338 A HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



100,000 electors, quite one-third of the number on the rolls, did 

 not take the trouble to record their votes. It is true that in Victoria 

 the majority was so pronounced, 152,600 to 9,800, that the people 

 may have considered effort unnecessary. Yet it was the first case 

 in the history of Australia where the people had been directly called 

 upon to decide a very important step. Eegarding the heavy min- 

 ority vote in some of the other Colonies, it is only fair to add that 

 a large number of those who cast it were not opposed to Federation 

 in the abstract, but dissented from some of the provisions of the 

 Bill, or from the methods adopted for its promotion. In September 

 Queensland decided by a small majority to join ; and after the Bill 

 had passed the Imperial Parliament, Western Australia, to which 

 colony important fiscal concessions were temporarily made, was 

 added to the Dominion, and the Commonwealth was formed. 

 Messrs. Barton, Deakin, Kingston and Sir Philip Fysh went to 

 London on the invitation of Mr. Chamberlain to assist in the 

 passage of the necessary Act through the Imperial Parliament. 

 This was safely accomplished, after a compromise had been arrived 

 at on the proposal of the Colonies to abolish the right of appeal to 

 the Privy Council, and the Eoyal assent was given. The appoint- 

 ment of the Earl of Hopetoun as Governor- General, which shortly 

 followed, gave universal satisfaction, especially in Victoria, and on 

 the 1st of January, 1901, the imposing official inauguration of the 

 Commonwealth took place. 



The continuous annals of the Port Phillip district of New South 

 Wales and the Colony of Victoria cover a period of sixty-five years. 

 For the first two years, 1835-36, the settlers were unauthorised 

 squatters on Crown lands, warned off by formal proclamation. 

 The legalised settlement of the district dates from 1837, the year 

 when Queen Victoria was called to the British throne. It was in 

 her honour that the colony was named when it emerged from its 

 dependent position. It was under her signature that the colony 

 was elevated to the position of a State in the great Australian 

 Commonwealth. The pen, inkstand and table which she used on 

 the occasion of signing this historic document have been trans- 

 ferred to Australia to be treasured as a memorial of one of the last 

 official acts of a good Queen. Throughout an eventful epoch-making 



