<P> In the early 1890s two meetings established the need for federation and set the framework for this to occur . An informal meeting attended by official representatives from the Australasian colonies was held in 1890 . This led to the first National Australasian Convention, meeting in Sydney in 1891 . New Zealand was represented at both the conference and the Convention, although its delegates indicated that it would be unlikely to join the Federation at its foundation, but it would probably be interested in doing so at a later date . </P> <P> The Conference of 1890 was organised at the instigation of Parkes . The account of the calling of the 1890 conference usually begins with Lord Carrington, the Governor of New South Wales, goading the ageing Parkes at a luncheon on 15 June 1889 . Parkes reportedly boasted that he "could confederate these colonies in twelve months". Carrington retorted, "Then why don't you do it? It would be a glorious finish to your life ." Parkes the next day wrote to the Premier of Victoria, Duncan Gillies, offering to advance the cause of Federation . Gillies's response was predictably cool, given the reluctance of Parkes to bring New South Wales into the Federal Council . In October Parkes travelled north to Brisbane and met with Griffith and Sir Thomas McIlwraith . On the return journey, he stopped just south of the colonial border, and delivered the historic Tenterfield Oration on 24 October 1889, stating that the time had come for the colonies to consider Australian federation . </P> <P> Through the latter part of 1889 the premiers and governors corresponded and agreed for an informal meeting to be called . The membership was: New South Wales, Parkes (Premier) and William McMillan (Colonial Treasurer); Victoria, Duncan Gillies (Premier) and Alfred Deakin (Chief Secretary); Queensland, Sir Samuel Griffith (Leader of the Opposition) and John Murtagh Macrossan (Colonial Secretary); South Australia, Dr. John Cockburn (Premier) and Thomas Playford (Leader of the Opposition); Tasmania, Andrew Inglis Clark (Attorney - General) and Stafford Bird (Treasurer); Western Australia, Sir James George Lee Steere (Speaker); New Zealand, Captain William Russell (Colonial Secretary) and Sir John Hall . </P> <P> When the conference met at the Victorian Parliament in Melbourne on 6 February, the delegates were confronted with a scorching summer maximum temperature of 39.7 ° C (103.5 ° F) in the shade . The Conference debated whether or not the time was ripe to proceed with federation . </P>

Who led the state that decided at the last moment to vote for federation