In what year was the Australian Constitution written?

The Australian Constitution was drafted between 1891 and 1898 at constitutional conventions, approved by colonial referendums in 1898 to 1900, and came into force on 1 January 1901. The drafting process took about a decade and involved delegates from all six Australian colonies working through technical and political compromises that shaped the eventual federation.

The drafting began at the National Australasian Convention in Sydney in 1891, with 45 delegates from the Australian and New Zealand colonies. A draft constitution emerged but stalled because of opposition in several colonies. The Australasian Federation Conference in Melbourne in January to February 1890 had set the foundation, with Henry Parkes' famous Tenterfield Oration of 24 October 1889 widely seen as the rhetorical starting point.

Renewed momentum came in 1897 with the Australasian Federation Convention held in Adelaide (March to May 1897), Sydney (September 1897), and Melbourne (January to March 1898). Ten delegates from each colony (except Queensland, which did not participate) produced the final draft. The draft was put to referendums in 1898 (NSW, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania) and 1899 to 1900 (the others). After Henry Parkes' compromise on the capital location (resolved by section 125 of the Constitution requiring the capital to be in NSW but at least 100 miles from Sydney), the Western Australian referendum in July 1900 was the last to approve.

The British Parliament passed the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 on 5 July 1900, with Queen Victoria giving royal assent on 9 July 1900. The Constitution came into force on 1 January 1901. The federation was proclaimed at Centennial Park in Sydney before a crowd of more than 60,000, with Lord Hopetoun sworn in as the first Governor-General and Edmund Barton as the first Prime Minister. The first federal election was held on 29 and 30 March 1901, and the first Parliament met in the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne on 9 May 1901. Parliament sat in Melbourne until moving to the provisional Parliament House in Canberra in 1927, with the current Parliament House opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 9 May 1988.