A Century After Independence: What Is Australia's Legacy?

Does the date 26 January 1901 hold any significance to you? If you are Australian, it should. But if you were among the organizers of the Centennial Parade in Sydney on New Year's Day, you simply misread your calendar.

It was on 26 January 1901 that Australia's six colonies joined together as a newly independent state with official dominion status within the British Empire. The reasons for the grant of dominion status to a single state rather than to six separate colonies was obvious: The colonies wanted to eliminate tariffs on goods traded and transported within the various colonies (or states as they are now known). A Parliamentary system of government evolved from among the colonial assemblies. The prime minister (formerly known as the First Chief Minister of State) acquired executive authority as the designated head of government. The ruling British monarch remains the official head of state. The first Australian prime minister was Edmund Barton.

At various intervals during Australia's century as a dominion, campaigns have emerged to declare the country a republic, abolish the Queen as the head of state, and act as a "truly independent" entity. Referenda have been proposed and submitted to the electorate several times and were solidly rejected. Now 100 years after its central government was created, Australia is a very different place than it was at the time of its founding. A century of independence has yielded legacies of individualism and captivity, rugged convicts and racial bias, loyalty to the Crown and near rejection of its existence. It is only now that Australia seems willing to confront what the term "Australian" should and does signify.

And what exactly does it signify to be Australian? Does it suggest a deep respect of history? Not exactly. A recent survey indicated that most Australians could not name the country's first prime minister. In response to these results, the Centennial Committee launched a "shock-and-shame" television advertisement campaign. Some experts attribute the lack of knowledge of or interest in national history to the fact that independence was attained very peacefully. There was no war, no cry for revolution; there was simply a series of meetings of British and Australian politicians who decided the course of events they would follow. At that time Australia was a demographically homogenous society segregated by race. The indigenous Aborigines (who were allowed no political representation) occupied remote coastal territories and the interior regions. The European settlers and their descendants inhabited the coastal areas which were most readily accessible to ships. There were some attempts during the nineteenth century to relocate some Aboriginal groups further into the hostile interior, but these efforts were mild compared to the integration policies applied during the 1950s and 1960s. These programs were intended to "integrate" the indigenous peoples by displacing them from their ancestral lands, removing (often forcibly) children from their families, and subjugating the Aborigines into subservient roles meant to cater to the needs and interests of Europeans. The consequences of these policies are still being revealed.

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