Tenterfield Oration

The Tenterfield Oration was a speech given by Sir Henry Parkes, Premier of the Colony of New South Wales at the Tenterfield School of Arts in Tenterfield, in rural New South Wales, Australia, on 24 October 1889. In the Oration, Parkes called for the Federation of the six Australian colonies, which were at the time self-governing but under the distant central authority of the British Colonial Secretary. The speech is considered to be the start of the federation process in Australia, which led to the foundation of the Commonwealth of Australia 12 years later.