Chapter 214: Chapter 203: Kingdom of Australia and Oceania

At the end of 1905, two major events took place. First, Norway became an independent country, and Prince Carl of Denmark was chosen as its king, crowned King Haakon VII of Norway.

This marked the dissolution of the Sweden-Norway union. A sub-strong country in northern Europe officially became two third-tier countries.

The second event happened on October 2nd, at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in the United Kingdom.

On this day, the famous Dreadnought-class battleship officially began construction, and was successfully launched for testing within just four months.

Although the testing phase lasted for more than a year, it is undeniable how much impact this battleship, which took only four months to construct, had on the future world naval structure and shipbuilding system.

At the end of 1905, the federal government of Australia and New Zealand held a summary meeting, reporting the government’s achievements and actions over the past year to Arthur.

First came the federal population. After the merger of Australia and New Zealand, the population broke through over five million and was very close to six million.

By the end of 1905, the total population of Australia and New Zealand Federation had reached over 6.2 million, with Australia’s total population at 5.03 million, New Zealand’s total population at about 1.14 million, and over 30,000 in the New Guinea colony.

In terms of industry, the industrial development of Australia and New Zealand Federation was rapid, with a total steel output of over 1.5 million tons.

Federation steel production broke through 500,000 tons, reaching a gratifying 513,200 tons or so.

Iron production was also close to one million tons, enough to meet the demand for metals in Australia and New Zealand, and even began exporting to Southeast Asia in small quantities.

It is worth mentioning that Australia’s introduction of indigenous people from Dutch East Indies and its forced labor plan for indigenous people nationwide were very successful.

This was due to widespread racism among European immigrants, which formed the white Australian policy and ideology in Europe, ensuring that all federal citizens supported the oppression of indigenous people without anyone considering it cruel.

Of course, Australians would never admit this. National development often gave birth to dangerous jobs, and in Australia, these jobs were primarily filled by indigenous people, significantly reducing the casualties of Australian workers.

Aren’t the increasingly better lives that Australians now enjoy created, in part, by these indigenous people sacrificing their own lives?

To date, the Australian National University has successfully graduated three classes of students, producing nearly 2,000 outstanding university graduates for Australia.

The value of a university degree in this era is undoubtedly evident. These 2,000 people will become the backbone of various industries in Australia, and may even become the top force.

Australia’s transportation industry has also made rapid progress in recent years. First of all, the highways needed for daily transportation have been completed, connecting all cities in Australia and reaching smaller villages and facilities.

Regarding railways, after two years of development, a single-track railway connection has been completed from Perth, the capital of West Australia, to Adelaide, the capital of South Australia.

This also means that the industrial railway that spans the entire Australian continent has been completed in a single-track construction. Australians can travel from Perth, the capital of West Australia, to any capital of the five states and the Capital Territory on the Australian continent, such as Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle, and Brisbane.

Although Tasmania State does not have access to railway services, its road system is the most developed among all states in Australia.

To accommodate the feelings of newly-joined New Zealand, the federal government planned a railway on both South Island and North Island of New Zealand.

However, New Zealand’s previous railways were well developed, so the construction of these two railways involved more of maintenance and reactivation.

Another rapidly developing area was the per capita income of the Australia and New Zealand Federation. By the end of 1905, the per capita annual income was about 39 Australian Dollars, equivalent to 19.5 Pounds.

This income level was more than double that of Australia five years ago, which shows how rapidly Australia has developed over the past five years.

At this meeting, Arthur proposed the idea of forming a new kingdom to observe the attitudes of cabinet members.

Based on the reactions of cabinet members, Arthur was quite satisfied. All cabinet members supported the establishment of a unified kingdom to better unite Australia and New Zealand.

In fact, the founding of the new kingdom had already won the support of the German Empire and the Russian Empire, and as a loyal ally of the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire would not oppose.

Under the premise of Arthur having leverage, King Edward VII would definitely not object either, but would watch the reaction of the international community before making a decision.

France was not a monarchy, so Arthur did not care about their attitude. Most other monarchies in Europe had good relations with Britain, Germany, and Russia, and as long as the three strongest monarchies did not oppose, the European monarchies would not either.