“ There can be no federation if we should happen, any of us, to insist upon conditions which stand in the way of federation; there can be no complete union of these governments, of these communities, of these separate colonies, unless we can so far clear the way as to approach the great question of creating a federal power as if the boundaries now existing had no existence whatever. I cannot too fervently impress upon my co-representatives from all parts of Australia the necessity of keeping in view the one object of the better government of Australia, the whole Australian people. ”

“ A distinguished military officer told us before the war that Australians would require to be in the majority of two to one in meeting a foreign foe on our own shores; but the furious onslaught that accompanied the landing at Gallipoli, the bitter fighting and terrible trials of the occupation, and the wonderful skill that made possible the bloodless evacuation have shown us that the Australians carried out a feat of arms not excelled by the most highly-trained regulars of any nation of the world. ”

“ The Union Jack floats proudly above the Government camp on the hill, and military sentinels are on duty before the gold-tent.
As the diggers reach the spot they pitch their tents on the lower slopes of the hills or in the green flats. At night their watch-fires gleam far and wide, and from a neighbouring height the place has the appearance of a large town illuminated. A new goldfield is the favourite resort of horse stealers, thieves, and miscreants of all kinds, who, lost in the crowd and confusion, here find ample opportunities for carrying on their nefarious practices. ”

“ I venture to appeal to every colony, and to every delegate representing every colony, to meet the work on which we are about to begin, in a broad federal spirit. We cannot hope for any just conclusion—we cannot hope reasonably for any amount of valid success—unless we lose sight to a large extent of the local interests which we represent at the same time that we represent the great cause. ”

“ I stand in this colony as the Chief Magistrate, and the representative of our Sovereign; anything, therefore, that could lessen me in the eye of the public would be degrading the King's authority, which shall never suffer in my person whilst I am capable of giving it its full power and consequence. I never can or will listen to the complaints of any set of men who feel themselves above preferring them with moderation, and a decent submission to the laws and regulations of the colony; they must not—they shall not—dictate laws and rules for the government of this settlement ”

“ In the effervescence and excitement of public speaking it was not at all surprising that a threat should sometimes be uttered; but many years must elapse before an appeal to physical force would bear even the semblance of reason. We have, then a mighty Empire to contend against—one which can laugh our threatening to scorn. And what are the weapons we must employ? What, but the weapons of truth? We must diffuse right information; we must expose our wrongs—and we must appeal to the justice of the British Nation. ”

“ It is only by joining hands in good faith as the people of one kindred; it is only by giving and taking—by entertaining compromise as far as compromise can be entertained without deadly injury to principle—it is only by doing that, we can hope to found this union. If we unfortunately miss this great occasion, and leave the work undone, it will be done in a few years hence, and it will be done by younger hands, who will gain the credit of having effected this bond of union, which will be in itself, if rightly effected, of more value than any other achievement in the history of this continent. ”

“ Broadly speaking, what was represented in the noble assemblage was worth. The worthiest of Australia were there—the men who hold their distinguished positions because they have won them, and because they deserve them. All that is best in politics, in commerce, in industry, in the arts, in the Church, in the school, in the public service of Australia was represented there, and every heart beat high with pride and with hope. ”

“ In walking along the streets of Sydney or Melbourne you hear nothing talked about but gold; you see nothing exhibited in shop windows but specimens of gold, or some article of equipment for the gold-digger. In every society gold is the interminable topic of conversation; and throughout the colonies the only newspapers now read are those which contain intelligence from our golden fields. ”

“ They can only have one crop of fruit; they can only produce antipathy, disunion, aggression, reprisal, wide-spread discontent, and, if they are suffered to go on, civil war. That is a prospect which no man of just mind can contemplate—that these colonies, sprung from the same stock, possessing the same great inheritance of equal laws and all the riches of science which have been achieved and stored up for us in the mother country—that we, side by side, instead of living in brotherhood and amity, should live in constant irritation and hostility. ”

“ Made an early start and steered straight for the anchorage, distant about five miles, having first ascended the range to have a view of the country, which was very extensive. Far as the eye could reach to the westward, the Roe Plains and Hampton Range were visible; while to the eastward lay Wilson's Bluff and the Delissier sand-hills; and three miles west of them we were delighted to behold the good schooner Adur, riding safely at anchor in Eucla harbour, which formed by no means the least pleasing feature of the scene to our little band of weary travellers. ”

“ What with the sun and the rain—the sand and the floods—the thieves with four legs and the thieves with two—the passengers hug themselves at the recollection that they have brought no merchandise for sale, glad enough to be able to take care of themselves. The sooner they get out of this horrid hole the better, so they enquire if there is any coach to the town—they are answered by a careless shake of the head, and so, like good settlers, they determine to set off and walk, carrying their light parcels with them, and leaving the heavy things with a friend who refuses to go any further. ”

“ In future no man shall have just cause to complain of Violence, Injustice or Oppression; No free Man shall be taken, imprisoned, or deprived of his Home, Land or Liberty, but by the Law; Justice shall be impartially administered without regard to or respect of persons; and every man shall enjoy the fruits of his industry in Security.
SOLDIERS!
Your conduct has endeared you to every well-disposed inhabitant in this Settlement, Persevere in the same honourable path And you will establish the credit of the New South Wales Corps on a basis not to be shaken. ”

“ This is the righteous principle upon which we have taken our stand. Whilst we were disputing among ourselves who should bear the load, we were likely to be sacrificed by our ungenerous divisions. But we have now a new principle; and a principle is a wedge—if sufficient force is applied, every obstacle will be riven into shivers. We now say that no man should be an involuntary gaoler, much less shall the inhabitants of these colonies be the penal slaves and gaolers of the British Empire. (Cheers.) ”

