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Australia and the Popes
A short history of the founding of the Australian nation
up to and during the reign of Pope Leo XIII
European settlement displaces the indigenous peoples:
The prosperity and population explosion brought by gold rushes in the Australian
colonies beginning in the 1850s had begun to transform the disparate European
settlements on this continent into a nation.
The rapid expansion in settlement which followed the gold rushes were a catastrophe
for the indigenous Australians. Between first European contact and the early
years of the 20th century, the Aboriginal population dropped from an estimated
500,000 to about one tenth of that number.
Many were killed outright with gun or poison, a great many more were starved
to death by European conquest of their lands, but by far the most significant
killer was European disease. Smallpox, measles, and influenza were major killers,
many others added their toll – for a people without the thousands of years
of genetically evolved resistance to diseases that Europeans had, even chickenpox
was deadly.
Of the 90% of the Aboriginal population that died out as a result of European
contact, it is estimated that around 80 or 90% of the deaths were the result
of disease, and reasonable to suppose that the worst-hit peoples were the ones
that lived in the most fertile areas, where population densities were highest.
The period up until the end of the 1880s was one of great prosperity and ended
with the Land Boom.
This was followed by the decade long economic depression in the 1890s. The
high unemployment during this period led to momentous labour disputes that helped
form some of the political and social characteristics of our nation.
Between 1855 and 1890, the six colonies individually gained responsible government,
managing most of their own affairs while remaining part of the British Empire.
The Colonial Office in London retained control of some matters, notably foreign
affairs, defence and international shipping.
Father of Federation:
Sir Henry Parkes is generally considered the father of Australian Federation
for his work through the 1880s and 90s until his death in 1895 in bringing the
leading political figures together in the Australian colonies to form an independent
nation.
On Sir Henry's death Edmund Barton became the chief force pushing the cause
for federation.
A constitutional convention in 1891 produced the first draft of a constitution
for the new nation. This became the basis for discussions at the Convention
of 1897-8, which prepared the instrument that became the constitution of the
Commonwealth of Australia.
Key dates from Federation until the death
of Pope Leo in 1903:
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01 Jan 1901
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1st Prime Minister and 1st Governor-General
Lord Hopetoun became the first Governor-General and
Edmund Barton the first Prime Minister. Both were sworn
in at the ceremony inaugurating the Commonwealth of
Australia.
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29 Mar 1901
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1st federal elections
Voters elected 75 members to the House of Representatives.
Voters in the six states elected 36 representatives
to the first Senate. This was the only federal election
to take place on two days, 29 and 30 March.
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09 May 1901
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Parliament House for a day
The grand opening of parliament in Melbourne's Exhibition
Building in the morning, was followed by the first sitting
of the House of Representatives and the Senate in their
borrowed home, Victoria's Parliament House.
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10 May 1901
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Parliament sits in Melbourne Parliament
House
The first meeting of the Australian parliament took
place in the Melbourne Exhibition Building on 9 May 1901. By the next day, parliament had moved to its new
home for the next 26 years, the Melbourne Parliament
House.
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03 Sep 1901
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An Australian flag chosen
A huge flag showing the winning design of Union Jack
and Southern Cross on a blue background was unfurled
over the Exhibition Building, Melbourne. The same design
on a red background was used for merchant ships. It
was many years before the blue flag officially replaced
the British Union Jack for all other uses.
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23 Dec 1901
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Dictating a 'White Australia'
The enactment of the Immigration Restriction Act meant
a dictation test became an effective way of excluding
people from Australia. It enabled the government to
create a predominantly European population. The 'White
Australia' policy was finally dismantled in 1966 by
the Holt government.
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31 May 1902
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Boer War ends
From 1899 when the war in South Africa broke out, troops
from the Australian colonies had been sent to fight
for Britain against the Afrikaners (former Dutch colonists).
Despite the passionate arguments of Leader of the Opposition
GH Reid, parliament agreed to send Commonwealth troops.
They arrived shortly before the surrender of the Boer
army.
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09 Aug 1902
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Coronation of King Edward VII
and Queen Alexandra
When Queen Victoria died on 22 January 1901, her son
Edward acceded to the throne. Prime Minister Edmund
Barton led the Australian representation at the coronation
in Westminster Abbey the following year.
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03 Nov 1902
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The empire cable
Postmaster-General James Drake opened the submarine
telegraph cable from Vancouver, Canada to Southport,
Queensland. This completed an all-British link thirty
years after a London to Darwin cable was connected to
South Australia's overland telegraph line. The telegraph
cable circling the globe enabled information to be sent
by Morse code in 'dot-dash' electrical signals.
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09 Jan 1903
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2nd Governor-General
Lord Tennyson, a former South Australian Governor, was
confirmed as Australia's second Governor-General. He
had been acting since 17 July 1902 when Lord Hopetoun
left Australia. Lord Tennyson remained in office until
21 January 1904.
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Source: National
Archives of Australia website
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Archdioceses and Archbishops
in Australia
during the pontificate of Pope Leo:
Adelaide – John O'Reily 1895-1915
Brisbane – Robert Dunne 1887-1917
Hobart – Daniel Murphy 1888-1907
Sydney – Patrick Francis Cardinal Moran 1884-1911
Melbourne – Thomas Carr 1897-1917
Perth became an Archdiocese in 1935 and Canberra-Goulburn in
1948
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The textual material on these pages was sourced from a large number of places all of which can be found through the links on each page. The material was researched, assembled and produced by Brian Coyne for Catholic Australia. The images used in the Flash animations are in the public domain. Other images used are in the public domain or sourced from the webpages to which they are linked.
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