Federation of Australia and the Commonwealth Constitution

Federation of Australia and the Commonwealth Constitution. The states join together and form the Commonwealth of Australia. The Commonwealth Constitution states that “in reckoning the numbers of the people...Aboriginal natives shall not be counted”. During debate in Queensland on protection powers over Aborigines, Augustus Gregory, Member of Parliament for Chermont, observes: the law of evolution says the “nigger” shall disappear in the onward progress of White Australia (Weekend Australian, 27-28 May 2000; Arwarbukarl Cultural Resource Association). Extract from Australian Constitution 1900 (with Section 127 before it was repealed in 1967) Interested Aborigines from the Sackville Reserve are not permitted to travel to Sydney to watch Federation celebrations. The APB reports “if granted to one district it could not be refused in others” and it would “unsettle and demoralise” the Aborigines (Brook, 1st edit, 31).