Movement toward federation

Economic controversy

In 1866 Victoria, followed by South Australia and Tasmania, adopted a policy of high tariffs on imported goods in order to protect its own industries and markets. New South Wales continued to stay with a free-trade policy.

Throughout the 1870s and 1880s, the arguments over free trade versus protection divided the press, the political parties, and the colonies. This, together with the continuing jealousies among them, hindered (тормозило) any significant attempts at cooperation and possible union among the six colonies until the 1890s.

The rapid increase of Australia’s population from 1830 to 1860 contributed to the growth of the six capital cities. With the decline (падение) of gold mining in Victoria and New South Wales in the 1860s, even the prospectors (золотоискатели) drifted to the cities. By the end of the century, Sydney and Melbourne were among the world’s largest cities.

Each capital served as the major port for its colony. Perceiving (воспринимая) others as rivals (соперники), each city and colony tried to emphasize their own identity. Contacts between individual colonies were secondary to their ties with Britain, and rivalries (соперничество) among them were common; thus, Victoria and New South Wales each used a different gauge (ширина колеи) for their railroads.

As the number of free settlers in Australia grew, so did the colonists' demands for self-government. By 1856, Britain had granted self-government to all the colonies except Western Australia. Each had its own elected legislature (законодательное собрание) and government ministers, who controlled the colony's internal affairs. Britain continued to manage the foreign affairs and defense of the colonies. Meanwhile, squatters had settled the part of New South Wales north and west of Brisbane. In 1859, Britain created the colony of Queensland out of this area, with Brisbane as its capital.

Movement toward federation

Federation of the Australian colonies came late. The idea of unification appeared as early as 1847 in proposals by Earl Grey, Britain’s colonial secretary.