A FEDERATION IN THESE SEAS

22/09/2009

Members who have a professional or general interest in the political and legal history of Australia’s external territories should be aware of an important resource published by the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department on its web site (in three parts).

A Federation in These Seas: An Account of the Acquisition by Australia of its External Territories was written by Alan Kerr and published in June 2009. In the foreword to the book, the then minister for home affairs, the Hon Bob Debus, said:

A Federation in These Seas_ is a significant work which outlines for the first time in detail, the history of the Commonwealths acquisition of its external territories over more than the last century. It sets out the reasons why control over each of them was sought against the background of Australia’s growing international status. It draws on contemporary political and official material and reproduces copies of the British and Australian legal instruments involved, never before published in one work

Read about- Norfolk Island – Chapter 6 – here : A_Federation_in_These_Seas_Part_2.pdf (infrastructure.gov.au)

Read the entire book here : A_Federation_in_These_Seas_Part_1.pdf (infrastructure.gov.au)

Chapter One: Australia’s nearest neighbours

Chapter Two: Towards acquisition

Chapter Three: Papua

Chapter Four: New Guinea

Chapter Five: Papua and New Guinea—delineation and amalgamation

Chapter Six: Norfolk Island

Chapter Seven: Nauru

Chapter Eight: Ashmore and Cartier Islands

Chapter Nine: Antarctica

Chapter Ten: Heard Island and McDonald Islands

Chapter Eleven: Cocos (Keeling) Islands

Chapter Twelve: Christmas Island

Chapter Thirteen: Coral Sea Islands

Chapter Fourteen: Summary of legal steps in acquisition

Afterword: ‘A federation in these seas’
Appendix 1: The Federation Star
Appendix 2: Law of the Sea—an unexpected bounty