Federation at 125: How Australia Became a Nation

By Peter Gangemi - Former Mayor of the Hills Shire

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2026 marks 125 years since Australian Federation, where Australian became a nation. Federation was the moment when the six self governing British colonies New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania united to form the Commonwealth of Australia.

In the 1800’s, each colony had its own defence force, different railway gauges, issued their own stamps, charged tariffs on each other and often had their own customs at state borders. These inefficiencies and a desire for such issues to be dealt with at a national level saw momentum for Federation grow.

Sir Henry Parkes the “Father of Federation” was instrumental in driving Federation with his 1889 Tenterfield speech, bringing together the 1890 Australasian Federation Conference and being the President on the first National Australasian Convention in 1891.

Following Parkes’ death in 1896, Edmund Barton became the defacto leader of the Federation movement, stumping the country and being elected leader of the 1987 Australian Federal Convention. Barton famously coined the phrase “A nation for a continent and a continent for a nation”.

Referendums were held in each of the six colonies between 1898 and 1900. The Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 was passed by the British Parliament on 5 July 1900, allowing the new nation and constitution to take force.

On the 1st of January 1901, the Earl of Hopetoun, Australia’s first Governor-General proclaimed the Commonwealth of Australia at a ceremony at Centennial Park, Sydney, with the Australian constitution also coming into force that day. Barton was chosen as the caretaker Prime Minister on January 1 1901, and was elected Prime Minister in his own right at the first Federal Election on March 29-30 1901.

Federation was a defining moment for Australia. It was where we gained a great deal of independence as a nation whilst maintaining strong ties to Britain, and it is where we largely became self governing. Federation also showed a tremendous desire from our citizens to be unified as a nation and our people knew that our interests would be better served as a commonwealth.