{"id":672076,"date":"2026-05-15T07:09:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T07:09:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/672076\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T07:09:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T07:09:15","slug":"happy-125th-birthday-to-the-commonwealth-of-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/672076\/","title":{"rendered":"Happy 125th birthday to the Commonwealth of Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 9th of May is a beautiful time of the year, with breezy, high-skied blue days around Australia. It is also a date that resonates in Australian civic history, writes history editor, Dr Glenn Davies<\/a>.<\/p>\n

ON 9 MAY 2026, the Australian Federal Parliament will have its quasquicentennial anniversary. One hundred and twenty-five years ago, the Australian Federal Parliament met at the Royal Exhibition Building<\/a> in Melbourne for the first time.<\/p>\n

When Australians finally decide on establishing our own independent nation, the obvious day of the year to inaugurate the Republic (new Commonwealth) of Australia is 9 May.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On 1 January 1901, 60,000 people gathered in Centennial Park, Sydney<\/a>, to witness the proclamation of the Federal Constitution<\/a>. One hundred and twenty-five years later,\u00a0Prime Minster Anthony Albanese wrote in\u00a0The Sydney Morning Herald<\/a> of the importance of the 125th anniversary of the federation of Australia and the impact Australia\u2019s democratic processes have had beyond our shores, such as the \u201csecret ballot\u201d, women\u2019s right to vote, compulsory voting and a fair day\u2019s wage for a fair day\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

\"Changing<\/a><\/p>\n

Albanese wrote:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u2018That’s what we can take pride in celebrating today: a democratic nation that Australians created in peace, have defended in war and have strengthened through their compassion, courage and instinct for fairness.\u2019<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

He finished his reflection with:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u2018When the time came to design a coat of arms for our new federation, the platypus missed out. Instead, we opted for two other iconic animals unique to our continent: the kangaroo and the emu. Neither goes backwards; they only move forward. Just like Australia.\u2019<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

On 1 January 1901, after years of debate, the various colonies in Australia joined together to form a Federation. While the new Constitution of Australia called for a new capital to be constructed, away from the major cities, until that time Melbourne would act as the seat of government of the new nation.<\/p>\n

Elections were held for the first Parliament of Australia and, on 9 May 1901, the newly minted Federal Parliament was sworn in<\/a> at the Royal Exhibition Building in the Carlton Gardens in front of 12,000 people.<\/p>\n

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\n(Image via National Archives Australia<\/a>) <\/p>\n

The first sitting was held the following day in the Victorian Parliament House<\/a> on Spring Street, Melbourne.<\/p>\n

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\nGroup photograph of all Federal Labour Party MPs elected at the inaugural 1901 election (Image via Wikimedia Commons) <\/p>\n

The opening of the new parliament was commemorated in oil on canvas by one of Australia\u2019s best-known artists, Tom Roberts<\/a>. Roberts\u2019 painting\u00a0is titled \u2018The Opening of the First Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia by His Royal Highness the Duke of Cornwall and York\u2019, 9 May 1901. It is widely known as the \u201cBig Picture<\/a>\u201d in recognition of its grand scale. Measuring 5.65 metres across and 3.6 metres tall, it is painted on three separate pieces of canvas, stitched together.<\/p>\n

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\n
\nTom Roberts’ “Big Picture” (Image via Wikimedia Commons) <\/p>\n

Soon after its completion, the \u201cBig Picture\u201d was sent to England and presented to King Edward VII<\/a>. It remained there for many years, hanging in St James\u2019s Palace<\/a> until 1957, when Queen Elizabeth II agreed to return the painting to Australia on permanent loan.<\/p>\n

The painting was too large for its intended home at Old Parliament House in Canberra, and for many years it was in storage and only occasionally displayed. In 1981, after a major conservation project, it was hung in the new High Court of Australia building in Canberra.<\/p>\n

