Conservative instinct in Australian political thought: The Federation debates, 1890–1898

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“…To a large extent, the majority of Australians accepted that Parkes was correct and that they were building an Australian nation that was fundamentally British in nature. It is not untrue to say that the men who drew up the Commonwealth Constitution had a love affair with the British Constitution and saw it as the pinnacle pf political perfection (Chavura & Melleuish, 2015). This raised some interesting issues.…”

“…The delegates did not like theory; as one would expect of a group largely composed of common law lawyers, they considered themselves to be practical men. Even someone who we tend to think of as a liberal radical, Alfred Deakin, often sounds like a good Burkean conservative on constitutional matters (Chavura & Melleuish, 2015).…”