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1900
Observer 6 January 1900 p. 24 cols. D,E. Editorial. '1900 Federation year.'
Observer 20 January 1900 p. 11 col. B. 'The Goldfields separation.' 'The executive of the Reform League is doing its utmost in furtherance of the separation petition to the Queen which was recently dispatched to Messrs. Kingston, Symon and Glynn, of South Australia. The petition has been redrafted by them . . . copies should be ready for signatures next week.'
p. 11 col. E. 'Federation. Premiers meet on Tuesday.' 'The Conference of Premiers of the colonies to deal with the matter of the delegation to England in connection with the Commonwealth Bill will be held in Sydney on Tuesday.'
p. 24 cols. D,E. Editorial. 'Mr Chamberlain's blunder.' 'There has been more than ample opportunity to exchange communications and to interchange views . . . Up to this time neither the Convention itself nor the Parliaments or Governments of the different colonies had recognised any necessity for an agent or a delegation; nor do we now.'
Observer 3 February 1900 p. 27 col. D. 'The Australian Federal delegates.' 'The Government have asked the Right Hon. C.C. Kingston to represent South Australia as federal delegate to London. If anyone is to be sent to England the ex-Premier has a fair claim to the first offer . . .'
Quiz 8 February 1900
Observer 17 February 1900 p. 28 col. C. 'The Federal Delegation.' 'The delegates from Australia who are going to England to confer with the Imperial authorities with reference to the Commonwealth Bill left South Australia by the Orizaba on February 8.'
Observer 3 March 1900 p. 12 col. A. 'Australian federation.' 'Mr Chamberlain . . . stated that the Government would discuss with the Australian Federal delegates the possibility of facilitating the admission of Western Australia into the Australian Commonwealth as an original State.'
Observer 31 March 1900 p. 7 col. C. 'The Commonwealth Bill.' 'Messrs E. Barton, C.C. Kingston, and A. Deakin, on account of their legal training, were entrusted by the Australian Federal delegates to prepare for submission to Mr Chamberlain and the Imperial Cabinet a memorandum defining the position of the delegates, and setting forth reasons why the Commonwealth of Australia Bill should be adopted without alteration . . . [This memorandum] sets forth that they have no authority to go behind the referendum vote of Australia, approving of the Bill.'
Observer 7 April 1900 p. 24 cols. D,E. Editorial. 'Federation.' 'Australians are eagerly watching the preliminary discussions in the mother country on the Commonwealth Bill, and their sympathies are naturally strongly with the federation delegates who, although opposed by the Colonial Office, are "lobbying" in the Imperial Parliament with the purpose of securing a realization of the "The Bill, the whole Bill, and nothing but the Bill." '
Observer 14 April 1900 p. 9 cols. D,E; p. 10 col. A. 'The Commonwealth Bill.' 'The Australian Federal delegates, Mr Chamberlain, and Lord Selborne had a protracted consultation yesterday in reference to the criticised clauses in the Commonwealth Bill.' [New Zealand and Western Australian representatives were summoned and spoke about amendments desired by their colonies.]
p. 10 col. A. 'The suggested Conference of Premiers.' 'It is no secret that Mr Holder suggested an immediate meeting of the Premiers, mainly to enable them to formulate a reply which would demonstrate to the Imperial authorities the unanimity of the five colonies which have sent the Bill to the British Parliament . . . The South Australian Government remain as firm as ever in their attitude towards the Bill, which they consider should pass the Imperial Parliament in the form in which it was accepted by the people.'
p. 24 cols. D,E. Editorial. 'Federation.' 'For little indeed has Australia to thank the Imperial Government and the Colonial Office in connection with the Commonwealth Bill. The action of both, and particularly of Mr Chamberlain, in this respect is not only ill-judged and unjustifiable in itself, it is also exceedingly inopportune.'
Observer 28 April 1900 p. 24 cols. D,E. Editorial. 'Federation.' ' "The Bill, the whole Bill, and nothing but the Bill!" That, happily, is what the Premiers have said, and what the federal delegates have insisted on; and so may it be!'
p. 41 cols. A-E. 'Australian and Imperial federation. Course of negotiations.'
p. 41 col. E; p. 42 cols. A-E. 'Proceedings in the Colonies. The Premiers' Conference. Reply to Mr Chamberlain.'
p. 42 col. E; p. 43 col. A. 'The position of Western Australia.'
Observer 12 May 1900 p. 27 col. A. 'The Commonwealth Bill.' 'Mr Chamberlain is now apparently disposed to reopen several amendments . . . With the exception of Mr Dickson . . . the Australian representatives were strongly united in their opposition to Mr Chamberlain's views, and they reiterated their arguments in support of the Commonwealth Bill as accepted by the people of Australia. The delegates confess to a keen disappointment at the turn of events and they now regard the prospects of the Bill passing the Imperial Parliament without amendment as being unfavourable.'
