Buying items to help Queensland Flood

A person called Toni from Make it Perfect website decided to hold a auction of items that people made with all the procedes going to Queensland Flood Appeal.

She thought she may get around 30 items to be auctioned off but has received many more than that


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There are items from home made Quilts, Jewellery, home crafted Clothing and Bags, Fabrics, Sewing and Craft items, Gift Vouchers and loads more. Prices start on some items at $1.00

Click the button above to see the page of items you can buy and help the people who where affected by the floods..........the Auction closes 24 January 2011
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Federation of Australia

To make Australia a Federation, instead of 6 different colonies, the Australian Constitution was written up and first seen when a proposal was presented in 1891 to a Convention.

A Convention was then held between 1897 - 1898 in three sessions (Adelaide 22 March - 23 April 1897; Sydney 2 - 24 September 1897; Melbourne 20 January - 17 March 1898).

The draft Constitution Bill was revised by Griffith, Kingston, Barton and Inglis Clark, afloat on the Queensland Government yacht Lucinda, during the Easter break of the 1891 Convention in Sydney.

This draft was revived and debated at the 1897 - 1898 Convention, and final changes where made at the Secret Premiers Conference early in 1899 in order to gain the agreement of all the colonies.

The Constitution set out the basis for the establishment of the institutions of the government of the new nation.

The chief institutions are firstly the Parliament, consisting of 'the Queen, a senate, and a House of Representatives' (section 1) provided for in the first 60 sections of the Constitution.

Secondly, (section 2) provides for the appointment of a Govenor-General as the representative of the Crown, and the ten sections of (chapter 2) set out the powers of the Govenor-General and the Executive Council and the functions of the public service departments.

The ten sections of (chapter 3) provide for the judicial institutions with the High Court as the superior court of the Commonwealth.

The Governor-General, the 'First Officer' in the Commonwealth, formally appoints the Ministers of the Crown.

Queen Victoria issued (Letters Patient) establishing the office of the Govenor-General, Lord Hopetoun, a former Governor of Victoria. The Governor-General appointed Edmund Barton as the first Prime Minister, and formally appointed the Ministers selected by Barton so that the first cabinet would represent all the States. Four Premiers became Commonwealth Ministers - Sir George Turner (Vic), Sir William Lyne (NSW), Sir John Forrest (WA) and Sir Neil Lewis (Tas)

It was not really certain that all six Australian colonies would join the Federation even when this Act passed both Houses of the British Parliament. As each was 'Sovereign' colony with a Governor appointed by the crown on the advice of the British Government, each colonial Parliament had to pass legislation agreeing to become part of the Commonwealth, and the hold referendums where all the electors could have direct vote on the issue.

In the referendums on the Constitution, women were able to vote in only two of the colonies, South Australia and Western Australia, and few Indigenous people seem to have had the opportunity to be counted.

Among the strongest arguments advanced for Federation were the need for a united approach to defence and for a common policy to restrict the numbers of Chinese people entering the colonies. As the labour movement gathered strength in the 1890's, so did the opposition to the Chinese Immigrants, seen as a threat to achieving a fair standard of wages and conditions.

Queen Victoria signed her assent to the document creating the Commonwealth of Australia on 9 July 1900.

On 1 January 1901 in Centennial Park that the first Governor-General took his oath of office.

To know more about the Federation of Australia go to Doumenting Democracy

The desk and pavilion where the documents where signed

Aussie Slang

As most people would know in Australia we have our own saying's and ways to explain things we are doing, some of the words are Cockney English like "frog and toad" "The Road", so we could say to someone if we are going to go somewhere "we are going to hit the frog and toad, going for a drive and will be using the road.

Our language you could say is a lazy way of saying something to people, but what it shows is the laid back and friendly type of people you are likely to find in Australia.

