The records of the Australasian Federation Conference of 1890 and the Australasian Federal Conventions of 1891 and 1897/8 are among the most significant founding documents of the Australian nation. Following the Australasian Federation Conference in Melbourne in February 1890, the Constitution was drafted by representatives of the six Australian colonies of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, and Tasmania at a series of constitutional conventions in 1891 and 1897 to 1898.
See below:
To find the full text of the documents from the Federation Conference and the Conventions, use the following open access resources:
World Constitutions Illustrated on HEIN Online (UniMelb staff & students) contains a wealth of 19th and early 20th century full text legal, historical and political books on the colonies, pre and post-federation and the Constitution - these are pdf replicas of the original print books. Scroll to the Commentaries & Other Relevant Sources heading to see an alphabetical list by title. For example:
The three-volume work Opinions of Attorneys-General of the Commonwealth of Australia (published between 1981 and 2013) comprises legal advice provided to the Commonwealth government between 1901 and 1945, from Federation and the creation of the Commonwealth to shortly after the Second World War. These opinions consider many constitutional issues and are an invaluable historical resource.
The Opinions are available: