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Forrest and the Federal Constitution Centenary Reflections

FRANK CROWLEY

On 29 January 1887 a crowd of friends and relatives gathered on the Fremantle wharf to say goodbye and bon voyage to the surveyor­ general, Mr , CM.G., his wife Margaret, and the well­ known lawyer Septimus Burt. They were about to board the coaster Rob Roy which would take them to Albany to meet the overseas mail steamer bound for the port of London. They sailed via Suez, visited the pyramids and reached London early in . On board the same ship, bound for the same conference, were two Australian premiers- of South and of -as well as , a minister in the of , all of whom played major roles in the establishment of the of Australia and the drafting of its federal constitution. would have been one of the many topics of conversation during the long sea voyage. The first Colonial Conference of representatives of the British colonies in April-May 1887 discussed the defence and communica­ tions of an which policed much of the world's trade and millions of its people. Australia's main benefit from the meeting was the stationing of a British naval squadron in Australian waters in peace time, the Australian colonial contributing an annual subsidy towards its upkeep. Forrest supported the proposal un­ reservedly because he believed that without the imperial shield to protect Australia from the possible aggression of European governments, or of 'the Asian hordes', the could not be successful with their policies of economic development and social improvement. Australian defence was not a question of colonial initiative but relied on the imperial strategy of 'one ocean, one fleet, one flag'. And when Forrest spoke of the bond of kinship which tied his fellow Australians to the Mother , he expressed a sentiment ofracial affinity and cultural heritage far stronger than a mere affection for the birthplace of his Scottish parents. Being both imperial-minded and an Australian by birth, he felt no contradiction in the dualism of

285 286 FRANK CROWLEY Forrest and the Federal Constitution 287 his loyalty to Crown and country, to Mothcr Country and birthplace. He remarked that

although they in Australia aspired to build up a nation on this continent and look upon it as their home, they were all proud of the great they belonged to and called their home ... He had no sympathy with those who, when they felt a little strong and able to do without the old country, wanted to cast her off ... He said this, not only in looking at it from a material point of view, but because he believed there was such a thing as patriotism.

The six Australian colonies were British possessions, proudly coloured in red on the maps of the world in school atlases. More than half the adult, European population was locally-born, and they shared a homogeneity of population derived from a common British descent, intermarriage and constant mobility between the colonies. They shared the same cultural heritage, games, sports, pastimes, customs, moral values, belief in the supremacy of the values of the white man, legal codes and political institutions. Although some local politicians and journalists sometimes mouthed anti-England and anti-Empire senti­ ments, the great majority of locally-born Australians, and the Australians by adoption, were content to remain members of 'the great British family'. It was that dualism which found expression in the Commonwealth of Australia and its federal constitution, which came into being under the superintendence of the Imperial Government during the closing years of the nineteenth century. Forrest played a significant role as one of its Founding Fathers. The Forrests joined with the other colonial representatives in the festivities to mark 's Golden Jubilee on 19-21 June 1887, and Margaret was presented to the Queen at Buckingham Palace. In mid-September the Forrests took passage to New , and spent several weeks touring the , before travelling on the recently-opened Canadian Pacific Railway across to Vancouver, and then by ship to New Zealand and . Forrest returned home to Perth after his world tour with three objectives that were to influence the rest of his public career: that the Australian colonies could play an active though subordinate role in the maintenance of the power and prosperity of the and the British race; that the American free-homestead system had much to recommend it as a device for settling the agricultural lands of Australia; and that a true federation of the Australian colonies could only come about if it were based, Canadian fashion, on the prior guarantee of the building of a trans­ Premier Sir John Forrest: WA. delegate at federal constitutional continental railway, whose western terminus would be at Fremantle conventions, 1891 and 1897-8. Harbour. A private syndicate of British investors had already opened negotiations with to build a railway from to Perth via Eucla. In August 1888 Forrest returned to Sydney to take part in the 288 FRANK CROWLEY Forrest and the Federal Constitution 289 inaugural meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advance­ Later in that year, during his speech as a parliamentary candidate for ment of Science, which coincided with the centennial festivities. He the Assembly electorate of Bunbury, Forrest said: gave the presidential address to the Geography Section, and concluded his speech by complaining about the harmful political and social effects I am strongly in favour of the Federation of Australia, but not under of the ungeographical method of determining the boundaries between any conditions. I lean to the conditions imposed by British Colum­ the mainland colonies, and especially the division of tropical Australia bia on the Eastern States of ... If we do federate I think into three political areas. Finally he put a strong case for the federation we should insist that we have railway communication between this of the Australian colonies: part of Australia and Adelaide, and extensive harbour works at Fremantle. If that be the case Fremantle would then be to Australia If Australia could speak with one voice, how much more important a first port of call for ships from Europe and would be to