The Corowa Conference was a meeting of Federationists, held in 1893 in the

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

border town of

Corowa Corowa is a town in the state of New South Wales in Australia. It is on the bank of the Murray River, the border between New South Wales and Victoria, opposite the Victorian town of Wahgunyah. It is the largest town in the Federation Council ...

, which debated the proposed federation of Australian colonies. Although patchily attended and without any immediate consequence, the 'road map' to Federation devised at the Conference was ultimately highly influential.

Background

In 1892 Edmund Barton, an advocate of Federation and Australia's first

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

, visited Corowa to urge support of the draft constitution produced by the National Federal Convention of 1891, then before the New South Wales Parliament. The

Australian Natives' Association The Australian Natives' Association (ANA) was a mutual society founded in Melbourne, Australia in April 1871. It was founded by and for the benefit of native-born white Australians and membership was restricted exclusively to that group. The A ...

played a large part in Federation, and local support for federation was evident in the fact that

was the location of the first Australian Natives' Association branch in New South Wales. Barton favoured the creation Federation leagues in such border districts, and the first of these were founded in Corowa and Albury. The idea was then picked up in other

Murray River The Murray River (in South Australia: River Murray) (Ngarrindjeri: ''Millewa'', Yorta Yorta: ''Tongala'') is a river in Southeastern Australia. It is Australia's longest river at extent. Its tributaries include five of the next six longest ...

towns. They eventually all banded together and formed the Border Federation League. Several months later William Drummond of the Berrigan 'everyone is equal' Drive branch of the Federation League proposed the idea of a conference to revive flagging interest in Federation. Corowa Federation Place's lup seep es Group, Corowa, NSW Profile

Proceedings

The Conference took place over 31 July to 1 August. Both the Premier and Opposition Leader of Victoria attended, but neither the Premier or the Opposition leader of New South Wales were present. Both

Henry Parkes Sir Henry Parkes, (27 May 1815 – 27 April 1896) was a colonial Australian politician and longest non-consecutive Premier of the Colony of New South Wales, the present-day state of New South Wales in the Commonwealth of Australia. He has ...

and Edmund Barton were also absent. There was evidently some ill-feeling between the Conference and Barton, and the Conference formally declined to express thanks to Barton's Australasian Federation League. William Coleman,''Their Fiery Cross of Union. A Retelling of the Creation of the Australian Federation, 1889-1914'', Connor Court, Queensland, 2021, p.86. The two key figures in the Conference proved to be Sir John Quick and

Robert Garran Sir Robert Randolph Garran (10 February 1867 – 11 January 1957) was an Australian lawyer who became "Australia's first public servant" – the first federal government employee after the federation of the Australian colonies. He served as th ...

, who devised, on-the-spot, a scheme to convene an Australia-wide convention, composed of directly elected delegates, tasked to draft a federal constitution, which would then be put to voters by referendum. Their scheme was initially given little attention, and Barton's Australasian Federation League publicly rejected it. But it was later to prove extremely influential, and was adopted in 1897-8, with barely any modification, by all six colonies.

Footnotes

{{reflist History of Australia (1851–1900) Riverina 1893 in Australia