1.
Parliament of Australia
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It consists of three elements, the Queen of Australia, the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Queen is represented by the Governor-General, through both Houses, however, there is a fused executive, drawn from the Westminster System. The upper house, the Senate, consists of 76 members, twelve for each state, Senators are elected using the single transferable vote proportional representation system and as a result, the chamber features a multitude of parties vying for power. The governing party or coalition rarely has a majority in the Senate and usually needs to negotiate with other parties and this tends to lead to the chamber being dominated by two major parties, the Liberal/National Coalition and the Labor Party. The government of the day must achieve the confidence of this House in order to gain and remain in power, although elections can be called early, each 3 years the full House of Representatives and half of the Senate is dissolved and goes up for reelection. The two Houses meet in separate chambers of Parliament House on Capital Hill in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, the Commonwealth of Australia came into being on 1 January 1901 with the federation of the six Australian colonies. The inaugural election took place on 29 and 30 March and the first Australian Parliament was opened on 9 May 1901 in Melbourne by Prince George, Duke of Cornwall and York, later King George V. The only building in Melbourne that was enough to accommodate the 14,000 guests was the western annexe of the Royal Exhibition Building. After the official opening, from 1901 to 1927, the Parliament met in Parliament House, Melbourne and it had always been intended that the national Parliament would sit in a new national capital. This was a compromise at Federation due to the rivalry between the two largest Australian cities, Sydney and Melbourne, which wished to become the new capital. The site of Canberra was selected for the location of the capital city in 1908. A competition was announced on 30 June 1914 to design Parliament House, however, due to the start of World War I the next month, the competition was cancelled. It was re-announced in August 1916, but again postponed indefinitely on 24 November 1916, in the meantime, John Smith Murdoch, the Commonwealths Chief Architect, worked on the design as part of his official duties. He had little enthusiasm for the project, as he felt it was a waste of money. Nevertheless, he designed the building by default, the construction of Old Parliament House, as it is called today, was commenced on 28 August 1923 and completed in early 1927. It was built by the Commonwealth Department of Works, using tradesmen, the final cost was about £600,000, which was more than three times the original estimate. It was designed to house the parliament for a maximum of 50 years until a permanent facility could be built, the building was opened on 9 May 1927 by the Duke and Duchess of York. The opening ceremonies were both splendid and incongruous, given the sparsely built nature of Canberra of the time and its small population, the building was extensively decorated with British Empire and Australian flags and bunting
2.
Werribee, Victoria
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Werribee is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia,32 km south-west of Melbournes Central Business District. Its local government area is the City of Wyndham, at the 2011 Census, Werribee had a population of 37,737. Werribee is situated on the Werribee River, approximately halfway between Melbourne and Geelong, on the Princes Highway and it is the administrative centre of the City of Wyndham Local Government Area and is the Citys most populous centre. Werribee is part of the Greater Melbourne metropolitan area and is included in the capitals population statistical division, since the 1990s the suburb has experienced rapid suburban growth into surrounding greenfield land, and becoming a commuter town in the Melbourne-Geelong growth corridor. Due to this urban sprawl Wyndham and its suburbs have merged into the Melbourne conurbation and it was established as an agricultural settlement in the 1850s, originally named Wyndham and was renamed Werribee in 1904. The name Werribee is a name meaning backbone or spine. It is thought that name was given as the shape of the Werribee River valley. Early leasing of pastures was led by members of John Batmans Port Phillip Association, a rural township began in the early 1850s. The name derived from a suggestion by the owner of a village inn, Elliott Armstrong. The Post Office opened on 12 January 1858 as Wyndham and was renamed Werribee in 1904. However, its adjacent river was called the Werribee River, and the name was later changed to Werribee in 1884. Werribee at this time was popular for development. Thomas Chirnside, a person famous in this area today, was attracted to the open plains suitability for agricultural uses. By 1863 he controlled more than 280 square kilometres around Werribee, Chirnside bought other smaller holdings of land at this time. The town grew steadily, helped by a line from Melbourne to Geelong. The Shire was huge, extending from the suburbs of Melbourne to Little River to the northward town of Melton. Thomas Chirnside committed suicide in 1887 and he was found dead in the laundry at Werribee Park with a shotgun lying beside him. His brother Andrew died three years later, and the property was now divided between Andrews two sons, a new mansion was built, called The Manor
3.
