AN AUSTRALIAN CEDAR VOTING MACHINE USED BY THE FIRST AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL PARLIAMENT
A 10% Goods and Services tax (G.S.T) will be charg… Read more
AN AUSTRALIAN CEDAR VOTING MACHINE USED BY THE FIRST AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL PARLIAMENT

Details
AN AUSTRALIAN CEDAR VOTING MACHINE USED BY THE FIRST AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL PARLIAMENT
Of upright rectangular form, the hinged top enclosing the name of each candidate 'Alfred Deakin'; 'John Forrest'; 'George Turner'; 'Edmund Barton', with ballot ball and divisions to cast votes, the reverse with a cupboard door enclosing a glazed interior, listing the name of candidates and a total of votes cast, below a hopper for returned ballot balls and ceramic handle to reset the machine, with metal carrying handles to each side, on block feet; including an extra ballot ball, painted instruction signs
56 cm. (22 in.) wide; 152 cm. (60 in.) high; 30 cm. (12 in.) deep
See illustration
Provenance
This voting machine was purchased at auction in the 1970s at a sale conducted by the Parliament of Victoria. The Parliament of Victoria was home to the Federal Parliament from 1901-1926. The new Parliament House, Canberra was opened in 1927
Special notice
A 10% Goods and Services tax (G.S.T) will be charged on the Buyer's Premium on all lots in this sale.

Lot Essay

It is interesting to note that the names listed as candidates in this voting machine were instrumental in the success of the Australian Federation Movement and the Commonwealth Parliament inaugurated in 1901. Edmund Barton and Alfred Deakin together with George Turner and John Forrest were the founding fathers of Federation and each served in the earliest Commonwealth parliaments
Edmund Barton was Australia's first prime minister and when he retired to the High Court in 1903 Alfred Deakin succeeded him as prime minister. George Turner was Australia's first treasurer and delivered the first four Commonwealth budgets. John Forrest, famous as an explorer and Western Australia's first premier was able to secure his states support of the Commonwealth bill in the referenda campaigns of 1898-99. He was a member of the Federal parliament from its inception until 1918.

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