Federation and Lamingtons At 10 am on Tuesday January 1, 1901, Lord Lamington, the Governor of Queensland read out the Commonwealth Proclamation to a crowd of thousands of Queenslanders. He was standing on a specially built platform on the first floor of the Treasury building in Brisbane, which is today the Treasury Casino. The message read in part: "the people of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, Tasmania, and also, if Her Majesty is satisfied that the people of Western Australia have agreed thereto, of Western Australia, shall be united in the Federal Commonwealth, under the name of the Commonwealth of Australia." The Queenslander (a newspaper of the day) reported that the crowd was wildly enthusiastic. It also noted that Lord Lamington's reading was followed by a choir of 300 children singing the Australian national anthem, God Save the Queen. Celebrations lasted all day and into the night and included a parade, fireworks, and children's choirs in the Botanical Gardens. All over Queensland, communities celebrated Federation with processions, picnics, sporting carnivals, choirs, fireworks and the handing out of special Federation medals to all Queensland children.
Later small squares of chocolate sponge cake, covered in coconut became known as lamingtons. They are thought to have been invented by Australians and were probably named after Queensland's Governor or his wife, Lady Lamington, as was the Lamington National Park. Perhaps on 1/1/1901 children in the other photographs ate lamingtons at family dinner celebrations. |
