The competition to design a new flag for the Australian Commonwealth attracted 33,000 entries. This one, by J Meyers, of Melbourne, displays the Union Jack, 'Six stars representing the Six Federated Australian States under the Union Jack, The Stars of the Southern Cross' and 'The Divine Emblem'. National Archives of Australia, A1719, 3251C   Noted Victorian feminist and suffrage reformer Vida Goldstein wrote to the Prime Minister, Edmund Barton, in 1901, urging him to introduce uniform adult suffrage in all the states, 'to remove at this earliest possible moment the present anomalous position of affairs, and give us a really federated Australia'. National Archives of Australia, A6, 1901/354   Australian manufacturers struck a patriotic note when Australia, as part of the British Empire, sent troops to fight in South Africa. The 'Khaki Blend' tea label indicates that the skills of the bushmen would be put to use in the conflict. National Archives of Australia, A1090, vol. 17, 7378   This postcard depicts the transition from the 'dark age' of colonial separation to the dawn of a united nation under one flag. National Archives of Australia, A1786, 9527B   Aspiring Tasmanian politician and candidate for the new House of Representatives, King O'Malley, sent a warning letter to the Prime Minister, Edmund Barton, in February 1901. Barton faced an electoral challenge from George Reid if he did not make it clear that the coming of Federation would bring free trade between the States and 'protection against the outside world'. O'Malley, as Minister for Home Affairs, later supervised the establishment of the new Federal capital of Australia, Canberra. National Archives of Australia, A6, 1901/561   The artist Tom Roberts had accepted the task of painting the opening of the first Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia in May 1901. His 'big picture', completed in 1903, is reproduced on the dustjacket of this guide. The original forms part of the Royal Collection, but now hangs in Parliament House, Canberra, on permanent loan. National Archives of Australia, A6, 1901/1337