About the Institutions & Processes established by or under the Constitution |
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| Note: So far as possible: links to factual material only. No opinions expressed or alternatives canvassed. In several cases, however, where opinions form only a minor part of the resource, it seemed better to place the link here rather than in the discussion sections below. (These sort are flagged by the word "includes" in the precis & an "also contains" section at the bottom.) |
Aborigines & Torres Strait Islanders
|
- The Indigenous Peoples of Australia and the Constitution
- Fact sheet from the Constitutional Centenary Foundation.
- Who are the indigenous peoples of Australia?
- What did the Constitution say about them in 1901?
- What does the Constitution say about them now?
- What happens in other countries?
- What suggestions have been made for change in Australia?
- Hot Topic 27: Native Title
- By Pat Lane and Susan Phillips, with contributions from Trish Luker and Natasha Case. June 2000. One of a series of publications on legal issues published by the Legal Information Access Centre. This particular one has now been made available online (at the AustLII site).
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Amending the Constitution
|
- Changing the Australian Constitution
- Fact sheet from the Constitutional Centenary Foundation.
- How is the Federal Constitution changed?
- Can it be changed in any other way?
- How can the preamble & covering clauses be changed?
- How do voters know what proposals for changes are all about?
- Constitutional Referenda in Australia (153K)
- By Scott Bennett & Sean Brennan. Research paper at the Department of the (Federal) Parliamentary Library site. Examines the history of federal referenda in Australia, the impact the eight successes have had, the constitutional aspects of s128, and other issues. Lots of tabulated facts and figures.
- Select Sources on Constitution Change in Australia: 1901-1997
- A report of the House of Representatives' Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs. Note: the individual chapters of the report itself are in PDF (Adobe Acrobat) format only.
- Note: despite the title, covers only constitutional changes at the federal level. Consists of two main parts (plus a bibliography). The first is an annotated text of the Federal Constitution listing, with each section (briefly), the recommendations of the four various official commissions and committees convened over the years to look at constitutional change. The second part is a comprehensive listing (including results & summaries of the Yes/No arguments) of those proposed amendments actually put to referendum.
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Citizenship
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- Citizenship
- Fact sheet from the Constitutional Centenary Foundation. Stored at the Pandora archive of the National Library of Australia.
- Includes:
- What does citizenship mean?
- What is the history of citizenship?
- What citizenship issues come up in Australia today?
- Also contains: Is citizenship education important?
- Citizenship in the Australian Constitution
- Fact sheet from the Constitutional Centenary Foundation. Stored at the Pandora archive of the National Library of Australia.
- Includes:
- What does the Constitution say about citizenship?
- What term does the Constitution use instead of "citizenship"?
- How did this come about?
- Also contains: Should the Constitution say more about citizenship?
- A related factsheet from the CCF that may be of interest:Citizenship in Australia. Stored at the Pandora archive of the National Library of Australia.
- International Citizenship and Global Citizenship
- Author unknown. At the Citizenship and Australian Democracy site. An overview. Touches briefly on one or two constitutional aspects.
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Civil & Political Rights
|
- The High Court of Australia & Individual Rights
- At Desmond Lane's website. Deals with leading High Court cases regarding:
- Express rights
- Implied rights
- Common law rights
- Justice and the Rule of Law: The Constitution and Protecting Rights
- Author unknown. Appears to be lecture notes. Rule of law, separation powers, an "Australian Bill of Rights", the High Court & rights, etc. At the Citizenship and Australian Democracy site.
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Commonwealth-
State Relations
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- Commonwealth-State relations concerning tax, finance and trade (missing)
- Author uncertain. Lecture notes of the NT University at the Australian Public Law site. Lecture #5. Excise duties, the Uniform Tax Cases, State grants, and other matters.
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Electoral System
|
- The Commonwealth Parliament: Elections
- No author given. Adapted by the Federal Parliamentary Library from the Parliamentary Handbook.
- Electoral system
- Federal Parliament
- Election advertising
- Public funding & disclosure
- Legislative changes
- Redistribution procedures
- Parliamentary scrutiny
- 1993 election
- Brief history of electoral changes
- Electing Australia's Senators
- Senate Brief #1. The role of the Senate, plus explanations of proportional representation, Senate rotation system, double dissolutions, casual vacancies, the nexus, etc.
- Electoral System (missing)
- Fact Sheet (Jan 1995) from the (federal) Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade
- Eligibility to vote
- Federal Parliament
- The voting system
- Public funding & disclosure
- State & local governments
- Electoral Systems
- Descriptions of the electoral systems used by Australia's Parliaments and local government councils, plus more specific details of the particularities and peculiarities used by each legislative chamber or council. At the Electoral Council of Australia site.
- The Federal Election Timetable (missing/restricted access)
- By Malcolm Farnsworth based on Australian Electoral Commission Pocket Books.
- General election timetable parameters, both constitutional & legislative, within which each election event (eg issuing the writs) must take place, together with an example (the 1996 election). Includes a brief explanation of each event.
- Secret Ballots in Australia (missing/restricted access)
- By Malcolm Farnsworth. At the Victorian Certificate of Education's Politics Resources site. Brief.
- Hot Topic 34: Voting and Elections
- By Rodney Smith. 2001. One of a series of publications on legal issues published by the Legal Information Access Centre. This particular one has now been made available online (at the AustLII site). The "main kinds of elections in Australia", who gets to vote, who can become an election candidate, and other matters.
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External Affairs and International Law
|
- Hot Topic 31: International Law
- By Linda Pearson. March 2001. One of a series of publications on legal issues published by the Legal Information Access Centre. This particular one has now been made available online (at the AustLII site). What is international law, sources of international law, enforcement of international law, etc.
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Federal Executive
|
- The Executive
- Fact sheet from the Constitutional Centenary Foundation.
- What is the Executive?
- Where does it come from?
- Who are the key players (ministers & cabinet, government departments, statutory bodies, watchdogs)?
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Federal Judiciary
|
- Administrative Law: Remedies in Public Law (missing)
- At the Australian Public Law site. Lecture notes. Covers declarations and injunctions, and writs of certiorari, prohibitions, and mandamus. A Northern Territory University website.
- Commonwealth judicial power; constitutional guarantees and freedoms; inconsistency of Commonwealth and State laws (missing)
- Author uncertain. Lecture notes of the NT University at the Australian Public Law site. Lecture #4. Most of the notes deal with the federal judiciary, its powers and jurisdiction. The remainder deals with constitutional rights (express and implied) and s109.
