Parkes, Sir Henry (1815-1896), was a British-born politician and writer who became known as Australia’s “Father of Federation.” As premier of the British colony of New South Wales, Parkes played a central role in urging the six British colonies in Australia to form a federal union. In 1901, following many failed attempts at federation, the Commonwealth of Australia was formed. By that time, Parkes had died. The town of Parkes, in what is now the state of New South Wales, is named for him.
Henry Parkes was born on May 27, 1815, in Stoneleigh, England. He came to Australia in 1839. Although he had no formal education, he began to work as a freelance journalist and started writing poetry. He became increasingly active in politics in the 1840’s, campaigning for universal male suffrage—that is, the right to vote. He also argued against resuming the transportation of convicts to New South Wales, which had been suspended in 1840. Transportation was the practice of deporting convicted criminals from the United Kingdom to its colonies.
In 1854, Parkes was elected to the Legislative Council, which was then the one-house legislature of New South Wales. The following year, the British government approved a new constitution that provided for a more powerful two-house Parliament in New South Wales. In 1856, Parkes won a seat in the first Legislative Assembly, the lower house of the Parliament. He resigned later that year, but he would later serve in the Assembly a number of times during the course of his career. In 1872, Parkes became premier of New South Wales for the first time. He held this position five times between 1872 and 1891.
As early as the 1860’s, Parkes had begun calling for a federation to unite the colonies in Australia. In the early 1880’s, he proposed the idea of a federation council to deal with issues that affected all the Australian colonies. Such issues included the blackbirding (kidnapping) of South Sea Islanders to work on Australian plantations and the need that colonial governments felt to restrict Chinese immigration.
In 1883, the six Australian colonies, along with the island colonies New Zealand and Fiji, held an Intercolonial Convention in Sydney. There, the Australian colonies drafted a bill to create a federal council. However, Parkes, who was not in power at the time, viewed the bill as inadequate and did not support it. The council met several times but achieved little.
In a famous 1889 speech at the Tenterfield School of Arts in New South Wales, Parkes proclaimed that the time was right to unify the colonies. Parkes then organized the Federation Conference in Melbourne in 1890. At that conference, the colonies selected delegates for a National Australasian Convention to be held in Sydney in 1891. Parkes was selected to preside over the 1891 convention, but ill health prevented him from participating during most of the convention. At the convention, delegates drew up a constitution based on resolutions outlined by Parkes. Parkes also suggested the name Commonwealth of Australia for the federation of former colonies.
Parkes resigned from the New South Wales premiership in late 1891. In the following years, he continued to campaign for federation. He kept his seat in the New South Wales Parliament until 1895.
In recognition of his political efforts on behalf of the British Crown, Parkes was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George in 1877. For his continued service, he was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George, a higher level of the order, in 1888. Parkes died in Annandale, near Sydney, on April 27, 1896. On Jan. 1, 1901, the Commonwealth of Australia came into being, with a constitution based on the draft constitution from the 1891 convention.
See also Australia, History of (Proposals for unification); Constitution of Australia; Federation of Australia; New South Wales (Self-government).
