Federation Pavilion

New Years Day, 1901 and more than 60,000 people had gathered in Centennial Parklands to witness the proclamation of the Commonwealth of Australia. At 1.00 pm, 1 January 1901, the Queen's Proclamation was read, the Governor-General and Federal Ministers were sworn in and a 21-gun salute declared the people from Australia's six separate colonies united in a Federal Commonwealth of Australia. The original pavillion was only temporary and quickly degraded. The Federation Stone which had been housed within the pavilion was later placed on a sandstone pedestal and surrounded by an iron picket fence in 1904. It remained there until the new Federation Pavilion was opened in 1988 as part of the Bicentennial Celebrations. The design of the new building incorporated the entire landscape of Federation Valley and was based on a circle - the symbol of unity - to reflect the significance of the site. Inside the building, the symmetrically designed, marble laid interior provides a solemn and serene setting for the original Federation Stone. It now features a marble hexagon stone cap on the original sandstone obelisk and each side is engraved with a state and the date of its founding.