Australia would she be? If her tariffs were identical what a market within what Bombay is to . herself for free competition would there be? ... we would be able to enter a railway carriage at Fremantle and in a few days step out His conception of federation was influenced by his colony's location of the same carriage at Sydney, in the same way as you may enter in the world-wide chain of passenger, mail, freight and telegraphic a carriage on every Tuesday evening at Montreal, and at midday communications between Great Britain and her overseas possessions. next Tuesday step out of the same carriage on the shores of the In his view, Fremantle, which was adjacent to the capital Perth, was Pacific Ocean at Vancouver . . . In a similar manner federation in the more appropriate gateway for a federated nation than the coaling Australia would require, as an indispensable condition, daily and victualling base of Albany on Australia's south-western corner. communication by railway between the colonies of the continent In February 1891, when speaking in parliament as the newly­ ... If we are to become a nation, to be the great power in the appointed, and first premier of , Forrest felt that the southern hemisphere, it can only be by being federated, to be allied question of federation was 'surrounded with very grave difficulties' and to one another, not only by the ties of nationality and kindred, but was 'in a state of indefiniteness'. However, he thought the colony also by all those material bonds which operate so strongly in our should be represented at the forthcoming Conference, though 'Of dealings with one another. Our aim should be to make Australia course federation, as far as we are concerned, for purposes of defence, another Britain, another home for the Anglo-Saxon race. would be quite useless, unless we are connected by railway with the other colonies'. Back home in Perth, when speaking in the , he Shortly afterwards he was again in Sydney, as one of the seven said, 'I think if most of us live the allotted span of three score years delegates representing the Western Australian Parliament at the and ten-and long before that-we shall see this line an accomplished National Australasian Convention: they were the Speaker of the fact'. A year later, in September 1889, Major General Bevan Edwards, Assembly, two government ministers, two members of the Legislative who had been inspecting Australian military establishments, endeared Council, and two members elected by and from the Assembly. Among himself to Forrest with his remarks that a federation of the military the 45 delegates were all six premiers, nine former premiers, many forces was a necessary prerequisite for a proper national defence government ministers and several speakers and presidents of system; that the isolation of Western Australia was a menace to the Australian and New Zealand parliaments. Under the chairmanship of rest of the continent; that the port of Albany should be properly Sir , the Convention met for six weeks in March-April fortified; and that a transcontinental railway should be constructed as 1891 and prepared a draft of a written constitution to establish a soon as possible. federal parliament and government for a 'Commonwealth of Australia'. Forrest was unable to attend the second Science Congress in Most of the discussion was concerned with reconciling the rights of early in 1890, and thereby missed the opportunity of the majority of the future states in a federation, with the rights of the meeting the official colonial representatives at the first Australasian majority of the future nation's population, and hence with defining the Federation Conference. Western Australia's delegate was Sir Tames Lee exact roles of a proposed Senate and a proposed House of Representa­ Steere, who had been a member of the Federal Council of , tives, and the relation of both to a federal executive or ministry. In which had never achieved anything of practical value because New practical terms, the debate was chiefly concerned with the likely clash South Wales had refused to be represented. The conference recom­ ofinterests between states with small populations and states with large mended that each Australian and New Zealand legislature should send populations; and between states which before federation had high representatives to a convention which would meet in Sydney and customs tariffs on imported goods, and those which had low tariffs. If consider 'an adequate scheme for a Federal Constitution'. there were no longer to be tariff barriers between states, how were their 290 FRANK CROWLEY Forrest and the Federal Constitution 291 governments to obtain revenue? And if a federal government were to in the capital. He favoured free trade and looked forward to a federation raise an income from a national customs tariff, how much of it should which would make Australia 'free from sea to sea'. Before leaving, he be given to the states? Nobody suggested that governments should rely proposed that as it was not possible to govern such an enormous area on direct taxation. from Perth, Western Australia should be divided into three govern­ The main constitutional problem was to decide whether the Senate ments, as had been done to the original of should have the power to amend all bills sent to it from the Representa­ in the 1850s. Parkes' visit gave Forrest the opportunity to reiterate his tives, including money bills, except the annual appropriation bill. demand for a transcontinental railway linking Perth with the other Forrest and the other representatives of the colonies with small popula­ capitals as a sine qua non of any true federation, and his hope that tions argued strongly in favour of creating a powerful Senate to safe­ mails to and from London would then be landed at Fremantle not guard their financial interests. The Convention endorsed the principle Albany. ' that the Senate should represent the states equally, a portion retiring Next year, in January 1895, Forrest attended a meeting of the six in such a way as to give the house a perpetual existence, and be chosen premiers in , which had been arranged by of New by the parliaments of the states. It should have the power to amend South Wales to revive interest