) but referendums to nationalise monopolies and extend Commonwealth trade and commerce powers were defeated in 1911 and 1913. The Commonwealth took over responsibility for the [[Northern Territory]] from South Australia in 1911.<ref>Macintyre (1993). pp. 93–95</ref><ref>Hirst (2013). pp. 35–37</ref> The government increased defence spending, expanding the system of compulsory military training which had been introduced by the previous government and establishing the Royal Australian Navy.<ref>McMullin (1991). p. 64</ref><ref>Macintyre (1993). pp. 139–40</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Andrew Fisher, during office|url=https://www.naa.gov.au/explore-collection/australias-prime-ministers/andrew-fisher/during-office|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211025160626/https://www.naa.gov.au/explore-collection/australias-prime-ministers/andrew-fisher/during-office|archive-date=25 October 2021|access-date=25 October 2021|website=Australian Prime Ministers, National Archives of Australia}}</ref>

The new [[Commonwealth Liberal Party]] won the [[1913 Australian federal election|May 1913 elections]] and former Labor leader [[Joseph Cook]] became prime minister. The Cook government's attempt to pass legislation abolishing preferential treatment for union members in the Commonwealth Public Service triggered a [[double dissolution]] of parliament. Labor comfortably won the [[1914 Australian federal election|September 1914 elections]] and Fisher resumed office.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Crowly|first=F. K.|date=2006|title=Cook, Sir Joseph (1860–1947)|url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/cook-sir-joseph-5763|access-date=25 October 2021|website=Australian Dictionary of Biography}}</ref>

The prewar period saw strong growth in the population and economy. The economy grew by 75 per cent, with rural industries, construction, manufacturing and government services leading the way.<ref>Macintyre (1993). pp. 26–34</ref> The population increased from four million in 1901 to five million in 1914. From 1910 to 1914 just under 300,000 migrants arrived, all white, and almost all from Britain.<ref>Macintyre (1993). pp. 34–35</ref>