- Constitutional Aspects of Judicial Independence
- By P.H. Lane. Part of Fragile Bastion: Judicial Independence in the Nineties and Beyond. At the website of the Judicial Commission of NSW. Essentially a survey (covering both statute & case law) of the judiciaries of the Commonwealth, the States, and (federal) Territories in relation to the subject of judicial independence.
- Doctors in Contact with the Courts (missing)
- Chapter 7 of Law and Ethics in Medicine. This chapter has a good description (from a State of Victoria perspective) of the state & federal judiciaries, court procedures, etc.
- The High Court of Australia--Administrative Law: Remedies in Judicial Review
- At Desmond Lane's website. Leading High Court cases regarding:
- General limitations against the remedies ("superior court", privative clauses, remedies against the Crown)
- Prerogative Writs (also: what they are, what they do, & grounds for their issue)
- Injunctions & declarations
- Operation of the High Court
- A (very brief) introduction from the High Court's own website.
- The Role of Judges
- Fact sheet from the Constitutional Centenary Foundation.
- Includes:
- What do judges do?
- What are the limitations on the role of judges?
- To what extent do judges "make law"?
- Also contains: Should judges or the people modernize the Constitution?
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Federal Legislative Powers
(general)
|
- Commonwealth Legislative Powers (missing)
- Author uncertain. Lecture notes of the NT University at the Australian Public Law site. Lecture #3. Covers only three of the s51 placita: the trade & commerce power, the corporations power, & the external affairs power.
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Federal Parliament
(see also Parliamentary Committees, Parliamentary Presiding Officers, etc)
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- Facts About Federal Parliament
- Prepared by the (federal) Parliamentary Education Office.
- Three Levels of Government
- Parliament and the Government
- About the Constitution
- Presiding Officers
- The Budget
- Making Laws
- About the Governor-General
- About the Prime Minister
- The Commonwealth Parliament: an Introduction (missing)
- No author given. Adapted by the Federal Parliamentary Library from the Parliamentary Handbook.
- Includes tables of no. of Acts passed & the no. of sitting days for each House since 1901, by decade & (since 1983) by year.
- The House of Representatives
- Fact sheet from the Constitutional Centenary Foundation.
- What is the House of Representatives?
- What does it do?
- How are its members chosen?
- What does the Constitution say about it?
- House of Representatives: Factsheets
- A kind of FAQ about the House of Representatives. Individual infosheets are in PDF format.
- The Opening of Parliament
- Terminology, prorogation, why is Parliament opened by the Governor-General, opening day, opening proceedings, address-in-reply, memorable openings. Senate Brief #2.
- Hot Topic 21: Parliament
- By Trish Luker. March 1999. One of a series of publications on legal issues published by the Legal Information Access Centre. It provides an overview of Australia's political system, the role of (mainly the Commonwealth) Parliament, its structures and procedures, elections, and other related matters. Information about other this Hot Topics published by the LIAC can be found here.
- Relations Between House of Parliament
- Fact sheet from the Constitutional Centenary Foundation. About the Federal Parliaments two houses in particular.
- How do the two House work together?
- When are they likely to disagree?
- How are its members chosen?
- What happens when they disagree about money bills, ordinary bills, bills to change the Constitution?
- The Senate
- Fact sheet from the Constitutional Centenary Foundation.
- What is the Senate?
- What does it do?
- How are its members chosen?
- What does the Constitution say about it?
- The Senate: Briefs
- No author given. Adapted by the Federal Parliamentary Library from the Parliamentary Handbook.
- An introduction to the Senate, its origins, its committees & personnel, & what it does.
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Federal Territories
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- The Position of the Territories
- Fact sheet from the Constitutional Centenary Foundation.
- What is a Territory?
- How many Territories does Australia have?
- Are there different kinds of Territories?
- What does the Constitution say about Territories?
- What is the difference between a State & a Territory?
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Governor-General
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- The Head of State in Australia
- Fact sheet from the Constitutional Centenary Foundation.
- Why do countries have a head of state?
- Who is Australia's head of state?
- What does the Constitution say about the Governor-General?
- What happens with the head of state in the States & Territories?
- Powers of the Head of State of Australia and
South Africa
- By Ian Ireland and Kirsty Magarey. A January 1998 research note from the Department of the (Federal) Parliamentary Library.
- A "brief comparative outline of the major powers written into the constitutions of the Commonwealth of Australia and the Republic of South Africa in respect to the Head of State."
- The Role of the Governor-General
- No author given. From the media information kit from the 1996 swearing in. At the Federal Parliamentary Library site.
- The Role of the Head of State
- Fact sheet from the Constitutional Centenary Foundation.
- Includes:
- What powers does the Australian head of state have?
- What are the "reserve powers"?
- Is the head of state mainly a rubber stamp?
- Also contains: Why is it important for the head of state to be above politics?
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| Influence of the US Constitution |
- Influence of the US Constitution
- No author given. Australian Constitution Research Projects
- On republican debate
- On High Court
- British constitutionalism
- Australian perspectives
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Making Legislation
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- How Laws are Made
- A Tasmanian Parliamentary Backgrounder.
- In NSW (missing)
- No author given. At the NSW Parliament's website. ("Law making in New South Wales follows much the same pattern as in most other Australian states, the Australian Federal Parliament, and the British Parliament upon which our system of Government is based.")
- Initiating a Bill
- Drafting the Bill
- The Parliamentary Process
- Royal Assent
- Commencement
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Native Title
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- Land and Law
- Author unknown. At the Citizenship and Australian Democracy site. An overview of Mabo & Wik.
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New States
|
- New States
- Fact sheet from the Constitutional Centenary Foundation.
- How many States are there now?
- How can a new State be made?
- Have new States ever been made?
- Would a new State be different to an old State?
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Parliamentary Committees
|
- Appearing Before Parliamentary Committees
- Author unknown. Legal Briefing No. 29, 21 December 1996. At the Australian Government Solicitor's website. Includes a brief run down on how parliamentary committees are established, their powers (eg to summon witnesses), and their sources of power ("Except to the extent provided for by the Parliamentary Privileges Act, or by any other provisions of an Act which can be construed as a 'declaration' for the purposes of section 49 of the Constitution, the powers, privileges and immunities derived from the House of Commons continue in force."). Much of the rest of the document concerns itself with advice to the prospective (government) witness.