in federation. Acting on a suggestion all bills sent to it by the Representatives, except money bills, but might made by a public meeting at Corowa in 1893, a majority of premiers suggest amendments to such bills. present proposed that there should be another federal convention in Forrest did not approve of limiting the Senate's powers, and also did order to bring about 'an early union under the Crown', this time not approve of the title Commonwealth of Australia: he thought consisting of ten representatives from each colony elected by Legislative Commonwealth signified too great a degree of unity, and also referred Assembly voters. They would draft a federal constitution, which would to a period in English history 'which was not very glorious'. He be referred to a referendum of Assembly voters in each colony. If the preferred The Federated States of Australia. He asked delegates how voters approved of the constitution, it would then be sent to London the eastern Australian colonies could defend the west, when a thousand to obtain the approval of the Imperial Parliament. miles of unoccupied land lay between them? Could they do it better The objected to the use of a referendum, and than the Imperial navy? He reminded them that it was extremely his colony took no further part in constitution-making. Forrest unlikely that his colony would agree to join 'the proposed confedera­ objected to both the referendum and the method of electing delegates, tion' unless they could show the people that there was some means of and withdrew from the meeting. He thought the 1891 draft constitu­ rapid communication between the eastern and western colonies. tion was so authoritative that no lesser meeting should alter it; that it A draft constitution was adopted by the Convention, which referred should first be submitted to both houses of the parliaments, as it to the colonial parliaments with the intention that the parliaments originally intended, and any amendments made by them should be should refer it to their electors for approval. If three colonies agreed to referred to a second convention similar to that of 1891, after a general it, then the Imperial Parliament in London would be asked to legislate election in each colony. Only then should the constitution be sent to the federation into existence. The delegates assumed that an Australian London. He agreed with the view of Sir Henry Parkes, the acknowl­ federation would remain part of the British Empire; that the imperial edged leader of the federation movement, who told a public meeting legislature would be the source of its legality; that the Privy Council that 'It is preposterous to talk of a mob of people making a Constitu­ in London would continue to be the highest legal authority; and that tion for a State'. in external relations Australia would continue as a subordinate Most politicians who were pressing the cause of Australian federation member of the Empire. Forrest could see the desirability of federation did not appreciate that Western Australia's links with Great Britain from a national point of view, and thought that it would probably politically, commercially and emotionally were far stronger than those develop slowly over many years, in much the same fashion as respon­ with colonies in the remote eastern parts of the Australian continent. sible parliamentary government had come to Western Australia, and Many of the earliest immigrant-pioneers were still alive, including when 'fair and reasonable' terms had been devised for all the partici­ Forrest's own father who had left Scotland 54 years earlier to better pating colonies. His forecast proved to be correct. When New South himself and his family in the Antipodes, and who still spoke the Wales made no move to implement a federal scheme of government, English language as he had done as a youth in Scotland. Until recently, the federal issue lapsed. So did another proposal from a private syndi­ most immigrants had come from the British Isles, and many of the cate to build a land-grant transcontinental railway from Port Augusta colony's locally-born business men and politicians, like the premier, to a western terminus. had been brought up to regard their parents' birthplace as their real Three years later, in March 1894, Parkes visited Perth and the crowd Home. And now, in the midst of the gold boom, it was British capital which heard him speak in the Hall was the largest to assemble investment which was developing the mines, shipping out the 292 FRANK CROWLEY Forrest and the Federal Constitution 293 machinery for mines and railways, and providing the Forrest Govern­ In keeping with his remarks at the Hobart premiers' conference, ment with loan money to enable it to govern. Forrest was dependent Forrest would not change the colony's method of representation. He on the goodwill of British investors and politicians, and opinions also introduced a complex of safeguards into the timetable for con­ expressed in such influential British newspapers as The Times and the sidering any draft constitution, and had he not done so, it would have Economist were much more important than those in eastern Austra­ been most unlikely that the Legislative Council would have agreed to lian papers: they determined the colony's credit rating in London. In approve of the election of delegates. The Convention would produce a such circumstances, the cause of Australian federation did not have draft. This would be considered separately by the two houses of much local appeal. parliament, who would then return it to the Convention. The Con­ On 10 January 1896, Forrest was the guest of honour at a compli­ vention would produce a final draft which would be returned to the mentary banquet in the Perth Town Hall to congratulate him on parliament, thus giving the Legislative Council an active role in the completing thirty years of public service in Western Australia, and five proceedings. If parliament approved of the final draft, it would be of them as the first premier. In between speeches and toasts, round submitted to Legislative Assembly electors, and if a majority of them upon round of cheering rang through the building, accompanied by the also approved-being not less than 6,000 voters-the constitution