supernatural beings, and their ships in some way endowed with life, and who were thrown into convulsions of terror by the first discharge of firearms which they witnessed, these Australians were neither excited to wonder by the ship, nor overawed by the superior number and unknown weapons of the strangers. Cook examined the bay in the pinnace, and landed several times; but by no endeavour could he induce the natives to hold any friendly communication with him. The wellknown circumstance of the great variety of new plants here obtained, from which Botany Bay derives its name, should not be passed over. Before quitting the bay the ceremony was performed of hoisting the Union Jack, first on the south shore, and then near the north head, formal possession of the territory being thus taken for the British Crown. During the sojourn in Botany Bay the crew had to perform the painful duty of burying a comrade-a seaman named Forby Sutherland, who was in all probability the first British subject whose body was committed to Australian soil.

After leaving Botany Bay, Cook sailed northward. He saw and named Port Jackson, but forebore to enter the finest natural harbour in Australia. Broken Bay and other inlets, and several headlands, were also seen and named, but the vessel did not come to an anchor till Moreton Bay was reached, although the wind prevented Cook from entering this harbour. Still sailing northward, taking notes as he proceeded for a rough chart of the coast, and landing at Bustard and Keppel Bays and the Bay of Inlets, Cook passed over 1,300 miles without the occurrence of any event worthy of being chronicled, till suddenly one night at 10 o'clock the water was found to shoal, without any sign of breakers or land. While Cook was speculating on the cause of this phenomenon, and was in the act of ordering out the boats to take soundings, the "Endeavour" struck heavily, and fell over so much that the guns, spare cables, and other heavy gear had at once to be thrown overboard to lighten the ship. As day broke, attempts were made to float the vessel off with the morning tide; but these were unsuccessful. The water was rising so rapidly in the hold that with four pumps constantly going the crew could hardly keep it in check. At length one of the midshipmen suggested the device of "fothering," which he had seen practised in the West Indies. This consists in passing a sail, attached to cords, and charged with oakum, wool, and other materials, under the vessel's keel, in such a manner that the suction of the leak may draw the canvas into the aperture, and thus partially stop the vent. This was performed with great success, and the vessel was floated off with the evening tide. The land was soon after made near the mouth of a small stream, which Cook called, after the ship, the Endeavour River. A headland close by he named Cape Tribulation. The ship was steered into the river, and there careened and thoroughly repaired. Cook having completed the survey of the east coast, to which he gave the name of New South Wales, sighted and named Cape York, the northernmost point of Australia, and took final possession of his discoveries

northward from latitude 38° south to latitude 10° south, on a spot which he named Possession Island, thence returning to England by way of Torres Straits and the Indian Ocean.

The great navigator's second voyage, undertaken in 1772, with the "Resolution" and the "Adventure" is of less importance. The vessels became separated, and both at different times visited New Zealand. Captain Tobias Furneaux, in the "Adventure," also found his way to Storm Bay in Tasmania. In 1777, while on his way to search for a north-east passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, Cook again touched at the coast of Tasmania and New Zealand.

On his return to England, Cook gave a most graphic description of New Zealand and its people. Men engaged in commerce became impressed with the value of the various articles which New Zealand produced, and hence of its importance as a market for manufactured goods; while the savant and the scientist regarded with great interest the information recently published respecting a race of people who, while having a real though hitherto undescribed form of civilisation, were yet greedy eaters of human flesh. Cook's report of the genial climate, the fertile soil, and the evergreen forests of the new archipelago, not only excited considerable interest in England, but so captivated the eminently practical mind of Benjamin Franklin that the American philosopher published a proposal for its immediate colonisation.

the "

Meanwhile, in 1772, Captain Marion du Fresne anchored his two ships, Marquis de Castries" and the "Mascarin," in the Bay of Islands. These vessels formed a French expedition of discovery. Sailing from Nantes, on the Loire, Lieutenant Crozet, in command of the King's sloop "Mascarin," had lost his masts, and the two ships put into the Bay of Islands to refit. Du Fresne was frequently on shore during his stay, and habits of intimacy begat in the mind of the French Commander confidence in the friendship of the natives. Both races lived in harmony for several weeks. "They treated us," says Crozet, "with every show of friendship for thirty-three days, with the intention of eating us on the thirty-fourth." The Maori version, given by Dr. Thompson, is: "We treated Marion's party with every kindness for thirty days, and on the thirty-first they put two of our chiefs in irons, and burned our sacred places." It matters little whether the Maoris had any valid excuse for eating their guests or not, the fact remains that an attack was made on the French, when twenty-eight of their party and the commander were killed and eaten. Crozet, who had a party of men engaged in getting spars on the Kawakawa River, was also in danger of being trapped by the treacherous savages; but being forewarned, he was enabled to punish those who had killed his comrades and sought his own destruction. Before leaving the river he refitted the two vessels, and, after a stay of sixty-four days in the Bay of Islands, continued his voyage.

