The Australian Natives' Association (ANA) was formed in 1871 for men who were born in Australia of British descent. The ANA was a nationalist organisation and actively promoted the Federation movement. The following extract comes from a famous speech Alfred Deakin made on 15 March 1898 at the closing banquet of the ANA Conference in Bendigo. The ANA Conference was being held at the same time as the Federal Convention at which the delegates formed the Federal Convention Bill. Refer Timeline. In his speech, Deakin appeals to the members of the ANA as a fellow Australian.

Focus question
NaQ9 According to Deakin, what is the duty of the colony of Victoria?

DEAKIN SPEAKS AT BENDIGO IN 1898

… I recognise that the united Australia yet to be can only come to be with the consent of and by the efforts of the Australian-born. I propose to speak to Australians simply as an Australian. …

What we have to ask ourselves is whether we can afford indefinite delay. Do we lose nothing by a continuation of the separation between state and state? Do not every year and every month exact from us the toll of severance? Do not we find ourselves hampered in commerce, restricted in influence, weakened in prestige, because we are jarring atoms instead of a united organism? Is it because we are so supremely satisfied with our local constitutions and present powers of development that we hesitate to make any change? The governments from which we take the powers with which the federation is to be endowed are without except[ion] less liberal than the government provided in this constitution. We are not to fall into the hands of foreigners. It is not to tyrannical rulers that we propose to remit federal authority. Those to whom we propose to entrust the sole creation and control of the new government are the Australian people.

At a time like the present this association cannot forget its watchword – Federation – or its character, which has never been provincial. It has never been a Victorian, but always an Australian Association. Its hour has now come. … Every branch should be stimulated into action, until, without resorting to any but legitimate means, without any attempt at intimidation, without taking advantage of sectionalism, but in the purest and broadest spirit of Australian unity, all your members unite to awaken this colony to its duty…

Alfred Deakin, The Federal Story: The Inner History of the Federal Cause 1880-1900, ed. J. A. La Nauze, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1963, pp. 177-178.