Who wrote our Constitution?
On 18 March 1891, to prepare the groundwork for drafting a constitution, the National Australasian Convention appointed three committees: one to address finance, taxation and trade; another to consider the establishment of a federal judiciary; and a third to examine in detail and frame specific provisions to be drafted into a constitution bill.
(Official Report of the National Australasian Convention Debates, Sydney, 2 March to 9 April 1891, Legal Books Pty Ltd Sydney, 1986, p509)
The committees drew up reports for a sub-committee that was to draft the constitution. The members of this drafting committee were:
- Sir Samuel Griffith
- Andrew Inglis Clark
- Charles Kingston
They spent the Easter break working through the reports and framing a document that would be accepted by the convention, the colonial parliaments and the people of Australia. They put together the final revision of the draft constitution on board the Queensland Government steamer Lucinda. They received unofficial advice from the following:
-
Bernhard Wise
-
Edmund Barton
-
Sir John Downer
-
Andrew Thynne
-
Henry Wrixon
Members of the 1897 National Australasian Convention also appointed three select committees to consider and report on finance, the judiciary and constitutional machinery respectively. The committees met privately and worked at resolving the differences of opinion that had emerged during discussions.
(James Backhouse Walker, Prelude to Federation (1844-1898), extracts from the journal of James Backhouse Walker FRGS, PB Walker (ed), OBM Publishing Co, Hobart 1976, p.97)
The drafting committee comprised
- Edmund Barton
- Richard O’Connor
- Sir John Downer
On 16 March 1898, after much debate, the convention finally adopted the constitution in the form of the Draft of a Bill to Constitute the Commonwealth of Australia.