On his first voyage, in 1770, Cook had some grounds for the belief that Van Diemen's Land, as Tasmania was then called, was a separate island. The observations of Captain Furneaux, however, did not strengthen this belief, and when making his final voyage, the great navigator appears to have definitely concluded that it was part of the mainland of Australia. This continued to be the opinion of geographers until 1798, when Bass discovered the strait which bears his name. The next recorded expedition is a memorable one in the annals of Australian History-the despatch of a British colony to the shores of Botany Bay. The fleet sailed in May, 1787, and arrived off the Australian coast early in the following January. The history of the British settlements in the Southern Seas has been given with considerable detail in previous issues of this volume, and in the edition for 1902-3 will be found a table of the principal occurrences in Australia and New Zealand, arranged in chronological order from the earliest times up to the close of the year 1903.

69

THE COMMONWEALTH.

THE

HE question of the federation of the various provinces of Australia was not overlooked by the framers of the first free Australian Constitution, who proposed the establishment of a General Assembly "to make. laws in relation to those intercolonial questions that have arisen, or may hereafter arise," and who, indeed, sketched out a tolerably comprehensive federation scheme. Unfortunately, however, that proposition was included with another for the creation of a colonial hereditary nobility,, and in the storm of popular opposition and ridicule with which the latter idea was greeted, the former sank out of sight. Again, in 1853, the Committees appointed in New South Wales and Victoria to draw up the Constitutions of their respective colonies, urged the necessity for the creation of a General Assembly; but the Home Government indefinitely postponed the question by declaring that "the present is not a proper opportunity for such enactment." From time to time, since Responsible Government was established, the evil of want of union among the Australian colonies has been forcibly shown, and the idea of federation has gradually become more and more popular. Some years ago (1883) the movement took such shape that, as the result of an Intercolonial Conference, the matter came before the Imperial Parliament, and a measure was passed permitting the formation of a Federal Council, to which any colony that felt inclined to join could send delegates. The first meeting of the Federal Council was held at Hobart in January, 1886. The colonies represented were Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania, Western Australia, and Fiji. New South Wales, South Australia, and New Zealand declined to join. South Australia sent representatives to a subsequent meeting, but withdrew shortly afterwards. The Council held eight meetings, at which many matters of intercolonial interest were discussed, the last having been held in Melbourne, early in 1899. One meeting every two years was necessary to keep the Council in existence. Being, from its inherent constitution, a purely deliberative body, having no executive functions whatever, the Federal Council possessed no control of funds or other means to put its legislation into force, and those zealous in the cause of federation had to look elsewhere for the full realisation of their wishes. The Council naturally ceased to exist at the inception of the Commonwealth.

An important step towards the federation of the Australasian colonies was taken early in 1890, when a Conference, consisting of representatives from each of the seven colonies of Australasia, was held in the Parliament House, Melbourne. The Conference met on the 6th February, thirteen members being present, comprising two representatives from each of the colonies, except Western Australia, which sent only one. Mr. Duncan Gillies, Premier of Victoria, was elected President. Seven meetings were held, the question of federation being discussed at considerable length; and in the end the Conference adopted an address to the Queen, expressing their loyalty and attachment, and submitting certain resolutions which affirmed the desirability of an early union under the Crown of the Australian colonies on principles just to all, suggested that the remoter Australasian colonies should be entitled to admission upon terms to be afterwards agreed upon, and recommended that steps should be taken for the appointment of delegates to a National Australasian Convention, to consider and report upon an adequate scheme for a Federal Constitution.

In accordance with the terms of that resolution, delegates were appointed by the Australasian Parliaments, and on the 2nd March, 1891, the National Australasian Convention commenced its sittings in the Legislative Assembly Chambers, Sydney, having been convened at the instance of Mr. James Munro, the Premier of Victoria. There were forty-five members of the Convention altogether, New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania, and Western Australia (which had only recently been placed in possession of the privilege of Responsible Government) each sending seven delegates, and New Zealand three. Sir Henry Parkes, then Premier of the mother colony, was unanimously elected President of the Convention; Mr. F. W. Webb, Clerk of the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales, was appointed Secretary; Sir Samuel Griffith, Premier of Queensland, was elected Vice-President; and Mr. (later Sir) J. P. Abbott, Speaker of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, was elected Chairman of Committees.

A series of resolutions was moved by the President, Sir Henry Parkes, setting forth certain principles necessary to establish and secure an enduring foundation for the structure of a Federal Government, and approving of the framing of a Federal Constitution; and after discussion and amendment, the resolutions were finally adopted, affirming the following principles :

1. The powers and rights of existing colonies to remain intact, except as regards such powers as it may be necessary to hand over to the Federal Government.

2. No alteration to be made in State boundaries without the consent of the Legislatures of such States, as well as of the Federal Parliament.

3. Trade between the federated colonies to be absolutely free.