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PRESENTATION BY THE AUSTRALIAN HIGH COMMISSIONER

CANADA150 CONFERENCE

OTTAWA, 11 MARCH 2010

Australia and Canada share some features that make our major historical celebrations worth comparing – relatively young country, colonial background, multi-ethnic population, federal structure with distinctive regional identities.

In 2001 Australia celebrated its Centenary of Federation. It was an inclusive year of commemorations, reaching out to all people across the country. The centenary followed the bicentennial celebrations in 1988, and the Olympic Games in 2000, both very Sydney-centric events.

In contrast, the 2001 celebration was equally important for every town in Australia, and moreover it focussed on many days and many months of historic importance because great events were taking place throughout the year 1901 - events that shaped this nation.

Part of the focus of the year was on raising understanding of the democratic evolution and launch of Commonwealth in 1901. There was some work to do. Research before 2001 showed that only about a quarter of Australians understood what federation was, and less than a fifth knew the name of the first Prime Minister. This sparked a public relations campaign “what kind of country would forget the name of its first PM”.

The celebrations were also aimed at generating debate about contemporary and future issues facing Australia. The process was launched by the appointment of A Centenary of Federation Advisory Committee which in 1994 delivered a report recommending ways to celebrate the centenary.

A National Council was subsequently established by the federal and state/territory governments. The federal government provided funding: $12 m for the council secretariat; $22 m for celebrations $9m for education and $15 million for communications.

A $1bn federation fund was set up to provide a lasting legacy, divided into three categories: Major projects (construction of a national museum, expansion of the national war memorial); Cultural and heritage projects; and Community projects.

A feature of the celebrations was that they were decentralised and so dispersed across the year that they made a different impact to any previous anniversary of importance. 4,000 events were held during the year.

There was a three pronged approach. First, there was a program of nationally significant events – centrepiece events - which involved every state and territory hosting at least one. Australia doesn't begin and end at the Hume Highway. In the north and in the outback many events astonished the overseas visitors who saw them.

Some highlights:
- A New Dawn on 1 January near Alice Springs in central Australia 
- the largest ever gathering of indigenous people for the Yepparenya Festival just outside Alice Springs. In the long history of Australia, in the fifty or sixty thousand years of Aboriginal settlement, there had not previously been a gathering of indigenous dancers and performers drawn from every corner of Australia. It couldn't have happened before 1788. To many of the Aboriginal groups who had come from afar, it was more a religious than a social occasion.
- In Townsville at dusk when probably the largest crowd ever to assemble in the history of tropical Australia saw a north Queensland pageant, a blend of national and regional pride, pass slowly along that packed foreshore. 
- A celebration of parliament in its original home in Melbourne

Some of the most popular celebrations criss-crossed State boundaries.
- The ‘source of the sea’ flotilla of boats old and new along the Murray River linked three states.
- Perth and Adelaide were linked by a train of 31 carriages commemorating the opening of the Trans-Continental Railway. This railway had been one of the promises that persuaded Western Australians to join the Commonwealth.
- The Federation Air Show delighted crowds in that outback region where both Qantas airline and the Flying Doctor Service had been born.

Second, there was an endorsement program which encouraged organisations and communities to develop their own activities – ranged from festivals, parades, sporting events, academic symposia; one was a ‘Federation Father’ beard growing contest

Third, there were some national projects aimed at leaving an enduring legacy
- 1.8 million commemorative medallions were struck for school children 
-  A website was set up that collected local histories from communities across the country
- A display at the national archives of founding documents.

Overseas, there was an Australia Week in London; arts festivals and travelling exhibitions in Asia – there was also an Australia feature during the Winterlude festival in Ottawa.

The year was primarily a celebration, and rightly so. It was also a time for criticism - a few public lectures pointed a machinegun down the main street of Australian history. With such celebrations it is often difficult to find a sensible balance between praising and lamenting the past.

But the centenary has created positive long-term legacies, from concrete projects including the railway linking Alice Springs and Darwin to the more nebulous but nonetheless important improvement in public knowledge of Australia’s history and civic pride.