Darlinghurst, New South Wales
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Darlinghurst is an inner-city, eastern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Darlinghurst is located immediately east of the Sydney central business district and Hyde Park, Darlinghurst is a densely populated suburb with the majority of residents living in apartments or terraced houses. Once a slum and red-light district, Darlinghurst has undergone urban renewal since the 1980s to become an area composed of many unique precincts. Places such as Victoria Street, Stanley Street and Crown Street are known as culturally rich destinations and these high street areas are connected by a network of lane-ways and street corners replete with small bars, cafes and boutique indie retail. Demographically, Darlinghurst is home to the highest percentage of generation X and Y in Australia, Darlinghurst is also home to large number of off-street creative industries. This business mix coupled with the history of inclusion and acceptance give Darlinghurst an eclectic. Darlinghursts main street is Oxford Street and this major Sydney road runs east from the south-eastern corner of Hyde Park through Darlinghurst and Paddington and terminates at Bondi Junction. Oxford Street is one of Sydneys most famous shopping and dining strips and it is home to a number of prominent gay venues and businesses, while more broadly Darlinghurst is a centre of Sydneys burgeoning small bar scene. As a result of the influx of revellers, crime rates increased in the area around 2007, particularly for assaults. This reported increase should be understood in terms of a low background crime rate in East Sydney in general. There are a number of named localities in and around Darlinghurst including Taylor Square, Three Saints Square, Kings Cross and confusingly also East Sydney. This is because from 1900 to 1969 the entire area to the east of Sydneys CBD, already in 1820 the entire ridge line running from Potts Point to Surry Hills was known as Eastern Hill. East Sydney hosts numerous restaurants that consistently garner local and international media attention, Sydneys Eastern Suburbs cover all the land from the east of Darlinghurst up to the Pacific Ocean. The suburb was known as Eastern Hill and then Henrietta Town, after Governor Lachlan Macquaries wife. The loyalties changed with the change of governors and the suburb became Darlinghurst in honour of Elizabeth Darling, the suffix hurst is derived from the Old English word hyrst, meaning wooded area. Darlinghurst has two of Sydneys museums, the Australian Museum and the Sydney Jewish Museum, the suburb also features St Vincents Hospital, and is associated with the Sacred Heart Hospice on Darlinghurst Road, and the Garvan Institute of Medical Research. Darlinghurst Gaol, the large sandstone penal complex in the middle of Darlinghurst was built between 1836 and 1840, the large sandstone walls still bear convict markings, and the complex features six wings surrounding a circular chapel. Australian poet Henry Lawson spent time incarcerated here during some of the turbulent years of his life, the last hanging at the gaol was in 1907
4.
Australian Labor Party
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The Australian Labor Party is a political party in Australia. The party has been in opposition at federal level since the 2013 election, Bill Shorten has been the partys federal parliamentary leader since 13 October 2013. The party is a party with branches in each state. Labor is in government in the states of Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, the party competes against the Liberal/National Coalition for political office at the federal and state levels. Labors current National Platform describes the party as a social democratic party, the party of opportunity and security for working people. The ALP was not founded as a party until after the first sitting of the Australian Parliament in 1901. Nevertheless, it is regarded as descended from labour parties founded in the various Australian colonies by the labour movement in Australia. Labor is thus the countrys oldest political party, colonial labour parties contested seats from 1891, and federal seats following Federation at the 1901 federal election. Labor was the first party in Australia to win a majority in either house of the Australian Parliament, internationally, the ALP is a member of the Progressive Alliance network of social-democratic parties, having previously been a member of the Socialist International. The Australian Labor Party has its origins in the Labour parties founded in the 1890s in the Australian colonies prior to federation, Labor tradition ascribes the founding of Queensland Labour to a meeting of striking pastoral workers under a ghost gum tree in Barcaldine, Queensland in 1891. The Balmain, New South Wales branch of the party claims to be the oldest in Australia, Labour as a parliamentary party dates from 1891 in New South Wales and South Australia,1893 in Queensland, and later in the other colonies. The first election contested by Labour candidates was the 1891 New South Wales election, the major parties were the Protectionist and Free Trade parties and Labour held the balance of power. It offered parliamentary support in exchange for policy concessions, the United Labor Party of South Australia was founded in 1891, and three candidates were that year elected to the South Australian Legislative Council. The first successful South Australian House of Assembly candidate was John McPherson at the 1892 East Adelaide by-election, at the 1893 South Australian elections the ULP was immediately elevated to balance of power status with 10 of 54 lower house seats. The liberal government of Charles Kingston was formed with the support of the ULP, so successful, less than a decade later at the 1905 election, Thomas Price would form the worlds first stable Labor government. John Verran led Labor to form the states first of many majority governments at the 1910 election, in 1899, Anderson Dawson formed a minority Labour government in Queensland, the first in the world, which lasted one week while the conservatives regrouped after a split. The colonial Labour parties and the unions were mixed in their support for the Federation of Australia. They feared that federation would further entrench the power of the conservative forces, the first Labour leader and Prime Minister, Chris Watson, however, was a supporter of federation
5.
