Henry Parkes: The Father Of Federation

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Federation
Prior to Federation each of the Australian colonies was more like its own country with customs houses, railway gauges and even their own military. Colonial politicians like Alfred Deakin, Henry Parkes and Edmund Barton waged a long campaign to turn the six colonies of 3.7 million people into a country in its own right.
The Father of Federation
Henry Parkes (1815–1896) is often called the 'Father of Federation'. Parkes was five times the Premier of NSW and one of the most prominent men in colonial politics. In October 1889, in what became known as the 'Tenterfield Address' he called for the colonies to 'unite and create a great national government for all Australia'. His speech had an enormous effect on the movement toward Federation. Henry Parkes died in 1896 without ever seeing his dream realised.
The movement gathers momentum The movement had begun to gather real momentum after Henry Parkes wrote to the other premiers in 1889 and …show more content…

The following year a meeting was held in Melbourne, with a full 'National' convention in Sydney in 1891 at which a complete draft of the Australian Constitution was written and adopted. The first draft of the constitution is usually attributed to Sir Samuel Griffith, written aboard the Lucinda as it cruised down the Hawkesbury in 1891. Others have disputed this however, arguing that Griffith merely rewrote Andrew Inglis Clarke's 1891 draft constitution and, even then, made a mess of it. Whoever wrote it, the result was the same; a fairly dry but functional document which inspired few people to take an interest in it when it was put to a referendum in June 1898 in Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania and South

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