- Committees (PDF)
- House of Representatives Infosheet No. 4. Revised March 1997. No author given.
- What are parliamentary committees?
- What do committees do?
- Why are committees important?
- Membership
- Powers of committees
- Investigatory committees in operation
- How to have your say
- Progressing the inquiry
- Committee Reports
- Following a committee inquiry
- Lodging a submission
- Committee Reports
- Types of Committees
- Senate Committees
- Senate Brief No. 4. November 1994. No author given, but "prepared by the Research Section, Senate Department". Bibliography.
- Why committees?
- Types of Committees
- Select Committees
- Standing Committees
- Joint Committees
- Powers of committees
- Establishment and membership
- Lodging a submission
- The inquiry process
- Reporting and follow-up
- Effect of the committee system
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Parliamentary Presiding Officers
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- The President of the Senate
- Election, duties, "Diary of a Typical Day for the President". Senate Brief #6.
- The Speaker of the House of Representatives (PDF)
- House of Representatives Infosheet No. 3. No author given. Election, functions and duties, etc. Includes a list of Speakers since 1901.
- "The office of Speaker is a very ancient one, dating back eight hundred years to 13th century England. It is an essential feature of the parliamentary system derived from Westminster. In early times Speakers were variously described as 'Parlour' (mouth), 'Prolocutor' (chairman) and 'Procurator' (agent)."
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Parliamentary Privilege
|
- Parliamentary Privilege
- The "meaning of parliamentary privilege", immunities of the Houses, powers of the Houses, rights of witnesses, executive privilege, citizens' right of reply. Senate Brief #11.
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Referenda
|
- Referendums (missing)
- A fact sheet from the AEC. Explains the details about federal constitutional referenda, plus lists the details (including results) of each of the 42 proposals put to the electorate so far. Also includes details about the federal advisory referenda.
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State Parliaments
| - History and Functions of the Parliament and Government in Queensland
- No author given. At the Queensland Parliament's website. (Includes, among others: origins,"A tour of Parliament House Queensland", parliamentary democracy, "Constitution", separation of powers, "Structure and Functions of the Parliament", officers of the Parliament, parliamentary process, legislative process, Queensland Parliament and the Financial Process, the Executive Government of Queensland, political parties)
- State Election Dates
- By Margaret Healy. 30 March 1999. A Current Issues Brief from the Department of the (Federal) Parliamentary Library. Deals with the constitutional requirements etc. Each State and Territory is dealt with in turn.
- Tasmania: Parliamentary Backgrounders (a selection)
- Note: some of these can be readily applied to other Australian Parliaments. (
- Hansard (Parliamentary Reporting)
- Includes much about the historical background.
- "In the English Parliament it was once illegal to take notes or to publish the debates. Yet during the Civil War (1642-1660) the government appreciated, as propaganda, having speeches published. When this practice lapsed, despite potential fines, newspapers disguised the items as 'fiction'. The suppression policy was finally lifted in 1771."
- Parliamentary Privilege
- Parliamentary Term and Sessions
- Presiding Officers
Info about the President of the Tasmanian Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly. Includes some interesting tidbits of history ("The office of Legislative Council President actually has a longer history than its title, for in the original Legislative Council (1825-55) the post carried the title of Speaker. When Tasmania gained a bicameral Parliament in 1856 this title passed to the lower House, as was the case in Great Britain, and the Legislative Council post became known as the President.")
- State Governor
- Premier and Leader of the Opposition
- Referendums
State referenda.
- Tasmania's Parliament
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Responsible Government
|
- Responsible Government in Australia
- Fact sheet from the Constitutional Centenary Foundation.
- What is meant by "responsible government"??
- How are governments responsible to Parliament?
- What happens if no one has a majority in Parliament?
- Does the federal system affect responsible government?
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States
|
- Australian Constitution (missing)
- No author given. At the NSW Parliament's website. A brief run-down of some of the effects the Federal Constitution had on the six colonies when they became States on 1 January 1901.
- State Constitutions Generally
- A background paper prepared for delegates to Queensland's constitutional convention of June 1999. At Queensland's Constitution Review Commission site.
- State constitutions today
- The origins of State constitutions
- Amendment of State constitutions
- Relationship with the Commonwealth Constitution
- The Constitutions of the [federal] territories
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System of Government
(General)
|
- The Australian Government
- A broad overview. Mainly about the Commonwealth Government's "three-tier system of government", but with brief sections on the States and local government. Part of the Australia in Focus section of the Prime Minister of Australia's website.
- Australia's Legal System
- Prepared by the Federal Attorney General's Office. (An identical (more or less) version can be found here on the Australian Government Solicitor's site. The major difference with the other is an additional section (now out-of-date) titled: "Cross-Vesting of Jurisdiction".)
- Note: this page may be inaccessible to some webbrowsers. If so, try here. (Or try previous version of page here.)
- The Law in Australia
- The Parliamentary System
- Overview of the Constitution
- The Process of Law-Making
- The Court System
- Bodies Other than Courts
- Legal Aid
- Liberal Democracy: Accountability, Political Rights and Duties
- Author unknown. Appears to be lecture notes. The title is potentially misleading. It's really an overview about Australia's governmental system: its history, Westminster model, executive accountability, the role of the Senate, elections, etc. At the Citizenship and Australian Democracy site.
- System of Government (missing)
- Fact Sheet (Jan 1995) from the (federal) Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade
- Constitution
- Federal Government
- Political party system
- State, Territory, & local government
- The Queen
- The federal executive
- The federal Public Service
- Electoral system & history
- The electoral reforms of 1984
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History |
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Constitutional Reform
(post-Federation)
|
- The Whitlam Government and Constitutional Reform (MS Word)
- By George Williams. Reflections on constitutional (and quasi-constitutional) reform under the Whitlam Goverment of the early 1970s. At the Gilbert & Tobin Centre of Public Law website.
- "The period 1972 to 1975 marks one of the most active periods in Australia's history for consideration of constitutional reform."
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English Constitutional Law
(classic original texts)
|
- Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England
- By Sir William Blackstone (1723-1780). 1st edition, 1765-1769. Part of the Avalon Project of the Yale Law School. Caution: this text still seems to be being edited. Some sections make use the old "f"-like "s" (eg the section 2 of the Introduction: "LAW, in it's moft general and comprehenfive fenfe".
