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Commonwealth - Australia
Communities throughout Australia celebrated Commonwealth Day on 1 January
1901 by holding parades and ceremonies. Queen Victoria was represented by
the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York in Sydney where the Australian
Constitution was granted to the Australian people.
Celebrations were interrupted by the death of Queen Victoria on 4 January,
but the royal couple continued their tour around the country later in the
year.
 It
was not until May 1901 that the first Australian Parliament was opened in
Melbourne by the Duke and Duchess. Attending the celebrations were the newly
elected parliamentarians, dignitaries and other guests from around Australia,
including many from Western Australia. Although the States had agreed that
a new capital would be built within New South Wales, a national Parliament
in Canberra was not completed until 1926.
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