Constitution day

July 9, Tuesday

The Constitution was drafted between 1891 and 1898 at a series of conventions conducted by representatives of the six self-governing British colonies in Australia: New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania. This final draft was then approved by each state in a series of referenda from 1898 to 1900. The agreed constitution was transmitted to London where, after some minor modifications, it was enacted as section 9 of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900, an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It came into effect on 1 January 1901 at which point the six colonies became states within the new Commonwealth of Australia.After this and some other minor changes, the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act became law after receiving royal assent on 9 July 1900.