North Australia

This article is about former or proposed entities known as North Australia. For northernmost regions of Australia in general, see Northern Australia.

North Australia can refer to a short-lived former British colony, a former federal territory of the Commonwealth of Australia, or a proposed state which would replace the current Northern Territory.

Colony (1846–1847)

A colony of North Australia existed briefly after it was authorised by letters patent of 17 February 1846. The colony comprised all land in the Northern Territory and the present state of Queensland lying north of the 26th parallel. The capital was at Port Curtis, now called Gladstone, under Colonel George Barney as Lieutenant-Governor and Superintendent. Charles Augustus FitzRoy, the Governor of New South Wales, was Governor. The colony was proclaimed at a ceremony at Settlement Point on 30 January 1847. The establishment of the new colony, and its status as a penal colony, attracted much criticism in the New South Wales Legislative Council.^[1][2] The Letters Patent establishing the colony were revoked in December the same year, after a change of government in Britain, although Colonel Barney and his party did not receive the news until the news arrived in Sydney on 15 April 1847. The colony was intended as a new penal colony after the end of transportation in the older Australian colonies.^[3]

Territory (1927–1931)

Further information: Central Australia (territory) § History

North Australia was a short-lived territory of Australia. George Pearce, Minister for Home and Territories in the federal government in the 1920s, thought that the Northern Territory was too large to be adequately governed. So on 1 February 1927, under the Northern Australia Act 1926 (Cth), the Northern Territory was split into two territories, North Australia and Central Australia, respectively above and below latitude 20° S.^[4][5][6][7] However, on 12 June 1931, the two were reunited as the Northern Territory.

See also

• Northern Australia
• History of Australia
• Central Australia
• Central Australia (territory)
• States and territories of Australia
• Territorial evolution of Australia
• Proposals for new Australian states

References

1. History of Queensland borders before proclamation, The State of Queensland, retrieved 9 February 2007
2. National Archives of Australia Archived 7 December 2006 at the Wayback Machine – "Governor Darling's Commission 1825", retrieved 9 February 2007
3. HOGAN, J.F.: The Gladstone Colony. An Unwritten Chapter in Australian History. London, T. Fisher Unwin, 1898. https://archive.org/details/gladstonecolonyu00hogarich
4. "Northern Australia Act 1926". Federal Register of Legislation. 4 June 1926. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
5. "RESIDENT GOVERNORS". Cairns Post (Qld. : 1909–1954). Qld.: National Library of Australia. 20 August 1926. p. 5. Retrieved 12 July 2011.
6. North Australia. Administration (1928). In Report on the administration of North Australia. Govt. Printer, Canberra
7. Baillie, Jill (1990). Struggling to achieve the vision splendid: the North Australia Commission, 1926/ 1930. In Northern Perspective. 13 (2), 23–32.

Further reading

• McDonald, Lorna (1988). Gladstone, city that waited. Boolarong for Gladstone City Council. ISBN 978-0-9599124-1-8.

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