- The English Constitution
- By Walter Bagehot (1826-1877). 1st edition, 1867. An account of the history and workings of the British political system. At the Bibliomania site. The above link is arranged by chapters.
- The second edition of 1873 is also available online in PDF format. To download the full text (550K) click here.
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Federation
(convention debates)
|
- The Convention Debates
At the Australian Federation Full Text Database of Sydney University Library.
- Proceedings and Debates of the Australasian Federation Conference
- Held in Melbourne from 6/2/1890 to 14/2/1890.
- Official Report of the National Australasian Convention Debates, Sydney 1891
- From 2/3/1891 to 19/4/1891. Includes (as an appendix) the text of the 1891 draft of the Commonwealth of Australia Bill.
- Official Report of the National Australasian Convention Debates (1st Session)
- Held in Adelaide from 22/3/1897 to 6/5/1897. Includes (as an appendix) the text of the Commonwealth of Australia Bill as "framed and approved" by the Convention.
- Official Report of the National Australasian Convention Debates (2nd Session)
- Held in Sydney from 2/9/1897 to 24/9/1897.
- Official Report of the National Australasian Convention Debates (3rd Session)
- Held in Melbourne from 20/1/1898 to 17/3/1898. Includes at the end the text of the "Draft of a Bill To Constitute the Commonwealth of Australia".
- The Federation Conventions of the 1890s
- The Senate has scanned in and put online the full text of the debates of the Australasian Federation Conference of 1890 and of the Federation Conventions of 1891 and 1897/8.
- WARNING: to access most pages on this site your webbrowser must be able to handle cookies, and the cookies feature must be activated, otherwise all you will see will be a highly obscure error message.
- Manuals for the Convention Delegates
- A Digest of Federal Constitutions
- By John Quick. Published 1896. At the Australian Federation Full Text Database of Sydney University Library. The SU, Switzerland, Canada, and the German Empire.
- A Manual of Reference for the Use of the Members of the National Australasian Convention
- By Richard Chaffee Baker. Published 1891. At the Australian Federation Full Text Database of Sydney University Library. A look at the constitutions of other federal states (US, Canada, Switzerland, and South Africa). Includes the texts of the British North America Act 1867, the US constitution, and the South Africa Act 1877.
- Other Federation Conferences of the 1890s
At the Australian Federation Full Text Database of Sydney University Library.
- The Federation Conference at Corowa 1893
- Official report of the conference held at the Corowa courthouse on 31 July & 1 August 1893.
- The People's Federation Conference at Bathurst 1896
- November 1896. Proceedings and appendices (the latter consisting of speeches, letters, and assorted papers, as well as poetry, a manifesto, and the draft of a bill adopted by the convention (basically the one adopted by the 1891 convention but with various amendments; eg the Senate was to be popularly elected)).
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Federation
(constitutions and commentaries)
|
- The Annotated Constitution of the Australian Commonwealth
- By John Quick and Robert Garran. Published 1901. At the Australian Federation Full Text Database of Sydney University Library. Composed of:
- The Constitution of the Commonwealth Of Australia
- By W. Harrison Moore. Published 1902. At the Australian Federation Full Text Database of Sydney University Library. A commentary on the Constitution Act. Includes the text of the Queen's proclamation and a number of other constitutional documents in an appendix.
- The Draft Bill To Constitute The Commonwealth Of Australia
- "As Adopted By The Convention Of 1891". Published by G.B. Barton in 1891. (Another copy can be found here appended to the 1891 Convention Debates.) Both are at the Australian Federation Full Text Database of Sydney University Library.
- Studies in Australian Constitutional Law
- By Andrew Inglis Clarke. Published 1901. At the Australian Federation Full Text Database of Sydney University Library. A commentary on the Constitution Act.
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Federation
(essays, books, and speeches)
|
- The 1898 Australasian Federal Convention (missing)
- A brief history, plus lists of the delegates. Part of a site dealing with the commemoration of the centenary of "the Melbourne session of the 1897-98 Australasian Federal Convention".
- And a Hundred Years Ago
- By Jenny Doran. At the Workers Online magazine site. A brief look back at the attitude in trade union ranks to the proposed Constitution Bill of last century.
- "From 1897 to 1900 trade unionists in Victoria were scrutinising and agitating about the Federation Bill through the radical magazine 'Tocsin' which was produced by a co-operative of trade unions, Labour Leagues and individuals."
- [The] Attitude of New Zealand
- By W.P. Reaves. From the Empire Review I (1) 1901. At the Australian Federation Full Text Database of Sydney University Library. The attitude of NZ to federation across the Tasman.
- "[A]s a sentiment, federation has hardly yet touched the people of New Zealand. The wave of feeling which gradually gathered strength and overflowed eastern and south eastern Australia was checked by the wide interval of ocean. The Federal orators did not visit the islands or attempt to rouse the islanders; their pamphlets and newspaper articles hardly reached New Zealand; the Australian Natives Association, that powerful source of agitation, has no branch there, and the cry for 'One continent, one nation,' excludes New Zealand by implication. To many of the islanders the thought of surrendering a part of their justly-prized autonomy, and of being controlled by the opinions and interests of Melbourne and Sydney is far from welcome. They are proud of their lonely but beautiful country, with its romantic interest and fair promise; to most of them their own self-government is dear, and seems a thing worth preserving in its completeness, even at the risk of a slight present sacrifice."
- Australia's Pre-Federation Constitutional Origins (missing)
- Author uncertain. Lecture notes of the NT University at the Australian Public Law site. Lecture #1.
- Becoming One People
- By Chief Justice Murray Gleeson. 26 November 2000. Boyer Lecture No. 2 in the series "The Rule of Law and the Constitution". At the ABC's Radio National site. The author "examines the challenges faced by the men who framed our Constitution."
- "In London, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Joseph Chamberlain, raised a number of objections to the draft Constitution presented by the colonies. He gave way upon almost all of them, but upon one the delegates met firm resistance. ... At the time of Federation, appeals from the Supreme Courts of the colonies went to the Privy Council in London. It was envisaged that appeals would also lie from the High Court to the Privy Council. However, the draft Constitution provided, in effect, that there would be no appeals to the Privy Council on constitutional matters. On that subject, the High Court was to have the final say. It was to be the ultimate interpreter of the Constitution. Joseph Chamberlain was having none of that. And he was supported by some powerful commercial interests and legal opinion in Australia. The legal opinion included that of Sir Samuel Griffith, then Chief Justice of Queensland, and Sir Samuel Way, Chief Justice of South Australia. The manner in which those two Chief Justices, to the great resentment of the colonial delegates in London, exercised their influence in favour of full rights of appeal to the Privy Council, is a subject worthy of its own chapter in the history of federation."