Observer 19 May 1900 p. 24 cols. D,E; p. 25 col. A. Editorial. 'The Commonwealth Bill.'[First reading of the Australian Commonwealth Bill in the House of Commons. 'Nations are not born everyday and the significance of this occasion was impressive.']
p. 27 col. A. 'The Commonwealth Bill. The Premier disappointed.' [F.W. Holder '. . . stated that he was extremely disappointed that it had been found necessary to insert any amendment in the Commonwealth Bill.']
Observer 26 May 1900 p. 7 cols. C-E. 'The Commonwealth Bill. A compromise more hopeful. The proposed alteration. Mr Chamberlain conciliatory. Second reading passed. House of Commons crowded. Mr Chamberlain and the compromise. "Substantial victory" for the delegates. Views of the Premier.'
p. 9 col. B. 'Federation.' [Perth: 'The special session of Parliament . . . all efforts to obtain the amendment of the Commonwealth Bill . . . having failed, his advisers were of the opinion that the electors should now have an opportunity afforded them of deciding by their vote whether Western Australia should enter the federal union as an original state.']
p. 24 col. E; p. 25 cols. A,B. 'Federation.' 'At last the Australian Commonwealth is well in sight . . . [delegates] were not the less insistent . . . in their reminders to foolish people who talked of political independence in Australia that the Commonwealth was to be first and always "under the Crown"; and that the intention of the framers of its charter was to expand the bounds of the Empire - not to contract them . . . we regretted the fact that our too-passionate delegate [C.C. Kingston] should have charged certain Judges with "intriguing" for the purpose of thwarting the will of the people of Australia.'
p. 27 col. E; p. 28 col. A. 'The Commonwealth Bill. Realization of national aspirations'; 'Mr J.H. Symon's views.'
Observer 2 June 1900 p. 9 col. B. 'The Commonwealth Bill.' 'The proposal to allow appeals to the Privy Council on constitutional questions . . . was inserted in the Commonwealth Bill by arrangement with the Federal delegates, at Mr Chamberlain's request.'
Observer 16 June 1900 p. 9 cols. D,E. 'Federation. The date of the Commonwealth. Splendid progress in Western Australia.'
p. 14 cols. C,D. 'The Commonwealth Bill. Observations on the proposed new clause in the Commonwealth Bill.'
p. 14 cols. D,E. 'Federation. The suggested Conference of Premiers.' [To consider the proposed amendments to the Bill.]
Observer 23 June 1900 p. 30 cols. D,E. 'Western Australian separation.' 'In urging the Forrest Government to agree to join the Commonwealth, the petition for separation [of eastern and western goldfields] achieved all that was desired.'
Observer 30 June 1900 p. 10 col. A. 'The Commonwealth Bill.' 'Yesterday [June 25], amid loud cheers, the Commonwealth of Australia Bill passed its third reading, without any further amendments, in the House of Commons.'
p. 26 col. E .'The Commonwealth Bill.' [Read on June 26 for the first time before House of Lords.]
p. 27 col. C. 'Federation. [Sydney] Parliamentary discussions. The site for the Capital.'
Observer 7 July 1900 p. 9. Cartoon. 'The Australian Commonwealth question. Whose lead is it?'
Observer 14 July 1900 p. 10 col. C. 'The Commonwealth Bill.'
p. 24 cols. D,E. Editorial. 'Federation at last - a new nation.' 'The Commonwealth Bill has passed its last stage in the Imperial Parliament, and the event is one that will always be memorable in Australian history.'
p. 27 cols. B,C. 'Federation. The campaign in Western Australia'; 'The Queen's Assent.' [To Commonwealth of Australia Bill on July 9.]
Observer 21 July 1900 p. 12 col. E. 'The coming of the Commonwealth. How the colony shall vote.'
p. 13 cols. A-E. 'Governor General of Australia. The Earl of Hopetoun chosen. To arrive in December.' [photographs]
p. 27 cols. C,D. 'Federation. The seat of Government. A legal quibble. Inauguration of the Commonwealth.' '. . . will be marked by a national demonstration in Sydney.'
Observer 11 August 1900 p. 13 col. A. 'Australia United. The voting in Western Australia.' 'The affirmative vote was 25 per cent of the population. The figures prove that even if there had not been any goldfields vote taken federation would still have been carried.'
Observer 18 August 1900 p. 14 cols. C-E; p. 15 cols. A-D. 'The Federal delegates. Return of Messrs. Kingston and Barton.'
p. 14 cols. C,D. 'Interview with Mr Kingston.'
p. 24 cols. C,D. 'The welcome home. '. . . welcome of the Australian Federal representatives in the Town Hall.'