clapping of 250 pairs of gentlemen's hands. There was much con­ would then be returned to both houses of parliament. If both approved viviality and bonhomie, and Forrest rose to the occasion. He said, then the constitution would be sent to London for the final approval ofthe Imperial Parliament. A further requirement was the prior accep­ ... there is a great Australian nation, and we are part of it. (Cheers) tance of the federal constitution by at least two other parliaments, one We are destined in the future to dominate these great Southern ofwhich should be the parliament of New South Wales. Seas (Loud cheering). We have in this great continent of Australia Forrest expected that the draft of 1891 would be the foundation of another Britain-another home for the English-speaking race. any future federation, and he was convinced that there was no real (Cheers) I hope we shall always ... be loyal to the Great Mother impediment to forming a federated . In a spirit of optimism, Country (Prolonged cheering). I hope that we shall never forget that reminiscent of his speech in 1888, he told parliament: the Grand Old Country is the home of our fathers, and I hope we shall be true to the traditions of our race (Cheers). We have the same people sprung from the same race. We bear allegiance to the same throne. Our ideas, our religion-everything, Such sentiments were appropriate at a time when all loyal colonists in fact, is in common. There is nothing to keep us apart. We are of the British Empire patriotically rallied to support Britain during its all one people; and why should we be divided by imaginary lines difficulties with the Boers in the Transvaal, and when war clouds drawn upon a map, which in a great many instances are drawn seemed to be hanging over several parts of the world. Had not the haphazard? Empire's managing director, the Minister for the Colonies, Joseph Chamberlain, declared that '. . . the British race is the greatest of On 13 March 1897, members of both houses of parliament, in a governing races that the world has ever seen'. combined vote, elected eight members of the Assembly and two During the early months of 1896 Forrest began to have second members of the Council to be Western Australia's delegates to the thoughts about his attitude to the federal movement, which had proposed convention. become increasingly popular in the eastern colonies. On 7 May 1896 The Western Australian delegates, described by one of them as 'the he sent a confidential hand-written minute to his ministers explaining elect of the elect', arrived at Adelaide on 27 March 1897, the fifth day that four Australian colonial parliaments had already passed practically of the National Australasian Convention, which had met to prepare the same federal enabling bill, and it seemed likely that Queensland the second draft of a federal constitution for the Commonwealth of would do likewise. If a convention were to frame a federation bill Australia. Queensland did not send delegates, and New Zealand did containing a federal constitution, it would eventually be submitted to not want to become part of an Australian federation. Four of the the Imperial Parliament in London for approval, and were it to become Western Australians had been at the Sydney Convention of 1891. How­ law then there would be a federated Commonwealth. As time went on, ever, the western delegates did not contribute much to the proceedings. Western Australia would probably join such a federation, and would Except J.H. Taylor, M.L.C., they left the Convention seven days early have to join on conditions which might have been much improved if to return home for the Assembly elections, and thereby missed about Western Australia had taken part in its framing. So he was 'therefore two-thirds of the debating time of the Convention. of the opinion that we should join in framing the Constitution, and if Forrest was unable to persuade the Convention to change the we do not like it when it is framed, we need not proceed further'. decision made in 1891 to prevent the Senate altering money bills, and 294 FRANK CROWLEY Forrest and the Federal Constitution 295 he did not approve of the Convention's decision that the Senate should Back home in Perth, when parliament was debating the draft federal be elected by the voters, not by the parliaments, and in single, state­ constitution, Forrest said he had 'a leaning towards federation', but was size electorates. The general impression among spectators and journal­ not a federationist on any terms. He said, ists was that the attitude of the Western delegates was lukewarm, and that the prospect of their colony joining a federation was not good. I am only a federationist if it is possible to have federation with Forrest said that as an Australian he was anxious to see a federated advantage to Australia and this colony ... It really comes down Australia dominating the southern seas, and that eventually a federa­ to a financial proposition after all. In everyone's mind that is the tion must be achieved, but 'as a Western Australian I cannot agree to only thought. Everyone wants to be federated, but we do not want a scheme of federation that would greatly retard the progress of the to pay too much for it. We do not want to make money out of colony'. Only Walter James thought that federation had come a little federation; we only want to be assured that we shall not lose by it. closer, and in any case, as he told the Perth Literary Society, it would soon be needed for defence, otherwise Australia would 'weakly suc­ He was referring to the loss of customs revenue after the imposition cumb to the Asiatic hordes'. ofa national customs tariff, and the effects on local industries of inter­ After the Convention had adjourned, the colonial premiers took ship state free trade. Both houses of parliament agreed with him that the for London where they joined in the most spectacular public event of Senate should have the right to amend money bills, as well as all other the closing years of the nineteenth century: the world-wide celebration bills except the annual appropriation bill. In one matter he was surpris­ of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. No event since the Battle of inglyinnovative. He