History
Prior to 1901, Australia was a collection of colonies answerable to the United Kingdom. The oldest among these, New South Wales, had been established in 1788. With Federation in 1901, a new entity, the Commonwealth of Australia, was created by an Act of the British Parliament. The system of government for the Commonwealth was a federation, with a federal, Commonwealth government being the national government. The former colonies were converted into States, sub-national sovereign entities whose governments retained plenary power within their own territories, except where power has been assigned to the Commonwealth by the Constitution. Some of the non-integral territories of the former colonies, such as the Northern Territory of South Australia, were handed over to the Commonwealth. The Constitution also provided for the power of the federal government to create further territories in future.
Read more about this topic: Australian Governments
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“American time has stretched around the world. It has become the dominant tempo of modern history, especially of the history of Europe.”
—Harold Rosenberg (1906–1978)
“Let it suffice that in the light of these two facts, namely, that the mind is One, and that nature is its correlative, history is to be read and written.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The history of the genesis or the old mythology repeats itself in the experience of every child. He too is a demon or god thrown into a particular chaos, where he strives ever to lead things from disorder into order.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)