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In 1889 Henry Parkes made several approaches to the other premiers suggesting that the time was ripe for a fresh move towards federation. He met with a cool reception, for the others felt at this stage that if New South Wales was in earnest it should join the Federal Council, but Parkes had a trump card in the report of Major-General Edwards who in October 1889 recommended that the defenses of the colonies should be federated. In a famous speech made at Tenterfield on 24 October 1889 Parkes publicly emphasized the need for federation for defence reasons and urged the other premiers to meet him to discuss this.
After further negotiations a small "informal" meeting was arranged for Melbourne in February 1890, and that conference decided in favour of a national convention at which a more thoroughgoing form of union than the Federal Council could be planned. Thus it was that 45 delegates assembled in Sydney on 2 March 1891 for the first session of the National Australasian Convention. This was an illustrious affair; most of the delegates being distinguished leaders in their colonies; all the current premiers and quite a few former premiers were present.
The first act of the Convention was to appoint Parkes to the position of President; he then tabled a series of resolutions laying down the principles upon which a constitution might be based. After these had been debated at length and all delegates had declared their general views, the Convention broke up into three committees to get down to detailed work. A small drafting committee consisting of Sir Samuel Griffith, C.C. Kingston, Edmund Barton and A.I. Clark then molded their recommendations into a constitution.
Whilst the ageing Parkes remained nominally at the head of the Convention it was Griffith who became its dominant figure and the principal architect of the "Bill to constitute the Commonwealth of Australia" which was its outcome. With the adoption of this Bill the Convention completed its work and a milestone in the history of the federation movement was reached.
The next step ought to have been for the parliaments of the colonies to adopt the draft Commonwealth Bill. But when the delegates returned to their colonies they found other urgent business claiming their attention, for in 1891 much of Australia plunged into the most severe economic depression in its history to that time.
Furthermore, in New South Wales, which other colonies looked to for a lead, political life was thrown into turmoil in June 1891 by the electoral success of an entirely new force, the Labour Party, and the retirement shortly afterwards of Sir Henry Parkes. By the end of the year the Victorian, Tasmanian and South Australian parliaments had given some half-hearted attention to the draft Constitution Bill, but the other colonies, including New South Wales, had not.
Edmund Barton, who assumed Parkes's unofficial mantle as "leader" of the federation movement, made several attempts to bring the Bill before the New South Wales Parliament in 1892 and 1893, but it gradually became apparent that the movement had run out of steam.
3 March 1891 - A glittering Federation banquet was held last night in Sydney’s Centennial Hall to mark the start of the National Australasian Convention.
Held to celebrate ‘the advent of a new national movement’, the grand banquet was attended by some 900 diners and a large number of spectators. Prominent guests, including the convention Chairman, Sir Henry Parkes, surveyed the crowd from their table positioned under the great organ and elevated on a dais.
After proposing a toast to Her Majesty, Sir Henry raised his glass with the words ‘One people, one destiny’ to the loud cheers of guests. ‘The time has come when this Australian people should be one - henceforward and forever - should make common cause and inherit one common destiny.’
Almost all the speakers were in agreement that the desire for Federation was unanimous and the purpose of the conference was to devise the framework in which it could most effectively happen.
Flowers filled the richly decorated hail and observers said the galleries had ‘a very gay and lively appearance during the banquet owing to the large numbers of ladies in evening dress who occupied seats there’.
10 April 1891 - The most impressive gathering of politicians ever seen in
this country has concluded six weeks of talks which will eventually bind the
colonies as one great nation.
The National Australasian Convention began early last month and the 45 delegates have prepared a first draft of the Constitution which will establish the country’s first Federal Government. Among the delegates were six premiers, nine former premiers, numerous cabinet ministers and leading figures in the Federation movement.
An array of banquets, dinners, balls and dinners was woven into the program of official business. The convention Chairman, Sir Henry Parkes, made his now famous ‘One people, one Destiny’ speech at a gala banquet held in the Centennial Hall on 2 March. From 4 to 18 Match, the learned men debated and adopted many of Sir Henry’s proposed resolutions and amendments which he had derived from the constitutions of the US and Canada.
A key theme throughout the meetings was how to empower a Federal Government while maintaining independence for the individual colonies, to be known as ‘states’.
From 31 March until yesterday discussions focused on the Constitution Bill clause by clause. At one point, Mr. George Dibbs was resoundingly defeated in his proposal to make Sydney the federal capital. In another resolution it was decided that the House of Representatives be chosen every three years with each stale entitled to one representative for every 30,000 residents. As in the Senate, hopeful members must be at least 30 years old. Much of the debate concerned defining the powers and roles of these two governing bodies.
The new draft Constitution was finally adopted by the meeting and returned to the separate Parliaments for the approval of voters.
The resolutions of the meeting covered many wide-ranging issues, with one of the most important concerning trade between the proposed states. It shall remain ‘absolutely tree’, the meeting stated.
significantly, the defence issue, which formed the basis of Sir Henry’s widely publicised Tenterfield speech last year, was also finalised. Delegates provided for one, unified defence force for Australian the new constitution..