wanted to reduce the powers of state governors in Waterloo so deeply stirred the English-speaking peoples. the federation by having them appointed by the governor-general in The Forrests arrived in London on 7 June 1897, and George Reid council, that is by the federal government, and require all their com­ later recollected that there was 'no more polished courtier in the atmo­ munications with London to go via the governor-general's office. He sphere of St James' than Forrest. At several banquets he spoke enthusi­ said, astically about the need for empire patriotism, and affirmed the loyalty and affection which Britons in Australia felt for their Home Country. By this Bill it is intended that the Imperial Government should He was given a special banquet in London, and after warming to his send out their representatives to the colonies in the same way as subject, expressed the hope that the Great Southern Continent would they do now. I think that is all wrong. If we want to be a great and be peopled by a white, and not an alien race. He continued: independent country of Australia, surely we do not want our governors to be sent from England here. Surely we can trust the That is the object all my brother Premiers have in view, that we central government, whatever it may be. should raise up there a white race of people that should not be contaminated by the black races of Asia. We want to make Aus­ Western Australia's delegation of ten members of parliament reached tralia the home of the white races, and what is more, we are deter­ Sydney on 2 September 1897 in time for the second session of the mined that we shall do it. Australasian Federal Convention. But the 50 delegates knew before their arrival that Queensland would not be represented, and that there On 22 June 1897 Sir John and Lady Forrest shared a carriage with would be insufficient time to complete the business because the the premier of Natal and his wife in the Great Jubilee Procession Victorian delegates wanted to return home early for their Assembly through the streets of London to the Thanksgiving Service in St Paul's elections. The Convention sat for thirteen working days to discuss the Cathedral, and Forrest later recalled that he had never seen such a 286 amendments suggested by the ten houses of parliament to the 121 display of public enthusiasm. He was made an honorary doctor of laws clauses of the constitution drafted in Adelaide. Many amendments had by Cambridge University and was sworn in at Windsor Castle as a sub-clauses, and one had 27. The Convention did not make much member of Her Majesty's Privy Council. He also attended the second progress. When it adjourned on 24 September it had reached about meeting of the Colonial Conference of Britain's self-governing colonies, half way through the draft and had made few significant changes to at which all participants tacitly accepted that the actual bond of Empire decisions reached in Adelaide. The Western Australian delegates had was the world, naval supremacy of Great Britain. The proceedings were acted independently of one another, and some were poor attenders at chaired by the minister for the colonies, Joseph Chamberlain, who took the debates and divisions. However, when they broke ranks at the the opportunity to brief George Reid, confidentially, about the altera­ voting, it had no practical effect on the decisions of the Convention. tions which the British Government felt should be made to the draft Forrest was unable to strengthen the powers of the Senate as a Australian federal constitution. revising and controlling force, and he did not approve of the decision 296 FRANK CROWLEY Forrest and the Federal Constitution 297 to elect members of the Senate from single state-size electorates. He known as Australians and not merely as citizens of one particular part also unsuccessfully opposed the insertion of a deadlocks provision ofthe federation. But he regretted that Queensland was not represented which enabled the dissolution of the Senate to deal with irreconcilable to help him resist the tough tactics of some of the delegates from differences between the two houses of the federal parliament. However, Victoria and New South Wales. the other colonial delegates agreed that Western Australia's abnormal The principles embodied in the constitution drafted in Sydney in reliance on customs revenue and its skewed population structure with 1891, and in resolutions agreed to in Adelaide in 1897, were retained a high proportion of adult male gold-seekers posed a problem which in Melbourne. The work done in Adelaide and Sydney was not much deserved special attention. altered during the two months of discussion in Melbourne. Never­ At the federation banquet in Sydney, Forrest told fellow diners that theless, hundreds of hours were spent by delegates and by the drafting they had come 'with the one great desire to assist in building up the committee in search of words, phrases and sentences which would nationhood of Australia' and to lay the foundations of a nation 'which embody their objectives. On the last working day the drafting com­ every true Australian believes shall dominate and control this southern mittee suggested nearly 400 verbal amendments; eventually the final ocean'. But when speaking during the Newcastle Centenary Cele­ draft included the phrase 'until Parliament otherwise provides' 22 brations he warned his audience that Australia could not stand alone times, and many ambiguous expressions which would give ample scope in the world. He said: for the future employment of constitutional lawyers, such as 'good government', 'jointly and severally', 'original jurisdiction', 'reasonable The great we possessed was largely attributable to use', and 'absolutely free'. being a portion of that great empire (applause) to which they were Forrest was unable to strengthen the legislative powers of the Senate, all proud to belong (Hear, Hear). May that flag always float over and again failed to prevent the inclusion of arrangements for dealing us, and may the grand old country grow stronger, richer and more with irreconcilable differences of opinion between the two houses; he powerful (Hear, Hear). So long as she was 'rich and powerful so thought