Agitation began again at Grafton towards the end of the First World War led by Earle Page, a local doctor and later a prominent politician, rising to caretaker Prime Minister of Australia.

This was picked up a little later by Victor Thompson, editor of the Tamworth Northern Daily Leader who launched a sustained newspaper campaign that involved papers as far south as Cessnock in the lower Hunter.

Yet, the evidence from similar federations like Canada and the USA revealed numerous successful "farm states", like Wyoming, Montana and the Dakotas, with comparatively small capital city populations tied to a single, essentially rural community of interest.

A new state proposal based in most part on boundaries formed by those Local Councils with majorities that actually wanted the change would have acquired a critical momentum.

This included the electoral districts of Armidale, Barwon, Byron, Cessnock, Clarence, Gloucester, Hamilton, Kahibah, Lake Macquarie, Lismore, Maitland, Newcastle, Oxley, Raleigh, Tamworth, Tenterfield, Upper Hunter, Wallsend and Waratah.

[9] The 'Yes' case enjoyed strong support across the New England and Northern Rivers districts, but faced overwhelming opposition in metropolitan Newcastle, the Hunter Valley and the Mid-North Coast.