Australia before Federation - 1 Before Federation, Australia was a group of six sparsely populcted, self-governing colonies belonging to a country on the other side of the world. Distances between the major settlements were vast and the colonies were developing like separate countries with no commen goal. In Victoria, they want people to buy locally [produced goods fo keep the formers and ‘manufacturers in business, They protect their economy by adding taxes fo goods nat are imporied Kom other colonies or ‘countries This makes them more expensive, so, Beople will buy Victorian goods instead. = ven if al the colonies ogreed fo help the ‘one being invaded, whe would organise ‘the operation? The inwaclers would sneak in ‘easy wile our lot were arguing about who should be in charge! Not only that ut Ht would toke forever to ‘mobilise all units because Australia such ‘an enormous continent In New South Wales, hey want free trade between colonies. tis crazy having to pay import taxes on goods ‘ovary lime you want fo cross & Border. We ollbe better off with ee trace because it would keep prices down ‘and we woulan' hove fo pay import taxes, | What would happen ifthe Germans ‘Franch Iried te invade one of the ‘colonies? Thay ve got bigger armios ‘and navies then any of us: We wouldnt sland a:chanee against them! —] Have you ever crossed the borer into another ‘colony by tran? What @ nuisence! When the railways were being built the diferent colonies dnl 19 each other about what see track 10 tse. So now, when you get 1o.« Border, you have to change Hains, ven Fis the mide ofthe right, becouse the tracks ore oferent sizes, — Thete are far foo many foreigners coming into Australia. Many thousands of Chinese hove come over since the gold rushes. If we'e not Carel, there will soon be more of them thon there ore of us! This i @ Bish colony andl we must keep I that woy! ‘We shouldn't bs employing them shen there fre plenty of white men looking for work! a —— The train would hove fo be: Unloaded of he border anyway for all passengers and freight fo be checked by customs officials, = But they need foreigners in Queensland! They wouldn't be able fo harvest the sugar cane crops it wasn forthe Pacific slondiers, They put up wih poor working cconaions ans don't ask for os ‘much money as white men would, =e Yeon, me feo, cobber Tmavtroe blue ‘Astalion native. This place isin my bood. cant explain it out when | s9@ those paintings by Roberts fond MeCubbin oF read the latest Banjo poem, I nink, Yeoh. thats Australia, mate! | was Born in Austra, mate now oll about the hometane! trom my folks But this is my home .. this baoutiul red land vith cores of blue sky TT