James Scullin
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James Henry Jim Scullin was an Australian Labor Party politician and the ninth Prime Minister of Australia. Scullin led Labor to government at the 1929 election, the Wall Street Crash of 1929 transpired just two days after his swearing in, which would herald the beginning of the Great Depression in Australia. The son of working-class Irish-immigrants, Scullin spent much of his life as a laborer and grocer in Ballarat. An autodidact and passionate debater, Scullin would join the Australian Labor Party in 1903 and he was a political organizer and newspaper editor for the party, and was elected to the House of Representatives first in 1910 and then again in 1922 until 1949. Scullin quickly established himself as a voice in parliament, rapidly rising to become deputy leader of the party in 1927. The still opposition-dominated Senate, and the boards of the Commonwealth Bank and Loan Council. Pensioners and other core Labor constituencies were severely affected by the cuts, leading to a widespread revolt, after several months of infighting the government collapsed, and was resoundingly defeated by the newly formed United Australia Party at the subsequent 1931 election. Scullin would remain party leader for four years but the party split would not be healed until after Scullins return to the backbenches in 1935. Although disappointed with his own term of office, he lived long enough to see many of his governments ideas implemented by subsequent governments before his death in 1953. James Henry Scullin was born in Trawalla, Victoria on 18 September 1876 and his parents, John and Ann Scullin, were both Irish Catholics from County Londonderry. His father was a labourer, who emigrated to Australia in his 20s. His mother joined her husband in Australia later, James was the fourth of eight children, and grew up in a tight-knit and devoutly Catholic home. James attended the Trawalla State School from 1881 to 1887 and earned a reputation as an active and quick-witted boy. These characteristics would remain with him for life, the family moved to Mount Rowan, Ballarat in 1887, and the young James attended school at Mount Rowan State School until 12. Thereafter he held various manual odd-jobs in the Ballarat district until about 1900, in his mid-20s he attended night school, was a voracious reader and became somewhat of an autodidact. He joined a number of societies and was active in the Australian Natives Association, Scullin was a devout Roman Catholic, a non-drinker and a non-smoker all his life. He became a member of his local Political Labor Council in 1903 and was active in local politics thereafter. He was a campaigner and political organizer for the Australian Workers Union and he spoke often around Ballarat on political issues and helped with Labor campaigns at state and federal level
6.
Great Depression
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The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression that took place during the 1930s. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, in most countries it started in 1929 and it was the longest, deepest, and most widespread depression of the 20th century. In the 21st century, the Great Depression is commonly used as an example of how far the economy can decline. The depression originated in the United States, after a fall in stock prices that began around September 4,1929. Between 1929 and 1932, worldwide GDP fell by an estimated 15%, by comparison, worldwide GDP fell by less than 1% from 2008 to 2009 during the Great Recession. Some economies started to recover by the mid-1930s, however, in many countries, the negative effects of the Great Depression lasted until the beginning of World War II. The Great Depression had devastating effects in both rich and poor. Personal income, tax revenue, profits and prices dropped, while international trade plunged by more than 50%, unemployment in the U. S. rose to 25% and in some countries rose as high as 33%. Cities all around the world were hit hard, especially dependent on heavy industry. Construction was virtually halted in many countries, farming communities and rural areas suffered as crop prices fell by about 60%. Facing plummeting demand with few sources of jobs, areas dependent on primary sector industries such as mining and logging suffered the most. Even after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 optimism persisted for some time, john D. Rockefeller said These are days when many are discouraged. In the 93 years of my life, depressions have come, prosperity has always returned and will again. The stock market turned upward in early 1930, returning to early 1929 levels by April and this was still almost 30% below the peak of September 1929. Together, government and business spent more in the first half of 1930 than in the period of the previous year. On the other hand, consumers, many of whom had suffered losses in the stock market the previous year. In addition, beginning in the mid-1930s, a severe drought ravaged the agricultural heartland of the U. S, by mid-1930, interest rates had dropped to low levels, but expected deflation and the continuing reluctance of people to borrow meant that consumer spending and investment were depressed. By May 1930, automobile sales had declined to below the levels of 1928, prices in general began to decline, although wages held steady in 1930
7.
