ABSTRACT
Unlike the United Kingdom and Canada, the political entity called Australia was created at one fell swoop, by agreement among the six colonies that came together to form a federal union in 1900. Though varying a little in their historical origins, these colonies were strikingly similar in terms of their social composition and their level of economic prosperity. They had been internally self-governing for some time before uniting. Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and Tasmania all secured responsible self-government (subject to the overriding British control of foreign affairs) in 1856; Queensland separated from New South Wales and gained equal status in 1859; and Western Australia reached the same constitutional position in 1890.