When the new Parliament House was designed, a dedicated space for the painting was included in the foyer to the Main Committee Room<\/a>, at the very heart of the building. This area includes architectural features such as a skylight and balustrade that were designed to echo Roberts\u2019 original composition and connect the painting with other artworks from the Historic Memorials Collection<\/a>. The \u201cBig Picture\u201d has been on permanent public display in the new Parliament House since 1988.<\/p>\n

Melbourne served as the temporary federal capital of Australia from 1901 until 9 May 1927, when Old Parliament House<\/a> was opened in Canberra.<\/p>\n

Then, on 9 May 1988, the Federal Parliament transferred to the new Parliament House<\/a> on Capitol Hill, Canberra. In Walter Burley Griffin<\/a>‘s plan for the city, this was the most prominent location in Australia’s national capital. The new Parliament House is one of the largest buildings in the southern hemisphere.<\/p>\n

The name of the new nation created on 1 January 1901 was the Commonwealth of Australia and continues in use 125 years later. The irony is that the Commonwealth of Australia was established as a constitutional monarchy with the British monarch as the Head of State. Yet the term \u201cCommonwealth\u201d has a strong republican ancestry.<\/p>\n

It was \u00a0Henry Parkes<\/a>, the Premier of New South Wales, who advocated the name \u201cCommonwealth of Australia\u201d at the 1891 National Australasian Convention<\/a>. This was the title accepted for the new nation by the delegates and, despite some controversy in the intervening years, it was the title agreed to, with little fuss, at the People\u2019s Convention in 1897 and 1898<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Henry Parkes\u2019 proposal of the name \u201cCommonwealth of Australia\u201d was stated to be because of its old English meaning \u2013 government \u201cfor the common good\u201d and yet the popular republican meaning of \u201cCommonwealth\u201d and its associations to Oliver Cromwell<\/a>\u2019s republic in Britain were equally known to the convention delegates when they adopted it.<\/p>\n

\"Why<\/a><\/p>\n

On 9 May 1657, Oliver Cromwell formally refused the English crown when it was offered in the Humble Petition and Advice<\/a>. Cromwell is still considered to be the father of parliamentary democracy. Australians today are used to the term \u201cCommonwealth\u201d, which runs parallel to republican traditions without bearing the explicit connotations or implying the essential institution of republicanism.<\/p>\n

It is within the embrace of the term \u201cCommonwealth\u201d\u00a0that its English political ancestry can be seen, the structure for any future Australian republic \u2014 an Australian Head of State restrained within a parliamentary Westminster-style democracy rather than a U.S.-style executive president.<\/p>\n

When Australians finally decide it is time for our independence, the obvious day of the year to inaugurate the Republic of Australia is 9 May, and the place to do it is John Dunmore Lang Place<\/a>, a spacious grassed area below King Edward Terrace, Canberra and in a direct line with both Parliament Houses in Canberra.<\/p>\n

John Dunmore Lang<\/a> (1799\u20131878) was a turbulent Australian Presbyterian clergyman from Scotland, a writer, politician and activist, who was the first prominent advocate of an independent Australian nation and of Australian republicanism. In 1850,\u00a0he founded the Australian League<\/a>\u00a0to encourage national identity, resist convict transportation and promote a federal republic.<\/p>\n

In 1850, Lang promoted his ideas in\u00a0The Coming Event; Or, the United Provinces of Australia<\/a>, in which he predicted the formation of an independent Australian federal republic. By 1852, his republican activity culminated in the publication of Freedom and Independence for the Golden Lands of Australia<\/a> \u2014 an appeal for the establishment of a United States of Australia. This was the first argued case for an Australian republic and has become an established slogan of political radicalism and republicanism in Australia.<\/p>\n

9 May 1657, 9 May 1901, 9 May 1927, 9 May 1988.<\/p>\n

It is perhaps in the park named after Australia\u2019s greatest republican advocate, on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin<\/a>, Canberra, that on 9 May, our future Australian republic, the Commonwealth of Australia, will begin.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

You can follow history editor Dr\u00a0Glenn Davies<\/a>\u00a0on Twitter\/X\u00a0@DrGlennDavies<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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