- The Coming Commonwealth
- By Sir Robert Garran. 1897. "An Australian Handbook of Federal Government" written by an advocate of federation (and member of the Executive Committee of the Australasian Federation League). At the Australian Federation Full Text Database of Sydney University Library.
- The Federal Council of Australasia
- By Alfred Deakin. From Review of Reviews, 20/2/1895. At the Australian Federation Full Text Database of Sydney University Library. Genesis, history, "What It Has Done", etc.
- "The Federal Council of Australasia is a political phenomenon, almost unclassifiable, and so entirely local in character and origin that it may be termed indigenous. Unique as the platypus, like that extraordinary animal it is a perfectly original development compounded from familiar but previously unassociated types. It remains singular even among all the brood of local Governments of which the House of Commons has been the prolific parent."
- The Federal Story: The Inner History of the Federal Cause 1880-1900
- By Alfred Deakin. Edited by J. A. La Nauze. Online book. Published posthumorously in 1944. The "personal recollections" of Federation by one of the chief participants. This is the second edition of 1963 (in which material omitted in the 1944 edition was restored). At the Australian Federation Full Text Database of Sydney University Library.
- Federation: Commemoration or Celebration?
- By Dr Bob Birrell. Paper presented to the Samuel Griffith Society in August/September 2001. Reflections on Federation and other matters.
- "One of the dominant themes in recent commentary on Federation is that the 'Founding Fathers' were 'forelock tugging courtiers to the British'. According to this perspective, there was never any serious attempt to carve out an 'Australian' identity distinct from Britain and its Empire. When leading figures amongst the Founding Fathers (notably Deakin) took over the reins of government in the early years of the Commonwealth, they are alleged to have swung Australia behind the Empire. It is said that this policy ultimately led to the sacrifice of tens of thousands of Australian men and women in an Imperial war. Another theme is that once Federation was achieved, Australia's leaders pursued racist objectives, exemplified in the White Australia policy."
- The Federation Movement and the Founding of the Commonwealth
- By Sir Robert Garran. Extract (chapter 15) from "The Cambridge History of the British Empire". Published 1933. At the Australian Federation Full Text Database of Sydney University Library. An historical retrospective.
- The Federation Story
- At the Official Website for the Council of the Centenary of Federation. Now stored at the Pandora archive of the National Library of Australia.
- The Making of the Australian Commonwealth
- By Bernhard Ringrose Wise. Online book. Published 1913. At the Australian Federation Full Text Database of Sydney University Library. A history of Federation from Parkes' Tenterfield speech to the second batch of referenda by one of NSW delegates to the 1897-8 Convention.
- The Making of Australia's Constitution
- A fact sheet from the Constitutional Centenary Foundation.
- When did constitutional discussion begin?
- How was the Constitution drawn up?
- What role did the Australian people play?
- How was the Constitution brought into effect?
- My Reminiscences (>600K)
- By Sir George Reid. Published 1917. At the Australian Federation Full Text Database of Sydney University Library.
- New Federation History (109K)
- By John Waugh. In The Melbourne University Law Review Vol. 24 No. 3 (2000). Stored at AustLII's online archive. A "review essay" of two legal texts but with a lot of discussion of constitutional history embedded.
- Notes on Australian Federation: Its Nature and Probable Effects
- Parkes and the 1890 Conference (PDF) (154K)
- By A. W. Martin. July 1990. Papers on Parliament: Collection No. 9.
- The Referendum in Australia and New Zealand
- By Lilian Tomn. Published 1897. At the Australian Federation Full Text Database of Sydney University Library.
- "A very suggestive discussion took place some years ago as to whether the referendum might advantageously be introduced into England, and no less an authority than Professor [Albert Venn] Dicey appeared as the champion of the people's vote. From that time referendum questions have attained a certain importance in England, and we now study the system, not as a mere constitutional curiosity, but as a possibility of the future. It is therefore interesting to find that the referendum has become a question of practical politics in Australasia. No less than five of the Colonial Parliaments were occupied in discussing Referendum Bills during the last parliamentary year."
- "Competent writers on the Swiss referendum have always been very dubious as to the result of the system when transplanted. For my own part, I do not think it will be often resorted to, should it become law.... The referendum is apt to prove a very conservative agent. Swiss experience has proved that the people are invariably opposed to anything of a far-reaching or radical nature."
- Some Conditions of Australian Federation
- Ten Interesting Facts About Federation (missing)
- At the Centenary of Australia's Federation 1901-2001 site.
- Unfinished Business: A Nation in a Day
- By Bill Bunbury and others. The full text of the RN episode "concerning the actual day of Federation--A Nation in a Day on the ABC's Radio National. (You'll need the Real Audio plugin if you want more than just the text.)
- Woman's Place in the Commonwealth
- By Catherine Helen Spence. Published April 1900. At the Australian Federation Full Text Database of Sydney University Library.
- "We have heard much of the Pilgrim Fathers, but nothing of the Pilgrim Mothers in the United States. It was the custom of our ancestors to accept the services and the sacrifices of their womenfolk as a matter of course. But here, in the nineteenth century, in the life time of many of us, the wilderness has been reclaimed; great cities have been built, governments have been established, new lights have fallen upon old traditions inherited from our forefathers, and here, under the Southern Cross, a great Commonwealth has been organised through peaceful evolution."
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Federation
(other original texts)
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- Australian Federation Full Text Database
- Online texts of the Proceedings and Debates of the Australasian Federation Conference Melbourne 1890, the Debates of the Australasian Federal Convention (1891 & 1897-98), and the People's Federation Convention at Bathurst in 1896, along with over 30 other texts of "participants' accounts and contextual materials" by Barton, Clarke, Deakin, Griffith, Parkes, Quick, and others. A Sydney University Library site.
- Some of the more important or more interesting texts (including the famous one by Quick and Garran) are given separate links elsewhere on these pages. Those links take you to HTML versions of the documents. The link here takes you to a page where you can download PDF versions.
- Why Federate? South Australian Contributions to the Federation Debate
- A selection of contemporary (1880 to 1900) pamphlets, speeches, etc concerning Federation culled from the rare book collection of the Barr Smith Library at Adelaide University. Note: the texts themselves are in PDF format.