a dissolution unnecessary and a joint meeting adequate. The long would our liberties be preserved for us. two principal financial questions faced by the delegates were first, whether the new federal government should reimburse the states for Back home in Perth once more he and the other members of parlia­ their loss of customs revenue according to their relative contributions ment had to deal with what was thought to be the threat from 'the to that revenue or to the relative size of their populations; and, second, taint of coloured blood in a European colony'. Acting on the advice of for how long should the reimbursement continue. These were Joseph Chamberlain, Forrest introduced an Immigration Restriction answered temporarily by a bookkeeping system whereby any surplus Bill which copied the Natal Act, and provided for a dictation test to be after the deduction of federal expenses would be distributed in administered in the English language to undesirable immigrants. He proportion to the amount raised in each state. After five years of did not desire the Asiatic to settle permanently in the colony, uniform customs duties, further redistribution would be as the federal government decided, but the federal government was required to return because he is alien to us in race, in religion, in sympathy, and we three-quarters of the customs income to the states. The chief gain for do not want our people to mix up with the black races ... There Western Australia was the five-year sliding scale of customs revenue are millions of them, and if we do not place some restrictions on from interstate imports. them they will over-run the country, and, instead of being a British Forrest and several of his colleagues from Western Australia had a country, this will be an Asiatic country. very practical influence on several clauses of the federal Constitution. Without their votes the Constitution would not have contained the As he had told the recent federal Convention: 'It is no use for us to provision for the federal government to pay old-age and invalid shut our eyes to the fact that there is a great feeling all over Australia pensions, and to have authority to deal with interstate industrial against the introduction of coloured persons. It goes without saying disputes. Forrest thought that the federal authority would be better able that we do not like to talk about it, but still it is so.' He also refused to deal with such disputes more moderately than local parliaments, to agree to the naturalisation of Indians, Afghans and Chinese. which were likely to be influenced by party feeling. Forrest agreed that The federal Convention assembled in Melbourne on 20 January 1898 immigration control should be an exclusive Commonwealth power, for its third and final session. In interviews and speeches at welcoming and also said that, 'There can be no doubt that, as time goes on, the receptions, Forrest spoke in favour of federation and the benefits it powers of the Federal Government will increase, and who can tell what would bring, even though the colonies would suffer by losing their our future requirements may be?' sovereignty. He hoped that the pride of the people would be to be The Convention rejected his proposal that state governors become 298 FRANK CROWLEY Forrest and the Federal Constitution 299 lieutenant-governors appointed by the federal government, and he did Queensland. There was no legislative or any other authorisation for not seem to get much support for his suggestion that the federal this meeting, whose decisions superseded the drafting of the elected government construct two trunk railways across Australia, from east delegates at the Convention. The premiers agreed that the three-fifths to west and from north to south, both of which would be valuable for majority required at a joint meeting of both houses should be reduced defence. Nor did Forrest always get help from his fellow delegates. to an absolute majority; the should be located in New Unlike the situation at the Sydney meeting, when the ten Western South Wales but not too close to Sydney; the bookkeeping clause should Australian delegates broke ranks among themselves in Melbourne, be limited to the first ten years; no alteration should be made to the their votes directly affected the drafting of the constitution. On ten boundaries of a state without the consent of both the people and the occasions in Melbourne the votes of those Western Australian delegates parliament of that state; the federal parliament might grant financial who disagreed with Forrest determined the result at divisions: that is, assistance to any state on such terms and conditions as it thought fit; if they had voted with Forrest, the determination of the Convention one federal house should not be able to prevent a referendum being would have been the opposite of what it was. held if the two houses did not agree; and Queensland should be Federation was not achieved for another three years, and not with arranged into divisions for the election of senators until parliament the federal constitution in the form it left the Convention on 17 March established a uniform system. The premiers were also of opinion that 1898. At that time Queensland's attitude to federation was unknown, a majority of favourable voters would be sufficient for acceptance of and Western Australia's participation doubtful. The constitution had the constitution at any referendum. Forrest was a reluctant signatory. first to pass successfully through twelve houses of parliament; be He had tried unsuccessfully to persuade the premiers to undertake to approved by a majority of Assembly voters at six separate referendums, build a transcontinental railway as soon as federation had been or at least three or four of them; be passed into law by both houses of achieved, and also to provide electorates within the states for the the Imperial Parliament; have the concurrence of Queen Victoria; and election of senators. then be proclaimed by a governor-general appointed on the recom­ Further referendums were held at intervals during 1899. South mendation of the British Government, on a date fixed by the British Australian voters approved of the constitution by a large majority on Government. 