Foreign affairs & tradeDepartment of State
Department of External Affairs
1 January 1901 – 14 November 1916
The original Department of External Affairs, responsible for relations with the British and other governments, immigration restriction and the administration of Papua and (from 1911) the Northern Territory; until 1911 it also served the Prime Minister.
How it came into existence
Established on 1 January 1901 as one of the seven original Departments of State, with Prime Minister Edmund Barton as Minister for External Affairs and Atlee Hunt as secretary.
Changes during its life
- Services to the Prime Minister
How it ended
Abolished on 14 November 1916, when the second Hughes ministry reorganised departments: its territories and immigration functions went to the new Department of Home and Territories, and external relations to the Prime Minister's Department.
- Northern Territory and Papua
- Immigration restriction
- External relations and communications with the British and other governments
Main functions
- Relations and communications with the British and other governments
- Immigration restriction under the Immigration Restriction Act 1901
- Pacific Island labourers
- Administration of British New Guinea, from 1906 the Territory of Papua
- Administration of the Northern Territory (from 1911)
- Services to the Prime Minister (until 1911)
Bodies in this portfolio (3)
- British New Guinea Administration 1902–1906
- Royal Commission on the Affray at Goaribari Island, British New Guinea, on the 6th of March, 1904 1904
- Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Present Conditions, Including the Method of Government, of the Territory of Papua, and the Best Means of Their Improvement 1906–1907
Lineage
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Sources
Primary sources
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 1 January 1901 (created it)
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 22 September 1915 (sets it out)
1 more Administrative Arrangements Order sets it out
- Administrative Arrangements Order of 4 April 1912 (sets it out)