Centenary of Federation Victoria: Federation Documents ONLINE

... As an old colonist, I object to federation, so far as Queensland is concerned, for the following reasons:

Queensland in extent of territory, richness of agricultural and pastoral lands, unlimited mineral wealth, with all the elements and resources of a great nation within itself, can stand alone, and does not require to federate.
To federate under the proposed Constitution, Queensland gives up everything, and receives no adequate return.
It will cost from £20,000,000 to £30,000,000 to acquire the federal territory and erect buildings and establish all the ramifications necessary to inaugurate and carry on the Federal Government, the whole of which sum will have to be found by the respective colonies.
That the annual taxation to carry on the Federal Government will probably be far in excess of the taxation the colonists now have to bear; but when this imposition is added to the local taxation of the State Government and divisional boards, &c., how are the demands to be met, unless under pressure of a life-and-death struggle by the poorer of the industrial classes?
We give purse, individuality, and all we have to give – for what? To be placed in the humiliating position of having to ask as a favour for all we want from a Government sitting hundreds of miles away.
All that is now sought, or, at any rate, all that it is necessary to federate for, can be attained by legislation by the respective colonies, without one of them giving up their imperial power or status as separate "nations".

Mr John Cameron, letter to Brisbane Courier, 30 August 1899, cited in Scott Bennett (ed.), Federation, Cassell Australia, North Melbourne, 1975, pp. 205-6.