Book collecting produces many surprises . One such unexpected delight jumped out at me when opening the book , 1901 Australian Life at Federation An Illustrated Chronicle , edited by Aedeen Cremin , UNSW Press , formerly owned by a prominent marine archaeologist , bought at the Magnetic Island annual bookfest.
There in front of me was the above striking frontispiece , the cover of the official Sydney programme for the inaugural celebrations marking the formation of the Commonwealth of Australian.
In New Zealand I was once given the scrapbook of Australia's " clean bohemian," the British sculptor Nelson Illingworth, who did much to promote art on both sides of the Tasman and sculpted a life sized "Father of Federation ", Sir Joseph Parkes , and the bust of the nation's first Governor-General, Lord Hopetoun. His scrapbook included the programme and it is felt he had a hand in the celebrations.
Other subjects of interest in the book are coverage of Darwin's Fannie Bay Gaol and government house , goldmining towns in Queensland , race relations(including Chinese in Darwin and Japanese in Broome ), the Boer War, Aborigines , riding on the sheep's back, the opening of parliament,coal and steel and even a Chinese mining company .