- "A Federation Poem": "The boy stood on the railway track/He heard the whistle squeal/The engineer got slowly down/And scraped him off the wheel."
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Federation
(timelines)
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- Australia's Constitutional Milestones
- By Scott Bennett. A timeline of events (as far as the "forthcoming" 1999 referenda), beginning with the commissioning of Arthur Phillip in 1787 to establish a colony in NSW. A chronology paper from the Department of the (Federal) Parliamentary Library.
- Chronology of the Australian Federation Movement: 1883-1901
- From Federation fathers by L.F. (Leslie Finlay) Crisp. At the NSW Parliament's site.
- Federation Chronology
- Possibly by Carolyn Spooner. From 1846 to 1900. Part of the Women and Politics in South Australia site.
- The Federation of Australia 1901: A Timeline (missing)
- At the Centenary of Australia's Federation 1901-2001 site.
- The Move Towards Federation
- A timeline from 1846 to 1901. At the Celebrating Australian Federation site of Ruyton Girls' School.
- Timeline of a nation
- From 1846-1999. Pre and post federation events. At the Official Website for the Council of the Centenary of Federation. Now stored at the Pandora archive of the National Library of Australia.
- A Timeline of Events at the Time of Federation
- From 22/3/1897 to 3/9/1901. At the Discovering Democracy site.
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General Constitutional History
(essays and speeches)
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- An Address on the Occasion of the Naming of Magna Carta Place
- By former Chief Justice Gerard Brennan. Delivered in Canberra, 12 October 1997 (the 700th anniversary of Edward I's reissue of the Magna Carta). At The Baronial Order of Magna Charta website.
- "Magna Carta was not an Act of Parliament. There was no Parliament. Magna Carta was not a constitution born of a revolution. Henry II's structures of government stayed in place. It was a bargain struck between King John and the Barons who thought themselves oppressed by his demands. ... It was not granted because of a desire for reform but merely as concessions wrung from a King whose position had been weakened by his disastrous campaigns in Flanders and France the year before."
- Bad King John and the Australian Constitution
- A lecture (October 1997) by Harry Evans commemorating the 700th anniversary of the 1297 issue of Magna Carta (the Federal Government owns a 1297 "inspeximus issue" of Magna Carta, purchased in 1952, which is on display in Parliament House).
- A Brief History of Parliamentary Government in NSW (missing)
- Author unknown. At the NSW Parliament's website. Consists of:
- Historical Development and Democratic Growth in NSW (A timeline) (missing)
- The Growth of Parliamentary Democracy in NSW ("History by event") (missing)
- A Century of Achievement
- By Professor David Flint. Paper presented to the Samuel Griffith Society in November 2000 (but possibly written in 1999 since at one point the author refers to "[i]n July of this year the British Parliament invited the Australian Parliament to celebrate with it the enactment of the Constitution of Australia Act on 9 July, 1899"). Reflections on Australian history, some of them of a constitutional kind.
- "There are only four other countries which could claim to have a longer unbroken democratic history. And it is relevant that we celebrate this year the fact that, one hundred years ago, a federal Constitution was drafted in Australia, by Australians and approved by the Australian people, for the very first federation whose borders would encompass a whole continent."
- "Now some people will tell you that this produces too much rigidity in the Constitution. This view is usually based on the fact that Australians have not readily approved referenda proposing change to the Constitution. Of the 44 proposals for change made over this century, Australians have approved eight. By way of comparison, 25 changes have been made to the Constitution of the United States. But ten of these--the Bill of Rights--were made in 1791, and were necessary to secure its ratification. So from 1791 there have been fifteen changes to the US Constitution. Fifteen in two centuries, compared to eight in our one century. A comparable record, I would say, especially if one excludes the two American amendments on Prohibition, one to impose it and one to remove it!"
- Civil Identity and the Anglosphere in Australia
- By Professor Kenneth Minogue. Address to the Samuel Griffith Society in November 2000. Touches on constitutional history.
- "The Hudson Institute in the United States has recently been considering setting up a unit to study what it calls the 'Anglosphere', an idea explored by the writer James Bennett. The Anglosphere refers to something common to all of those countries which were strongly influenced by the British."
- "Constitutional balance survived and prospered in England at a time when the rest of Europe went absolutist. It was there and waiting in the 19th Century, when Europe had had one nasty dose of absolutism and many Europeans were looking for a way of avoiding the choice between Jacobinism and some version of the ancien regime. And there before them, as a possible constitutional direction, was the Anglosphere: a set of peoples living free and under law."
- Constitutional Geography of Australia
- From 1786 to 1901. Maps, brief comments, and a federation timeline. Part of the Holdfast Database South Australia.
- Constitution, ss 53-57, and the Events of 1974-1975
- By Dr Margaret Kelly. March 2000. Lecture notes. Essentially a chronology of events. For the LAW309 course at Macquarie University.
- The Development of Bicameral Parliamentary Systems
- By Alun A. Preece. At the website for ANU's E Law journal, September 2002 issue. Origins and spread of bicameralism.
- "Despite its important role in theories of mixed and balanced government, that bicameralism that exists in the world today seems to be very much the product of a combination of accidental circumstances existing in the England of the 14th century. It later spread widely through copying of the English model. Consequently the advantages which it has brought to government in some countries over the past few centuries are attributable to its spontaneous formation in England where it was able to grow as a result of a uniquely fluid social structure."
- First Women in Australian Parliaments--Historical Note
- By Janet Wilson and Consie Larmour. A research note from the Department of the (Federal) Parliamentary Library. ("Although New Zealand was the first country in the world to accord the vote to women in 1893, South Australia led the world in not only enfranchising women in 1894 but also making them eligible to sit in Parliament.")
- The High Court of Australia: History of the Court
- Author unknown. At the High Court's own website.
- Judicial Independence: Its History in England and Wales
- By Lord Justice Brooke, Court of Appeal, England. Part of Fragile Bastion: Judicial Independence in the Nineties and beyond. At the website of the Judicial Commission of NSW.
- The Judiciary of France: Reconstructing Lost Independence
- By Bron McKillop. Part of Fragile Bastion: Judicial Independence in the Nineties and beyond. At the website of the Judicial Commission of NSW. An interesting look at the history (post-1789) of the French judiciary.
