RUSSIAN CONSULS IN MELBOURNE CONCERNING DEVEL - OPMENT OF FEDERALIST MOVEMENT IN AUSTRALIA AND ISSUES OF SHAPING OF AUSTRALIAN COMMONWEALTH (LATE 19TH - EARLY 20TH CENTURIES)
The article is based on dispatches from the Archives of Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire, and deals with the process and prospects for further development of Federalist Movement in Australia as estimated by Russian consular representatives in Melbourne in late 19th century, as well as with the process of establishment of Australian Commonwealth following its formation in 1901. It is noted that the Russian consuls in Australia, if not in form, then by the matter of their work were not consular, but rather diplomatic representatives. Generally they informed Petersburg truthfully about the internal political situation and developement of unifying movement at the Antipodes. The consuls were able to identify the causes of emergence and developement of the federalist movement in Australia, as well as the obstacles debarring this way. At the same time Russian cunsular representatives in Melbourne rather underestimated the pace of Federalist Movement and believed that establishment of the Federation is not the nearest future affair. In the same way, at first they were too cautious in assessing the prospects of Australian Commonwealth. The process of transforming the newly created British dominions into the new independent state of the emerging Australian nation did not yet find any clear and definite outlines in the late 19th-early 20th centuries. It was therefore not at once, but only towards the end of the first decade of the existence of Australian Commpnwealth that understanding came that its formation was the beginning of the way to complete independence of Australia and that the process of Australian Colonies’ emancipation from London was the beginning of transformation and possible collapse of the British Empire.