Premier of New South Wales
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The Premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster system, with a Parliament of New South Wales acting as the legislature, prior to Federation in 1901 the term Prime Minister of New South Wales was used, Premier was used from 1901. The current Premier is Gladys Berejiklian, the Leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party, Berejiklian replaced Mike Baird on 23 January 2017, after Baird resigned as Premier. As of January 2017, nine former Premiers are alive, the oldest being Barrie Unsworth, the most recent premier to die was Tom Lewis on 25 April 2016. List of Premiers of New South Wales by time in office Deputy Premier of New South Wales
8.
United Australia Party
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The United Australia Party was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. It was the successor to the Nationalist Party of Australia and was succeeded by the Liberal Party of Australia as the main anti-Labor party. Joseph Lyons began his career as an Australian Labor Party politician. Lyons was elected to the Australian Federal Parliament in 1929 and served in Prime Minister James Scullins Labor Cabinet, Lyons became acting Treasurer in 1930 and helped negotiate the governments strategies for dealing with the Great Depression. While Health Minister Frank Anstey supported Premier of New South Wales Jack Langs bid to default on debt repayments, when Labor reinstated the more radical Ted Theodore as Treasurer in 1931, Lyons and Fenton resigned from Cabinet. The UAP was formed in 1931 by Labor dissidents and a coalition as a response to the more radical economic proposals of Labor Party members to deal with the Great Depression in Australia. In parliament on 13 March 1931, though still a member of the ALP, soon afterward, Lyons, Fenton and four other right-wing Labor MPs--Moses Gabb, Allan Guy, Charles McGrath and John Price—resigned from the ALP in protest of the Scullin governments economic policies. On 7 May, the Nationalist opposition, the six Labor dissidents, although the new party was dominated by former Nationalists, Lyons was chosen as the new partys leader, and thus became Leader of the Opposition. Former Nationalist leader John Latham became the UAPs deputy leader, claiming that the Scullin government was incapable of managing the economy, it offered traditional deflationary economic policies in response to Australias economic crisis. This was especially true of the party leader, Lyons and its slogan was All for Australia and the Empire. A further split, this time of left-wing NSW Labor MPs who supported the economic policies of NSW Premier Jack Lang. In November 1931, Lang Labor dissidents broke with the Scullin government and joined with the UAP opposition to pass a no-confidence motion, the UAP fought the election as part of the traditional non-Labor Coalition with the Country Party of Earle Page. However, the UAP came up four seats short of a majority in its own right. In 1934, the UAP lost six seats, forcing Lyons to take the Country Party into his government in a full-fledged Coalition. The Lyons government followed the economic policies it had promised in opposition. Lyons favoured the tough economic measures of the Premiers Plan, pursued an orthodox fiscal policy, a dramatic episode in Australian history followed Lyons first electoral victory when NSW Premier Jack Lang refused to pay interest on overseas State debts. The Lyons government stepped in and paid the debts and then passed the Financial Agreement Enforcement Act to recover the money it had paid, in an effort to frustrate this move, Lang ordered State departments to pay all receipts directly to the Treasury instead of into Government bank accounts. Australia entered the Depression with a crisis and a credit crisis
9.