- "The Revolution of 1789 drastically curtailed the power and independence of the judges in France and reduced them to little more than civil servants. Under the Fifth Republic from 1958 the judiciary has recovered some of its losses. There remain, nonetheless, significant differences between the civil law judiciary of France and the common law judiciary of Australia".
- "It is no simple matter to make comparisons between the French and the Australian judiciaries. The legal and governmental systems each inhabits are significantly different, as are their place and role in those systems. We may instance a few of these differences. There are two distinct court systems in France--judicial courts and administrative courts--as opposed to our single (judicial) court system, which has review powers over administrative tribunals. French trial courts usually sit collegially (the norm is three judges) whereas our trial judges sit singly. French cases are decided essentially on written dossiers whereas ours are decided essentially on oral testimony. French judges are specially trained and pursue a judicial career, whereas our judges are usually appointed from among experienced barristers."
- A Matter of Public Importance: Votes for Women
- By Janet Wilson and Deirdre McKeown. Issued 25 June 2002. Comparatively brief, but includes links to other online pages, such as to the first speeches of Dorothy Tangney and Enid Lyons, the first women elected to the Senate and House of Representatives, respectively. (Note: some of the links no longer seem to work.) An E-Brief from the Department of the (Federal) Parliamentary Library.
- "On 12 June 2002 it will be a hundred years since Australia became the first country in the world to give most women the right to vote and the right to stand for the Commonwealth Parliament."
- The Origins of the Senate
- A brief history of how the Senate came by its name, composition, and powers. Senate Brief #9.
- Political Institutions: History of Australian Democracy
- Author unknown. At the Citizenship and Australian Democracy site. Historical background, colonial chartism, responsible government, etc.
- Salutem adferre reipublicae: the Dominion Concept and the Empire (missing)
- By Fred Nash, given at a workshop conference ("The Dominion Concept: Inter-state and Domestic Politics in the British Empire") at the University of Warwick, England, in July 1998. At the Political Science Discourse site. Scattered references to Australia. From an Australian constitutional standpoint, the most interesting section is the one where the appointment of Sir Isaac Isaac as Governor-General is slotted into the wider evolution of Empire to Commonwealth.
- "Between 1927 and 1929, Canada, Ireland, and South Africa appointed their own legations in third countries, and in 1928 the first High Commissioner was appointed to Canada, creating a channel of diplomatic and government to government contact, no longer via the office of the governor-general. This fed into the change in the process of appointment and indeed further change in the substance of the office governor-general: in 1930 the first native governor-general was appointed to Australia, and the warrant for the appointment was countersigned by the prime minister of Australia. In the process, the principle that the King will be advised only by the government of the relevant dominion in matters to do with that dominion was firmly established."
- Senate Legislative and General Purpose Standing Committees: First 20 Years 1970-1990
- "A History of Senate Legislative and General Purpose Standing Committees". Author Unknown. More historical info about Senate committees can be found here.
- Subjects and Citizens: History of Australian Citizenship
- Author unknown. At the Citizenship and Australian Democracy site. Historical background, women's rights, Aborigines, etc.
- Survey of Literature on the First [Commonwealth] Parliament
- By Kay Walsh. Papers on Parliament: Collection No. 35. Date uncertain, but prob. c.1999. A survey that "examines sources that deal with the formation and working of the first parliament, without venturing into the broad area of the long-term results of legislative and political issues which it addressed."
- The Trial of King Charles I--Defining Moment for our Constitutional Liberties
- By Justice Michael Kirby. Speech delivered in 22 January 1999 to the Anglo-Australian Lawyers' Association, London. At the Justice Kirby's Papers website.
- "The trial of King Charles I was, by legal standards, a rather discreditable affair. The 'Court' had no legal authority. It was the creature of the power of the army. The King had no advance notice of the charge. No one was appointed to help him with his defence. The court did not even pretend to be impartial. When the King scored a point in argument, the soldiers around the Hall showed where the real power lay. Eventually the King's refusal to answer was deemed not to be a plea of not guilty (requiring the accuser to prove the charge) but a plea of guilty to treason." Yet... "The trial and execution of King Charles I was a critical turning point in English constitutional history. ... Without the trial of the King, it is inconceivable that the Glorious Revolution of 1688 would have taken place. Yet it is that revolution which finally established the system of limited or constitutional monarchy as a conditional and generally symbolic form of government, always ultimately answerable to the will of the people."
- What old laws of historical importance still apply in the ACT? (missing)
- Part of the Questions and Answers section of the A.C.T. Attorney-General's site.
- Why we chose proportional representation (118K)
- By John Uhr. Papers on Parliament: Collection No. 34. August 1999. Traces the history of the use of PR for the Senate.
- "With Eyes Open": Andrew Inglis Clark and our Republican Tradition (162K)
- By John M Williams. Some interesting insights into how parts of the existing Federal Constitution came to be. In Federal Law Review Vol. 23 No. 2. Stored at the archived copy of the Federal Law Review at the National Library of Australia.
- Women in the Senate
- A "brief history". Senate Brief #3.
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Lists
(more lists
concerning Federal Parliament can be found here.)
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- Federal Executive & Legislature
- Federal Judiciary
- Federal Referenda and Plebiscites
- Federation
- Federation Referenda 1898-1900 (missing)
- Colony-by-colony statistics of the referenda held from 1898-1900 on the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Bill. At the Centenary of Australia's Federation 1901-2001 site.
- The First Commonwealth Election (missing)
- Constitutional provisions, voting systems used, the results in each State, polling day, and the names of the House of Representatives electorates used. At the Centenary of Australia's Federation 1901-2001 site.
- States
- NSW
- (Lots more lists relating to the NSW Parliament can be found here.)
- Queensland
- (Further Qld lists here.)
- Tasmania
- (Further Tasmanian lists here.)
- Leaders of the Opposition
Since 1856. Chronologically arranged.
- Premiers of Tasmania
Since 1856. Chronologically arranged.
- General Elections of the House of Assembly since the introduction of Hare-Clark (1909-1998) (missing)
("Hare-Clark" == the Hare-Clark system of proportional representation.)
- Timeline of Principal Tasmanian Constitutional Events (missing)
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States
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- Launching the Ship of State: A Constitutional History of Western Australia
- By Mathew Trinca. 1997. Online book. At the Constitution Centre of Western Australia site.
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Statistics
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- Party Representation in the [Federal] Parliament
- For each house. Also indicates those occasions when the government party or parties obtained an absolute majority in the Senate.