Observer 25 August 1900 pp. 8-9. 'Troubled China.'
p. 30 col. A. 'The Federal vote.' [Statement of votes for Commonwealth Bill in six colonies. Women voted in South Australia and Western Australia.]
Observer 15 September 1900 p. 11 col. E. 'Commonwealth Day.' 'The Premier [New South Wales] stated tonight that it had finally been determined that January 1 should be fixed as the day for the establishment of the Commonwealth.'
Observer 22 September 1900 p. 10 col. B. 'The Commonwealth of Australia. Proposed visit by the Duke and Duchess of York.' 'Queen's signal act of favour to Australia in assenting to the proposed visit of the Duke of York to open the first session of the Parliament of the Commonwealth in her name.'
p. 16 cols. A-E. 'Visit of Royalty. Duke of York to open the Federal Parliament.'
p. 27 col. A. 'Commonwealth of Australia. Proclamation gazetted. Visit of the Duke of York.' '. . . Royal Proclamation, dated "Balmoral, September 17", declaring that on and after January 1, 1901, the six Australian Colonies which voted for federation will be united under the name of "The Commonwealth of Australia." '
Observer 13 October 1900 p. 11 col. C. 'Federation. The Federal Capital.' [New South Wales Report summary: '. . . any one of the three sites - first, Orange or Canobolas; second, Yass; third, Bombala-Eden in Southern Monaro, would be suitable.'
p. 24 cols. C-E. Editorial. 'The vanishing Aborigines.'
Observer 8 December 1900 p. 11 col. E. 'The Commonwealth of Australia. Triumphal arches'; 'The Great Procession.'
p. 29 col. B. 'Federation and trade.' ['Several business firms of the other colonies . . . extending their operations to South Australia', and vice versa.]
p. 29 col. E. 'Effect of federation.' 'Chiefly owing to the fact that the Australian colonies had practically federated, there has been an unprecedented amount spent in buildings this year.'
Observer 15 December 1900 p. 9 col. E. 'The Federal fiscal issue. A memorable meeting'; 'Freetrade campaign launched.'
p. 12 cols. A-E. 'The arrival of the Governor-General.' [Includes South Australia's reception.]
p. 24 cols. D,E. Editorial. 'The Governor-General and federal arrangements.'
p. 29 col. E. 'The Commonwealth celebrations.' [Large official party invited to Sydney.] Right : 'Ready for the Great Trek to Sydney,' Quiz 13 December 1900
Observer 22 December 1900 p. 12 cols. A-D. 'The Governor-General. Official landing of Lord Hopetoun.' [In Sydney]
p. 12 cols. D,E. 'The Commonwealth celebrations.' [illus.]
p. 13 col. A. 'The Sydney Contingent.' [Names of officers and men selected for inclusion in the South Australian military contingent which is to take part in Commonwealth celebrations in Sydney. See also p. 30 col. B.]
p. 24 cols. D,E. Editorial. 'The Commonwealth Ministry.'
p. 28 col. A. 'South Australia as a State.'
p. 29 col. A. 'South Australian celebrations.' [Jubilee Oval on January 1.]
p. 30 col. B. 'Commonwealth celebrations.' 'The ceremony of swearing in His Excellency the Governor will take place in the Town Hall, Adelaide, on that day. In the afternoon military sports will be held on the Jubilee Oval, and in the evening there will be a large continental at the Exhibition Oval.'
p. 31 cols. A,B. 'Commonwealth celebrations. Sydney festivities.' 'The Government does not propose to arrange for any public ceremony or demonstration in this colony to celebrate the inauguration of the Australian Commonwealth and the entrance of South Australia into the federal union; or to mark the creation of the colony as a State.'
Observer 29 December 1900 p. 9 cols. D,E. 'The Federal Ministry.'
p. 24 col. E; p. 25 col. A. 'The Commonwealth Ministry.' 'The Commonwealth begins badly its preliminary business by what looks like a sordid and self-interested grasp for place and pay by a boycotting clique.'
p. 27 col. E. 'New Zealand and the Commonwealth.' 'A Commission to report on the desirableness of New Zealand joining the Commonwealth of Australia has been appointed.'
p. 28 col. A. 'South Australia as a State.' [Lord Tennyson to be sworn in as Governor of the State of South Australia on January 1.]
p. 28 col. B. 'The Federal Ministry.' [Could include C.C. Kingston or F.W. Holder.]
p. 28 col. C. 'The Federal elections.' [Campaign has commenced. '. . . tramcars . . . bore evidence of the near approach of the federal elections . . . streamers expressive of their views on a large number of cars. Each streamer bears some motto, or concise quotation from some of the most eminent politicians and statesmen.']
p. 29 col. A. 'Departure of the Sydney contingent.' [150 officers and men in South Australian military contingent.]