Chapter 8 : Arrived in Australia

On 4th April 1900, the fleet set off again after a short three-day rest, this time the destination was Australia.

Speaking of Australia as of now, Australia is only a regional title. In fact, Australia is composed of six colonies : Western Australia, South Australia, Queensland, Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania.

Although the Australia Continent where these six colonies are located is a complete and culturally identical.

But because of various colonial issues and colonial strategies of the United Kingdom, which led to this division of Australia into six colonies that operate without interfering with each other.

Since the establish of Australia colonies, every colony has faced the same problem such as tariffs, transportation, postal services, defense and restriction, so the six colonies had start thinking about holding a meeting to negotiate a unified standard.

In November 1880, the Melbourne Colony Conference agreed to establish a Federal Council, and the largest and most developed colony of Australia, New South Wales, drafts the Federal Council Act, which was also a sign of Australia's unity and union.

The Federation Council was established in 1883, and the colonies began asking the British government to support the Federation Council Act a year later.

In 1891, Australia's first political party, The Labor Party, was established. The development of the trade union movement broke the long-standing boundaries of the colonies, and the calls for free trade between the colonies began to became louder and louder.

In 1893, the Federation Council held a meeting of representative of the Federation, calling on and recommending that the colonies begin to take measures to prepare for the establishment of the Federation.

In 1898, the Australian Federation Council had begun to prepare for a referendum on the establishment of a federation. However, due to the uneven order among the colonies, the progress of the referendum was not high.

It wasn't until Queen Victoria announced Australia as Arthur's new territory some time ago, and decided to unify the six colonies into a complete Australian principality, that the calls for unification among the colonies began to decrease, and they began to look forward to the new Australian principality. 

On 23rd April, After more than half a month of sailing, the fleet arrived in Sydney, the capital of New South Wales.

New South Wales is the earliest British colony in Australia, and it is also the most populous and most economically developed Australian colony.

During the federalization of Australia, New South Wales was also the colony with the most voice, and was also responsible for drafting the Federal Council Act.

According to the situation in Australia, as long as you control New South Wales, you basically control the situation in Australia.

Sydney Harbor was already full of welcoming crowds standing in dense row, and very lively. At the forefront of the crowd were governor and officials of various colonies. 

Beside the welcoming crowd, a troop of solders is waiting. They belong to armies of their respective colonies and were directly under the orders of Ministry of Defense and Queen Victoria.

After the fleet slowly docked, the welcoming crowd burst into cheers immediately, after the ceremony and music finish, Arthur supported Queen Victoria and slowly landed on the land of Australia.

"Long live Her Majesty the Queen! Long live His Royal Highness the Duke!" The crowd spontaneously burst into cheers, loudly welcoming the arrival of the two rulers.

Unlike in the Suez Canal and India, Queen Victoria did not step forward, but signaled Arthur to go forward with her eyes.

Arthur understood immediately, stepped forward slightly, looked at the excited crowd, and finally stood in front of the six governors.

"Your Highness, Welcome home!" The six governors said together.

Arthur was taken aback for a moment, then suddenly realized that Australia is already his territory, and Arthur's future home will also be in Australia. If there is no special event, he will definitely not going back to England.

"You shoud be the governor of the colonies, Right? How Australia doing? " Arthur asked with a smile. 

"Yes, Your highness. Please allow me to introduce you to the governor of each colony." The leader smiled and said with slight compliment. 

"Go on." Arthur motioned to continue. 

"Your highness, I am Evan H. Parkes, the governor of New South Wales." The man continue "These are governor of Victoria, Walter Blake, governor of Queensland, Andrew K. Porter, governor of Tasmania, Richard Noble Chapman, governor of Western Australia, Pierre Silvio Berlusconi​, and the governor of South Australia, Thomas Cech. When thay learned of your arrival, they immediately dispatched from their respective region to came here as so as possible to greet you and Her Majesty the Queen. "

" You calling these people too? " Arthur asked curiosly, looking at the excited crowd around him.

"That's not true, Your highness. You don't know that the six colonial branch of Australia are no longer suitable for the current situation. The difference systems among the colonies make it extremely difficult to trade and communicate with each other, which has caused great harm to both the colonies and the residents. People have been looking forward to the federalization of Australia for a long time, it is because of you that Australia has a chance to unify this time. Thank you, Your Highness! " Governor Evan spoke again with gratitude salute to Arthur. 

" Don't mention it, Governor Evan. I will be pert of Australia in the future. Isn't it what all Australians should do to maintain the unity of Australia? " Arthur smiled and help governor Evan up. 

"Alright, Governor Evan, take me and Her Majesty to rest first, the long swap journey is exhausting enough. By the way, let these people go back too, we can't let their work and life be delayed because of welcoming me" Arthur said and laughing. 

"Yes, Your Highness, please come with me. I have already ordered people to clean up the top floor of the government building. The condition are not good, so I can only temporary wrong you and Her Majesty." governor Evan explained to Arthur and the Queen with the apology while leading the way. 

Before Australia established a federation, Australia's economy had always been based on the sales of minerals, agriculture and fisheries. Although it improved the situation that need to rely on food import from Britain in the early days of the colony. 

Couple with the fact that the colonies are not connected to each other, Australia's overall economy is not developed, the industry is very backward, and the finances of each colony are very tight. 

Although New South Wales, the wealthiest and better off colony, it is just wishful thinking to build a palace that fits the identities of Arthur and Queen Victoria.