Here are some examples of Aussie Slang

Arvo.................Afternoon

Barbie.............. Barbecue

Bikkie.............. Biscuit Cookie

Chook..............Chicken

Dag................. Nerd

Dunny/Loo......Toilet

G'day...............Hello

Grog............... Alcohol

Jarmies........... Pajamas

Kip................. a short sleep
Macca's.......... McDonalds

Mozzie........... Mosquito

Oldies.............Parents

Peckish.......... Hungry
Roo................ Kangaroo

Snag.............. Sausage

Tellie............ TV

Ute................ Pickup

Yonks........... a long time ago

Also Australian’s at times put a load of words together to say one thing like
howyagoinmate how are you going friend

A great site to see more aussie slang Australian Slang - What does it all mean

Australia Coat of Arms

The present coat of arms was granted by King George V in 1912.

It consists of a shield depicting the badges of the six Australian states, enclosed by an ermine border. The shield is a symbol for the federation of the states, which took place in 1901.

The flowers showing are of sprays of golden wattle a national plant of Australia.

The wattle and scroll, however, are not part of the armorial design and are not mentioned in the Royal Warrant.

On the left is a Kangaroo and the right an Emu. It is thought the kangaroo and emu were chosen to symbolise a nation moving forward, reflecting a common belief that neither animal can move backwards easily.

The Australian coat of arms consists of the badges of the six states of the Commonwealth arranged on a shield in two rows of three columns:

New South Wales—Golden lion passant (right to left) on a red St George’s Cross on a silver background (usually depicted white), with an eight-pointed star on each extremity of the cross.
Victoria—White Southern Cross (one star of eight points, two of seven points, one of six points and one of five points), beneath an Imperial Crown, on a blue background.
Queensland—light blue Maltese cross with an Imperial Crown at its centre, on a white background.
South Australia—the white-backed magpie, erect, wings outstretched, on a yellow background.
Western Australia—Black swan swimming, left to right, on a yellow background.
Tasmania—Red lion passant (right to left) on a white background.

Follow this link if you would like to know more about the Australian Coat of Arms

About Australia

After reading the blog about people not knowing about where you come from when looking at peoples blogs i thought i would write about Australia

In Australia, there are 6 States and 2 Territories,

The States being
New South Wales,
Queensland,
South Australia,
Tasmania,
Victoria.

The Territories being
Canberra,
The Northern Territory

I am from New South Wales, the capital city Sydney. Sydney has The Opera House, Sydney Harbour Bridge. Away from Sydney you have The Blue Mountains, Southern Highlands, South Coast and North Coast

Canberra (Australian Capital Territory)is a separate state, it holds our Parliament House, it sits just inside New South Wales

The area Canberra was chosen when both New South Wales and Victoria thought they should both be the Capital of Australia,
What was decided was that a new state would be made in between New South Wales and Victoria being the same distance apart from the capital cities of Melbourne and Sydney.

The Northern Territory, the capital is Darwin, it is located up the top part of Australia, Australia’s real Outback and home to the iconic natural wonders of Kakadu National Park and Uluru/Ayers Rock, the weather there is mostly humid and hot.

Queensland, the capital is Brisbane, advertises it is the most sunny place of Australia. Queensland has Warner Bros Movie World an amusement park, it is family oriented and popular place for Australians to go to for a holiday. Other things that is wonderful is The Great Barrier Reef, which has interesting coral growth which can be seen from a glass bottom boat.

South Australia, the capital being Adelaide, known in Australia as the city of churches, for finding rare gems in the earth and wine produced in the area.

Tasmania, the capital being Hobart, was used as a penal colony when Australia had mainly convicts living here, these days you can still see some of the areas the convicts built and lived in Tasmania. Tasmania is a quiet relaxed area perfect to get away from the hustle and bustle of main city living, it is one of the coldest states in Australia.

Victoria, the capital being Melbourne the 2nd settlement in Australia, it is know as the garden state of Australia, there are many multi cultural areas like Lygon st ( Italian) and Dixon st (Chinese). Victoria is the clothes capital of Australia having many boutiques and factory shops at easy reach which you can get to by riding on a tram. Away from Melbourne you would find Bendigo known for a gold rush in Victoria

Western Australia, capital being Perth has many different climates one side being green and lush the other dry and arid. Western Australia is almost the hottest place in Australia to live, and has a 2 hour difference in time from the eastern part of Australia.

As you can see Australia has much to see and do, in such a small land,

we have all that the world can offer and more.