Note 14 — Chapter VIII · THE STRUGGLE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

In most of the other colonies the victory has come with even less struggle. South Australia debated and carried a resolution in favour as early as 1885, though there was practically no demand on the part of the women. As a two-thirds majority was needed, the women began to educate and agitate, and the franchise was secured in 1894. In New South Wales the question was brought forward by Sir H. Parkes in his Electoral Bill of 1890, and a powerful organisation of women took up the demand in the colony. By 1901 the measure passed the House of Assembly by a large majority (fifty-one to seven), but was rejected by a small majority (twenty-six to twenty-one) in the Legislative Council. In the following year it passed into law. West Australia passed the reform almost without a struggle. The Women’s Franchise League of that colony was formed in the spring of 1899, and the suffrage was obtained the same year. In Victoria, during a ten years’ brisk agitation, a measure has passed the lower House six times with increased majorities, but is blocked by the Legislative Council. Tasmania granted the franchise to women in 1903, and Queensland in 1905. Finally, the franchise for the Federal Parliament of Australia was granted to women, after a very brief struggle, in 1902.[14]