Historical information

This magazine supplement celebrates a most significant event in the history of Australia – Federation.
Australia became a nation on 1 January 1901 when 6 British colonies – New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania – united to form the Commonwealth of Australia. Prior to this time each colony acted like a separate country which caused inefficiencies and problems as the population grew.
Sir Henry Parkes began the movement towards a Commonwealth. Elected delegates worked through a series of processes to finally present a constitution that would unite the colonies and give Australia a federal system of government. The people of the colonies approved the constitution in a series of referendums.
The Commonwealth of Australia was declared on 1 January 1901 at a ceremony held in Centennial Park in Sydney. During the ceremony, the first Governor-General, Lord Hopetoun, was sworn-in and Australia's first Prime Minister, Edmund Barton, and federal ministers took the oath of office.
The first federal elections for the new Australian Parliament were held on 29 and 30 March 1901.
The first Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia was opened at noon on 9 May 1901 by the Duke of Cornwall and York (later King George V).
For more information see https://peo.gov.au/understand-our-parliament/history-of-parliament/federation/the-federation-of-australia

Significance

The item is significant as both a written and pictorial document pertaining to the formation of the Commonwealth of Australia.

Physical description

The magazine supplement, put out by the Sydney Mail, is a celebration issue for the new Commonwealth of Australia. It provides written background on the formation of the Commonwealth, maps of Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide and pictorial photos of each state and it’s capital city. It includes the portraits of: delegates to the National Australasian Convention, 1891; delegates to the Federal Convention, Sydney, 1897; delegates sent to England to see the Commonwealth Bill through the House of Commons; the Earl of Hopetoun, first Governor-General of Australia and Queen Victoria.
Being a magazine supplement, it has pages at the beginning and end devoted to advertisements for a variety of goods ranging from jewellery to farm machinery.