29 April. New South Wales voters approved by a comparatively small In April 1898 in a letter to an Adelaide politician Forrest remarked, majority on 20 June. In both Victoria and a very large 'We will have trouble here but I am fairly confident of the result. They majority of voters approved of the amended constitution on 27 July, are always thinking of things parochial but those who have had the and on 2 September Queensland voters approved by a narrow majority, conduct of public business know better and to them we must look.' At with voting against federation. that time, three of Forrest's ministers and six former Convention In Western Australia, Forrest faced a very difficult situation. Not only delegates had publicly declared their to federation, as had was a majority in the Legislative Council opposed to federation, but all the southern farming , which provided the core of Forrest's also most of his ministers, his rural electors, and his relatives and electoral support in parliament. Nevertheless, on 27 May 1898, in a friends. At his instigation, parliament appointed a joint select com­ speech in St George's Hall in Perth, he declared himself strongly in mittee to consider the constitution, which recommended that there be favour of federation and said he would ask parliament to submit the separate electorates for Senate elections; a transcontinental railway; constitution to the electors. He quoted at length from his 1888 speech fiscal freedom in respect of customs duties for five years; and control in Sydney, and emphasised that the Convention had erred in not giving over railway freights and charges during those years. enough powers to the federal parliament. He also stressed the benefits At Forrest's suggestion, the Assembly recommended that both the to come by way of defence, mutual laws, and the strengthening of the Premiers' Conference amended constitution and the Joint Select Com­ bonds between themselves, and between the Australian people and the mittee's amended constitution be submitted to Assembly voters for Mother Country. But he had mistimed his campaign. In June 1898 a them to express their preference for one or the other. However, the substantial majority of Assembly voters in Victoria, Tasmania and Legislative Council rejected both proposals on 6 December. A clear South Australia-including adult women-approved of the constitu­ majority of members was opposed to federation, believing that Western tion, but the minimum number of favourable voters required by the Australia would be plundered by eastern manufacturers and primary New South Wales parliament was not reached, and the constitution producers, misgoverned by a distant administration, and unable to be was not forwarded to London for approval. defended by their eastern neighbours in time of war. A majority did Late in January 1899 there was a meeting of all six premiers in not want a referendum, which they believed had no place in a Melbourne to consider what alterations should be made to the draft parliamentary system, and they thought it was a dangerous principle constitution to make it acceptable to voters in New South Wales and to refer any matter to a mob. Three of the former Convention delegates 300 FRANK CROWLEY Forrest and the Federal Constitution 301 spoke against federation on the terms offered, and one of them, numsters all voted against federation by large majorities. Forrest's Winthrop Hackett, commented with some relish that four of the six home town of Bunbury voted against federation by 932 votes to 379. premiers at the Premier's Conference had since lost office, one was Forrest's own interpretation of his tactics was a fair and just summa­ probably on the way out, and the last, Forrest, had openly avowed his tion. He told parliament: repentance. Forrest tried unsuccessfully to persuade the premiers to agree to some When the history of the federal movement in this colony is written amendments of the constitution which would ease Western Australia's ... it will never be said of me that I deviated from the straight transition to , but he received no sympathy, especially after path of the federalist, except in the direction of trying to get fair the second round of referendums. A special Premiers' Conference in terms ... and having failed to get those better terms ... I then Sydney on 24-27 January 1900 refused his request for some amend­ returned to the path from which I had justly deviated, as I con­ ments, and also decided that their delegates in London should act sidered, in the interests of the country. unitedly to persuade the Imperial Parliament not to amend the When Sir John Forrest, pc., G.C.M.G., attended the ceremony which constitution; they were not able to limit the right of appeal to the Privy accompanied the inauguration of the Commonwealth of Australia in Council. Forrest sent S.H. Parker to London in an unsuccessful attempt Centennial Park, Sydney, on New Year's Day 1901, and became a to allow Western Australia to levy its own customs duties for the first minister in the first federal government, he felt proud to be both an five years. However, Forrest received an assurance from the premier of Australian and a British citizen. He was particularly proud to be living South Australia that that state would cooperate to arrange for the in a New Britain in the South, a home for the and the construction of an east-west transcontinental railway after federation British race. He was also flattered to have been promoted to Knight had been achieved. Grand Cross in the Order of St Michael and St George, an honour rare The impasse in Western Australia was eventually resolved when the among British colonial politicians, and which signified Britain's recog­ electors at the Legislative Council biennial election on 3 and 14 May nition of their contribution to the Empire. As Forrest explained to sent a majority of members in favour of the holding of a referendum federal parliament: on federation. Meanwhile the Imperial Parliament had agreed to the enabling legislation, with some amendments, and Queen Victoria All my life I have desired to do what I could to keep the Imperial assented to the Commonwealth Bill on 9 July 1900. In words which spirit alive in this country and to make