Darwin Rebellion - Background

Background

From 1863 until 1911 Northern Territory residents were entitled to vote in both South Australian and from 1901, Commonwealth elections. This status had also enabled Territorians to qualify as South Australian voters in elections for both Houses of the Commonwealth Parliament after Federation in 1901.

On 1 January 1911 the transfer of the Northern Territory to the Commonwealth government deprived Territorians of all political representation and voting rights. The Commonwealth Constitution did not allow for Federal electorates to cross state borders. This enabled national governments to avoid a hypothetical impasse where a thousand Territory voters might some day hold the balance of power in an evenly divided Commonwealth Parliament. Of the 4.5 million white Australians living on the continent, only 1,729 lived in the Northern Territory, along with about 1,300 Chinese and an unknown number of Aborigines.

Following the transfer, the Northern Territory was run by an administrator appointed by the Commonwealth executive, a public servant answerable to the Commonwealth. In the years following Commonwealth Administration, Territorians became increasingly unhappy with unrepresentative government from southern Australia. The Northern Territory's few economic pursuits—pearling, pastoralism, and mining—were all run down. Expected Commonwealth-led development dissipated as Federal funding was diverted towards Australia's participation in World War I. Consequently, conflict between labour unions and the Northern Territory administration began to grow.