“ A sight never to be forgotten was the assemblage which, in perfect order, but with exalted feeling, awaited the arrival of the Duke and Duchess in the great avenues which branch out from beneath the vast Dome of the Exhibition-building. We have not in Australia any sense of the historical prestige which attaches itself to a royal opening of the British Parliament. ”

“ By my second condition I seek to define what seems to me an absolutely necessary condition of anything like perfect federation, that is, that Australia, as Australia, shall be free—free on the borders, free everywhere, in its trade and intercourse between its own people; and that there shall be no impediment of any kind—that there shall be no barrier of any kind between one section of the Australian people and another; but, that the trade and general communication of these people shall flow on from one end of the continent to the other, with no one to stay its progress or to call it to account ”

“ But all through this great, this noble, this successful effort, we have had different sources of irritation, of bad neighbourhood, of turmoil, of aggression, which, if they were to go on, must make these co-terminous communities instead of being one people of one blood, one faith, one jurisprudence, one in the very principles of civilization themselves—instead of that must make us cavilling, disputatious, foreign countries. ”

“ In their schemes of desertion from the colony, their own death, if they succeed in getting away, is inevitable; but their minds have been worked up to such a pitch of folly, rashness, and absurdity, that nothing but experience will convince them; if we suffer them to escape into the country they are lost, not only to us but to the world, for perish they must. ”

“ Officers and men, Mr. Romilly and Gentlemen, This interesting and important ceremony now formally concluded, it only remains for me, in Her Majesty's name to express the fervent hope that under the blessing of Almighty God the establishment of this Protectorate may conduce to the peace, happiness and welfare of the people of this vast territory. May the British flag which we have this day planted on these shores be to the people of this portion of New Guinea the symbol of their freedom and their liberty, and the Proclamation which I have just read, the charter of their rights and privileges. ”

“ I am aware that the deficiency of agriculture, which is so remarkable in this country, is attributed to the aridity of the climate by many gentlemen whose experience entitles their opinions to respect; but, as I have during the eighteen years last past annually cultivated and sown with wheat a large quantity of land, in various parts of the Upper Hunter District—a district generally considered to be unfavourable for the purpose—and have, in that long period, only failed twice in obtaining crops, and have reaped two self-sown, which in a great measure compensated for even their loss. ”

“ Away they start for the City of Adelaide, and after ten minutes of rough walking through the loose sand, which is fatiguing enough, they gain the firm and beaten road, with the cheerful hills before them, glad enough to have overcome their morning troubles. Though very warm the walk is agreeable, and out of a cloud of dust before them, they soon descry a dray or two, each drawn by a long line of bullocks. ”

“ Not the least pleasing reflection that suggests itself when reviewing these demonstrations of general joy is the confirmation of the fact, now so long and in so many lands established, that those descended from the old stock at home, to whom self-government has been a timely concession, not a charter wrung from the Mother country by the force of arms, still recognize and revere the grand old institutions, which have made England the greatest power on earth. ”

“ That government must, of course, be sufficiently strong to act with effect, to act successfully, and it must be sufficiently strong to carry the name and the fame of Australia with unspotted beauty, and with uncrippled power throughout the world. One great end, to my mind, of a federated Australia is, that it must of necessity secure for Australia a place in the family of nations, which it never can attain while it is split up into separate colonies with antagonistic laws and with hardly anything in common. ”

“ The causes of hindrance or failure of agriculture generally, and of the raising of wheat, in particular, I take to be the first and greatest, that for many years the policy of the Government of the colony, whatever may have been its object, has unquestionably tended not only to check the formation of new agriculture establishments, but to depress existing ones. ”

“ The greatest historian can find no materials ulterior to such as are here presented, for there is nothing ulterior to them but the deeds themselves. They are the records written by the men who gave their life and health to lay the foundation of Australia's greatness—by Phillip, weakening under the racking cares of the infant state; by Sturt in the scorching desert, as the last duty of an exhausting day. They are aglow with the heat of action; they are inspiring in their quiet modesty and strength. ”

“ No life can be more independent and free than that of the Australian digger; no travelling more agreeable than summer travelling in the Bush; carrying about with you in your cart your tent, your larder, and all your domestic appointments. In choosing a halting place for the night you have the whole country open to you—no walls or hedges to shut you in to a dusty turnpike road. You drink from the clear running creek ”

“ This reasoning has had great weight on the Minds of best informed Men; but if we can by our united Efforts (as assuredly we can) raise in this Colony any Quantity of fine Wool, all its force would be at once demolished. Whatever the demands of Great Britain may be for that Commodity, we certainly may supply it. The universal use of Machinery might then be safely sanctioned, and the British Manufacturers would be enabled so to reduce the price of Woollen Cloths, as would assure throughout the world the most Monopoly that any people ever possessed. ”

“ The seven natives slept at our fire. We gave them as much damper as they could eat. They had not the least particle of clothing, and made pillows of each other's bodies, and resembled pigs more than human beings.
July 1st. Descending the cliffs with difficulty, we followed along the foot of them, which was beautifully grassed, and, after travelling twelve miles, beheld the Eucla sand-hills. On my pointing them out, every heart was full of joy, and, being away some distance, I heard the long and continued hurrahs from the party! Eucla was all the conversation! ”

“ Some idea of the difficulty to be faced may be gathered when it is remembered that every round of ammunition, all water, and all supplies had to be landed on a narrow beach and then carried up pathless hills, valleys, and bluffs, several hundred feet high, to the firing line. The whole of this mass of troops, concentrated on a very small area, and unable to reply, were exposed to a relentless and incessant shrapnel fire, which swept every yard of the ground, although, fortunately, a great deal of it was badly aimed or burst too high. ”