The only exception was James Cook who in 1770 sailed up most of the east coast of Australia and then claimed the entire coastline he had just explored as British territory.
Though the settlement was a military prison, and Phillip had full power as governor, the colony also had a civil administration and courts of law.
[8] However, this judgment was implicitly overturned in the case of R v Murrel,[11] where the court held that Aborigianl people had no law and could be convicted for the murder of each other.
The proclamation was issued in response to the attempt by graziers from Van Diemen's Land to enter into an agreement with indigenous tribes in Port Philip, known as Batman's Treaty.
[15][16] The Swan River Colony of Western Australia was established in 1832, separately from that of New South Wales, effectively taking over by Britain of the remainder of the Australian continent.
Following the Treaty of Waitangi, William Hobson declared British sovereignty over New Zealand in 1840 and was part of the colony of New South Wales.
[19] By Letters Patent on 6 June 1859, Queen Victoria gave her approval to the separation of the colony of Queensland from New South Wales.
[27] Between 1855 and 1890, the six colonies individually gained responsible government, managing most of their own affairs while remaining part of the British Empire.
[28] The Colonial Office in London retained control of some matters, notably foreign affairs,[29] defence,[30] and international shipping.
The Act had the effect of clarifying and strengthening the position of colonial legislatures, while at the same time restating their ultimate subordination to the British Parliament.
This had been a particular problem for the government in South Australia, where Justice Benjamin Boothby had struck down local statutes on numerous occasions in the colony's Supreme Court.
However, the council was a weak non-executive, non-legislative federation of Western Australia, Fiji, Queensland, Tasmania and Victoria.
In the early years Australia continued to be represented by the United Kingdom as part of the British Empire at international conferences.
In 1919, following Canadian lead, Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes insisted that Australia have separate representatives at the Versailles Peace Conference and not as part of the British delegation.
So while the Irish immediately put the principle into effect by assuming the right to select their own governor-general and to demand a direct right of audience with the King (excluding British ministers), other dominions were much slower to go down this path, and when they did so, they were faced with determined, though ultimately futile, attempts to block such evolution in London.
The elections of the Australian Labor Party in 1972 and 1974 under its leader Gough Whitlam forced several constitutional issues to be tested.
The political situation however was not improved much by the 1974 election, and the Senate later failed to provide "supply" (i.e. to pass tax and expenditure acts).
The resulting Australian constitutional crisis of 1975 raised a series of issues: Of these, only the first has been partly resolved; an amendment in 1977 changed the procedure for casual appointment.
Under Section 11 of the Constitution a State parliament can still refuse to appoint the party's nominee; in this case, a stand-off can develop where the vacancy goes unfilled.
This occurred in 1987, when the Tasmanian state parliament refused to appoint the Labor Party's nominee for a casual vacancy.
The potential of conflict has been resolved in the United Kingdom, where the House of Lords no longer has the power to block money bills.