- Party Representation in Parliament since 1901
- By Margaret Healy & Martin Lumb. A research note from the Department of the (Federal) Parliamentary Library. Mostly consists of tables showing the status of the parties in each federal chamber from 1901 through to 1996.
- State of the parties in each chamber (Senate & House of Representatives) since 1901 "immediately following each election"):
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The Constitution (and other Important Statutes and Documents): Texts |
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Constitutional Act
(texts)
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- Annotated Commonwealth Constitution
- At the Constitutional Centenary Foundation site.
- The Australian Constitution: A First Reading
- The text of the Constitution Act side-by-side with a commentary (plus links to assorted other material). By John Kilcullen. Part of the Teaching Materials on the History of Political Thought site at Macquarie University.
- Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 (105K)
- If your browser can't display
struck through text, there is an alternate version here.
- Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900
- Images of the actual document & its amendments (plus brief details on its significance and history). At the Documenting a Democracy site.
- The Constitution
- Text of the Constitution Act at the Division of Law of Macquarie University. Mainly of interest to these pages for the notes at the end.
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Constitutional Amendments
(carried or otherwise)
(texts)
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- Constitution Alteration (Rights and Freedoms) 1988
- Defeated at referendum. At the Department of the (Federal) Parliamentary Library site.
- Its accompanying explanatory memorandum is also available (from the same site).
- Note that this proposed amendment was based not on the version proposed by the Constitution Commission in its final report but on the version proposed by the Commission's judicial committee.
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Other Statutes
(texts)
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- Australia Act 1986
-
- Note:
- There were actually two official versions of this Act. The one given here was that enacted by the Commonwealth Parliament. For technical reasons, the Australia Act had also to be passed by the British Parliament. So far as substance is concerned, both versions were identical. However...
To make life more complicated, this latter version had to be specifically "requested and consented to" by the Commonwealth Parliament (as per the requirements of section 4 of the Statute of Westminster 1931).
In addition, because of the way the Commonwealth Parliament passed its own version, that particular one had in its own turn to be "requested and consented to": by each State Parliament (as per the dictates of section 51(xxxviii) of the Federal Constitution).
(Actually, the States "requested and consented to" the British Parliament's version also, presumably as a matter of form, for there was no legal requirement for them to do so.)
- The English Bill of Rights, 1689
- Note:
- The Bill of Rights was passed by the so-called "Convention Parliament" following the Glorious Revolution, in which the (pro-Catholic) James II was ousted and the (pro-Protestant) William and Mary installed in his place, and was one of the pieces of legislation used to "legalise" the coup d'etat.
Although partly a statement of rights in general (as the title implies), it is more particularly a statement of Protestant rights; and you will note that the anti-popish sentiment is, in places, quite palpable.
A number of the provisions of the US Bill of Rights were later drawn from this statute.
- Note:
- at the time the Bill of Rights was made, the Julian (Old Style) calendar was operating. The Gregorian (New Style) calendar did not come into force in Britain (and its colonies) until 1752.
- Statute of Westminster 1931
- Note:
- So far as Australia is concerned, a substantial portion of this Act was repealed by (because that portion was then incorporated into) the Australia Act 1986.
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| Non-Statutes |
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- Constitutional Documents
- Contains (after a discussion of "The Character of Political Unions") texts of Queen Victoria's proclamation, and the original letters-patent, instructions, & commission issued for the Governor-General. An appendix to The Constitution of the Commonwealth Of Australia by Sir W. Harrison Moore, which is at the Australian Federation Full Text Database of Sydney University Library. (The same appendix also gives the texts of the letters-patent, instructions, and commission for the Governor of Victoria.)
- Letters Patent Relating to the Office of Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia
- At the Australian Republic Unplugged site. (Another copy here at the SCALEPlus site.)
- Simultaneous Dissolution Proclamations
- The original title for this page is just "Simultaneous Dissolutions", which seemed a tad misleading since it is not (as such a title might infer) a mere list of dates but something rather more useful: the actual texts of the proclamations issued by the Governor-General under the authority granted him by s57 of the Constitution. At the Department of the (Federal) Parliamentary Library site.
- The Whitlam Dismissal: Chief Justice Barwick's Advice to Sir John Kerr
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| State & Territory Constitutions |
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- Australian Capital Territory
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- Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government Act) 1988
- A Commonwealth statute.
- Proportional Representation (Hare-Clarke) Entrenchment Act 1994
- ACT statute. Provides that the ACT's Hare-Clarke electoral system cannot be abolished save by a referendum and a vote of two-thirds of the the ACT's Legislative Assembly.
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| Northern Territory |
- Draft Constitution for the Northern Territory Final draft. Aug 1996.
- By the Sessional Committee on Constitutional Development of the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory. Intended (once adopted by referendum) to be a home grown constitution to replace the current federal statute (the Northern Territory (Self-Government) Act 1978. The above link includes links to various versions of the statement made by the Chief Minister when tabling the text in the NT legislature as well as to the text itself.
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| New South Wales | - Constitution Act 1902
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| Queensland | - Consolidation of the Queensland Constitutions: Discussion Drafts
- Dated June 1999. At Queensland's Constitution Review Commission site. Texts of the two proposed bills (in PDF form) as well as explanatory notes (in HTML). Note the warnings in the notes for the "Constitution of Queensland" bill concerning what would appear to be the the proposed de-entrenchment of the present State constitution's entrenched provisions.
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- South Australia
| Constitution Act 1934 |
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- Tasmania
| Constitution Act 1934 |
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Victoria
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- Constitution Act 1975 (223K)
- The Constitution of Victoria with notes on how it works (missing)
- 2nd edition.
- Victoria's Constitution
- Brief description (plus a link to the text linked to above).
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Western Australia
| - Constitution Act 1889
- Constitution Acts Amendment Act 1889
- Both are part of the AustLII site. Note: the Constitution Acts Amendment Act contains much of the detail on the constitution of the individual houses. For example, the maximum term of the Legislative Assembly. Also:
- Our Constitution (missing)
By Harry Phillips. Subtitled "an abridged version of the Western Australian Constitution" but actually a brief essay on the features of the State Constitution of Western Australia.
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| Website Collections |
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- Documenting a Democracy--Australia's Story
- The texts of constitutions, landmark Acts of Parliament, court judgements, and other documents (eg the secret instructions given to James Cook by the British Admiralty in 1768 before his first voyage) for the Commonwealth and each Australian State and for the Northern Territory.
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