Transcript TOPIC: The Australian Political System

PRESENTATION TOPIC
“Australia up to 1901”
Wayne Muller
Griffith University
26th June 2008
Presentation Structure
• (1) The Indigenous millennia (separate lecture)
• (2) The so called European “voyages of discovery”
• (3) The USA as the catalyst for white settlement/
“invasion” of Australia
• (4) Australia’s convict origins and heritage
• (5) White occupance and “the frontier”
• (6) Gold: “The rush to be rich”
• (7) The rural experience and the formation of
“Australian Values”
• (8) The colonial experience
• (9) The 1890s: Towards Federation
The so called European “voyages of
discovery”
• The Portuguese, the Dutch, the French and the
British
• Specific voyages- Dirk Hartog, William
Dampier, Captain James Cook, etc
• Conflicting opinions of the nature of the great
southern land (Terra Australis) and its original
inhabitants
• Increasing competition between the French and
the British
The USA as the catalyst for white
settlement/ “invasion” of Australia
• Implications of the American War of
Independence
• The English penal system
• The First Fleet
• Beginnings of settlement- Sydney Cove
26th January 1788
Australia’s convict origins and heritage
• Debate over the nature of the convicts: Scum of the
earth, petty criminals, Irish convicts, gender imbalance,
etc
• Composition of original society: Governor, military and
convicts
• Arrival of free settlers- emergence of a class based
society- exclusionists, emancipists and convicts
• Heritage of ‘anti-authoritarianism”, contempt for
police- Ned Kelly as “folk hero”
• Convict ancestors- family shame-> trendy background
White occupance and “the frontier”
• Expansion from Sydney town- historical
debates
• The role of the “explorers”
• Land grants and “squatters”
• The “pioneer” legend
• Waves of occupance cf F J Turner’s American
“frontier thesis”
• Pushing the frontier too far- environmental
consequences
Gold: “The rush to be rich”
• Edward Hargraves- The California
connection- 1851
• Life on the gold fields
• The Chinese presence- seeds of racism
• Winners and losers
• Enhanced transport “Cobb and Co”
• Economic consequences of the gold
discoveries
The rural experience and the formation of
“Australian Values”
• The significance of the nineteenth century
“bush” experience
• The itinerant bush workers- swagmen,
sundowners and shearers- “Waltzing Matilda”the “Nomad Tribe”
• The masculinist experience- “mateship”
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Egalitarianism
Anti-authoritarianism
Sexism
Male bonding
The colonial experience
• Convict colonies and “free settlements”
• Dates of settlement/ proclamation/ convicts *
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NSW 1788 *
Tasmania 1803 *
Victoria 1803/ 1850 *
South Australia 1836
Western Australia 1829 *
Queensland 1824/ 1859 *
The colonial experience (continued)
• Implications of colonial settlement
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Separate economic and social development
The ‘tragedy of the rail systems”
The challenge of Federation
State based social attributes: stereotypes,
jokes, sporting rivalry, etc
– State and federal government rivalries and
conflicts
The 1890s: Towards Federation
• Drought, flood, plague, bank collapses and
economic depression following the boom of
the1880s
• Union action-> strikes- the “great shearers’
strike”- failure- > formation of the Labor Party
• Factors driving federation:
– Need for defence force
– Need for immigration policies- fear of foreign
workers- coloured and Chinese
– Need for customs and excise policies
– Management of the Murray River, etc
The 1890s: Towards Federation (continued)
• Towards Federation:
– October 1889 Henry Parkes “Tenterfield Speech”
– February 1890- first conference re federation
– First Federal Convention -1891- draft constitutionsubsequently rejected by some colonies
– 1893- Corowa conferences of various business
associations etc in favour of federation for economic
reasons
– 1897-1898 various conventions of elected delegates
from each of the colonies- general agreement on
concept but difficulties seen as enormous
The 1890s: Towards Federation (continued)
• Sir Samuel Griffith- drafts the new constitution
• June 1898- referendum- failed- NSW main blocker
• January-February 1899- further meetings to amend the
constitution including various compromises
• 1899 second series of referenda in each colonyeventually supported in all colonies
• July-September 1900- approval of the proposed
federation by the British Government and Queen
Victoria
• 1st January 1901- Federation of the Commonwealth of
Australia established- ceremonies and celebrations