In 1890, Sir Henry Parkes reminded Australians that they had a natural kinship and declared them ready to manage their own affairs.
At a banquet in Melbourne on February 6th, 1890, a decade before the founding of the Commonwealth of Australia, Sir Henry Parkes, Premier of New South Wales, rose to reply to the toast ‘A United Australia!’, and spoke warmly of Australia’s ties of kinship and purpose.
Having brought hundreds of convicts to New South Wales, Arthur Phillip then had to conjure order out of their chaos.
The first British settlement in Australia was established at Sydney Cove on January 26th, 1788, and named after the Home Secretary. The policy of penal transportation was barbarity, but out of it Captain Phillips and his successors conjured civilisation — and began by disobeying orders.
Within little more than half a century a British penal colony turned into a prosperous, free-trade democracy.
Australia is a partner to be proud of: a sovereign constitutional monarchy with our Queen as Head of State, a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, and a prosperous democracy built on and dedicated to free trade that gave us priceless support in two world wars.