IOO 



A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED. 



with the first military support ever tendered by any of these colonies to the mother- 

 country, and no more brilliant and exciting spectacle had ever been seen in Sydney 

 than was witnessed on the day of the departure of the troops. The military plans for 

 the Egyptian campaign were subsequently modified, and the little army returned in 

 safety without having seen much service ; but the impression produced in England by 

 the spontaneous loyalty of the Colonies was extraordinary. It gave rise to a new estimate 

 of the value of the Colonial Empire, and to this day it is impossible to calculate 

 fully all the indirect results that have flowed from this action. It stimulated greatly 

 the discussion of the whole question of Imperial Federation ; it gave a new aspect to 

 the problem of the naval defence of the Empire, which afterwards bore fruit in a joint 

 parliamentary action on the part of all the colonies with the exception of Queensland ; 

 and it greatly augmented the English interest in the Indian and Colonial Exhibition. 



Prior to this appearance of an Australian colony as an ally of the mother-country, 

 the interests of Australia in the Pacific had been brought prominently under notice. It 

 was mainly at the instance of . the Australian colonies that the English Government 

 consented, during the Administration of Sir Hercules Robinson, to take over from King 

 Thakombau the Fiji Islands. The project had been discussed of making these islands a 

 dependency of one of the colonies, but it was ultimately thought better, for the present 

 at least, to constitute them a Crown colony, and this course having been adopted the 

 Colonial Governments were not made contributors. A different policy was pursued a 

 few years afterwards in connection with the island of New Guinea. The Queensland 

 Government annexed by a formal proclamation all that part of this island not claimed 

 by the Dutch ; and it did this, not from any desire for new territory, but because it 

 regarded the possession of that part of New Guinea as important to the future security 

 of the colony. This act was disallowed by the Home Government, on the ground that it 

 was beyond the power of a Colonial Administration thus to enlarge the boundaries of 

 the Empire. The Colonial Governments assembled in conference urged the annexation 

 as an Imperial act, and the English Government so far yielded as to send an expedi- 

 tion to plant its flag on the southern coast, and declare a vague protectorate there, the 

 Colonies agreeing to contribute the sum of fifteen thousand sterling a year. The German 

 Government immediately followed suit by hoisting its flag on the northern coast, much 

 to the chagrin of the colonists, and a dividing line between the territories of the two 

 countries was subsequently agreed upon. 



The connection between the colonies and the mother-county, which is visibly main- 

 tained by the presence of the Governor as the representative of Her Majesty, has been 

 twice marked during the last few years by visits from members of the Royal family ; 

 the Duke of Edinburgh having made the Australian tour in command of the frigate 

 (ialatea, and the two eldest sons of the Prince of Wales having visited the colony as 

 midshipmen on board the Bacchante. On each occasion the Royal visitors were received 

 with the utmost cordiality and loyalty. The last representative of Her Majesty in New 

 South Wales, Lord Carrington, arrived in Sydney on the i2th of December, 1885, 

 and received a hearty welcome. His Administration has been marked by several occur- 

 rences of more or less importance, but he will in the main be recollected as the 

 Governor in whose term of office the Centenary of the settlement was celebrated. 