Prime Minister of Australia
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The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the head of government of Australia. The individual who holds the office is the most senior Minister of the Crown, the leader of the Cabinet, the office is not mentioned in the Constitution of Australia and exists only through longstanding political convention and tradition. Despite this, in practice it is the most powerful position in Australia. The individual who holds the office is commissioned by the Governor-General of Australia, almost always and according to convention, the Prime Minister is the leader of the majority party or largest party in a coalition of parties in the House of Representatives. However, there is no requirement that the prime minister sit in the House of Representatives. The only case where a member of the Senate was appointed minister was John Gorton. Malcolm Turnbull has held the office of Prime Minister since 15 September 2015, the Prime Minister and Treasurer are traditionally members of the House, but the Constitution does not have such a requirement. Before being sworn in as a Minister of the Crown, a person must first be sworn in as a member of the Federal Executive Council if they are not already a member. Membership of the Federal Executive Council entitles the member to the style of The Honourable for life, the senior members of the Executive Council constitute the Cabinet of Australia. The Prime Minister is, like ministers, normally sworn in by the Governor-General. When defeated in an election, or on resigning, the Prime Minister is said to hand in the commission, in the event of a Prime Minister dying in office, or becoming incapacitated, the Governor-General can terminate the commission. Despite the importance of the office of minister, the Constitution does not mention the office by name. The conventions of the Westminster system were thought to be entrenched in Australia by the authors of the Constitution that it was deemed unnecessary to detail them. The formal title of the portfolio has always been simply Prime Minister, except for the period of the Fourth Deakin Ministry, Page was the leader of the smaller party in the governing coalition, the Country Party. He held the office for three weeks until the UAP elected a new leader, Robert Menzies, in August 1941 Menzies resigned as prime minister. In July 1945 John Curtin died suddenly and his deputy, Frank Forde, was sworn in the next day as prime minister, although the Labor Party had not had an opportunity to meet and elect a new leader. Forde served for eight days until Ben Chifley was elected leader, Chifley was then sworn in, replacing Forde, who became Australias shortest-serving prime minister. Harold Holt disappeared while swimming on 17 December 1967 and was declared presumed dead on 19 December, the governor-general, Lord Casey, commissioned the Leader of the Country Party, John McEwen, to form a government until the Liberal Party elected a new leader
10.
Ben Chifley
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Joseph Benedict Ben Chifley was an Australian politician who was the 16th Prime Minister of Australia from 1945 to 1949. One of the few successful referendums to modify the Australian Constitution, born on 22 September 1885 in Bathurst, New South Wales, Chifley was the son of a blacksmith of Irish Roman Catholic descent. Chifley was raised mostly by his grandfather for nine years and his grandfather had lost his savings in the bank crash of 1892/93, and Chifley acquired a lifelong dislike of private banks at an early age. He was educated at Roman Catholic schools in Bathurst and joined the New South Wales Railways at age 15 and he was one of the founders of the AFULE and an active member of the Labor Party. In 1914 he married Elizabeth McKenzie, a staunch Presbyterian, the couple exchanged wedding vows in a Presbyterian church. Chifley remained a practising Catholic, but his marriage to a non-Catholic ignited criticism in certain Roman Catholic circles, in 1917 he was one of the leaders of a prolonged strike, which resulted in his dismissal. He was reinstated by Jack Langs New South Wales Labor government, Chifley represented his union before industrial tribunals and taught himself industrial law. In 1928, at his second try, Chifley won the seat of Macquarie in the House of Representatives, which covered Bathurst, Lithgow, and he was in general a supporter of the James Scullin governments economic policies, and in 1931 he became Minister for Defence. At the 1931 general election, the Scullin government was defeated in a landslide, during the Depression he survived on his wifes familys money and his part-ownership of the Bathurst newspaper the National Advocate. In 1935 the Lyons government appointed him a member of the Royal Commission on Banking and he submitted a minority report advocating that the private banks be nationalised. Although Frank Forde was nominally the number-two-man in the government, Chifley became the minister Curtin most relied on and he controlled most domestic policy while Curtin was preoccupied with the war effort. When Curtin died in July 1945, Forde became Prime Minister for eight days, Chifley defeated him in the leadership ballot, replacing him as Prime Minister and Curtin as Labor leader. It was the first time that a Labor government had elected to a second full term. In the post-war years, Chifley maintained wartime economic controls, including the highly unpopular petrol rationing and he did this partly to help Britain in its postwar economic difficulties. Feeling secure in power, Chifley decided it was time to advance towards Labors objective of democratic socialism and this was successfully opposed in the Australian High Court by the British Medical Association. The subsequent federal legislation in relation to benefits was deemed constitutional by the High Court. This paved the way for the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, an important component of Australias modern public health system, the Mental Institutions Benefits Act paid the states a benefit equal to the charges upon the relatives of mental hospital patients, in return for free treatment. This legislation marked the entry of the Commonwealth into mental health funding, militant mining unions had caused industrial upsets for decades previously
