Federation Of Australia By Tristan Scheirs Defence

Essay: Federation of Australia By Tristan Scheirs†¨Ã¢â‚¬ ¨Defence†¨A very important reason why Australia decided to become a nation (having a federal government) was because of an inadequate defence force. Each of the six colonies in Australia had their own military force. But when it came to patrolling the extensive Australian coastline, they had to rely on the British navy to fulfil that task. Due to there being a number of countries such as Germany, France, and Russia who had colonised parts of the Pacific, there was a growing fear that one of them could have attacked Australia. There was a report released by British Major - General Sir J Bevan Edwards in 1889, states the individual colonies of Australia did not have enough soldiers,†¦show more content†¦Transport†¨There was a very significant argument in favour of Australia having a federal government, which was the need for a uniform railway system. In the late 1800s progress was restricted in t he colonies for having a different railway gauge. The colonies were operating independent of each other, whilst the railway systems were built. They faced a problem when there was a need to integrate and connect the tracks (for example from Victoria to New South Wales) when the gauges were of different lengths. This meant that trains could not cross colonial boarders, which ultimately would have restricted the main way of transporting people and goods on land from colony to colony. It was a great inconvenience when people had to change trains at the border of each colony. Tariffs Colonial governments applied tariffs (extra payments for imported goods) when goods were being transferred across borders. These taxes also created unnecessary tension between the colonies. Support would have grown towards Australia becoming a federation in order to remove restrictive trade taxes. People in the late 19th Century would have seen the benefits of creating a single market as strengthening the economy. Growing national pride As time progressed, colonists began to identify as Australian rather that British. During the time of federation over 80% of the population were Australian born. There were people