those with whom I come Forrest would have endorsed wholeheatedly, The Times of London into contact, especially the young, feel that they have inherited a commented: great privilege in being British born, and that they enjoy great advantages from their British parentage, in return for which they It is something to be proud of, both for the mother country and should do all in their power to foster and encourage loyalty and for her daughter nations, that, at the close of the century which devotion to the mother land. has witnessed the birth and development of the British population of Australia, we should see the formal recognition, under the One of Forrest's responsibilities as minister for defence in 1901-1903 legislative power of the Imperial Parliament, of the national growth was to begin the integration of the military forces of the former of our colonial fellow-subjects in lands that, a hundred years ago, colonies, and to oversee the raising of Commonwealth contingents to were blank upon the map of the world . . . this consolidation of aid the Mother Country in . And when the Boer war ended Australian power constitutes a real gain to the Empire as a whole. on 1 he said that it had done an immense amount of good in that it had bound the Empire together with hoops of steel. He On 31 July 1900 all Western Australian adults who were Assembly remarked, 'It has done a great deal for the colonies themselves. It has voters or who had obtained a voters certificate after declaring that they taught us self-reliance, it has given us confidence in ourselves, which had been a resident for twelve months, approved of the federal constitu­ was wanting before.' tion as it had been amended by the Premiers' Conference and the When in London for the Coronation of Edward VII he also attended Imperial Parliament. The margin was two-to-one in favour of federa­ the Colonial Conference as an observer and was pleased that the Naval tion, with women voting for the first time. The Eastern Goldfields, Agreement of 1887 was renewed and Australia continued to contribute heavily populated by former residents of eastern Australia, was over­ to the upkeep of the British squadron in Australian waters. whelmingly in favour of federation, but this vote was not necessary to Back home in Australia he strongly supported his government's carry the day. Without it, federation would have been approved by a adoption of tariff protection and race protection, as he later told a narrow margin. The five electorates represented by Forrest and his journalist: 302 FRANK CROWLEY Forrest and the Federal Constitution 303 The coloured races belong to another civilisation, with a different Country's call for aid, and the Australian Imperial Force had made a standard of living, and this being so, naturally we prefer our own major contribution to the war effort. race and kindred to assist us in building up and defending our On 22 October 1917, two months after he had completed his three­ portion of the Empire. score-years-and-ten, Forrest travelled in the first train to cross the Null­ arbor Plain from Port Augusta to Kalgoorlie, 47 years after he had Forrest was federal treasurer in four governments, 1905-1907,1909­ ridden and walked across in the opposite direction. He had fulfilled the 1910, 1913-1914 and 1917-1918, but on each occasion faced a diffi­ greatest ambition of his life. But less than a year later he died, not long cult dilemma because of his divided loyalties. When in office his prime before the end of 'the war to end all wars' and the celebrations which responsibility was to the federal authority even if it should conflict with accompanied the great victory of Great Britain and her allies. But that the rights and best interests of his own state of Western Australia and event also heralded the beginning of the end of Britain's empire and of the other states. On one occasion he said: ofan imperial ideology sustained by naval and racial supremacy, which had helped to gestate the Commonwealth of Australia and which had I cannot imagine that we shall do anything to injure the people of nurtured the careers of its founding fathers. the States. They are our constituents, and to injure them would be to injure ourselves. This Parliament will neither injure nor ignore the people of the States. REFERENCES The sources of all quotations are cited in either EK. Crowley, Forrest 1847­ Yet year by year the responsibilities and hence the financial needs of 1918, Vol. 1, 1847-91, St Lucia, 1971; or 'Forrest, Vol. 2, 1891-1918', type­ the federal government increased, and fewer funds were available for script, 1993, available in reference libraries. the state governments. The inauguration of social security benefits, the expansion of post and telegraph services, the' administration of a national customs tariff, the cost of the military and naval forces, and the construction of the east-west transcontinental railway were some of the items needing federal finance. Gradually the Commonwealth Government moved towards various forms of direct taxation, and the outbreak of war in 1914 immensely increased the need for further funds from taxation and loan-raising, leading to a greater degree of centralisation. None of these developments could have been foreseen by the constitution-makers of 1897-98, and when in opposition his dilemma became more acute as time passed. How could he protect his own state? In December 1915, when Forrest was given a public reception in Perth in honour of the golden jubilee of his public service, a reporter suggested to him that the Commonwealth had not developed as the fathers of the Constitution had believed it would. Forrest agreed, and added that they had not foreseen the rise of the Labor Party and the movement towards unification:

We are in the transition period; the issue between the federalists and the unificationists has yet to be decided. The dual power of taxation and the dual power of independent finance are the lions in the path.

The Senate, too, had sadly disappointed his expectations. But he did not agree that Western Australia had federated too soon, and recent events had shown how necessary it was that Australia should be a united nation. Australians had responded splendidly to the Mother