generally expected to assimilate into the settlement communities. The Ngunnawal people were subsequently often considered to be "extinct"; however, in a situation parallel to that of the Tasmanian Aborigines, people with claims to Ngunnawal ancestry continue to identify themselves as such. However, there have been contemporary instances of dispute within the community itself over who is properly considered to be a member of the Ngunnawal people. Search for a capital city location The district's change from a New South Wales rural area to the national capital began with the debates over Federation during the 19th century. Prior to 1840 Sydney was the administrative centre for the colony, and thus it could be presupposed that any potential federal government would be seated there. However, this started to change when, buoyed by the Victorian Gold Rush, Melbourne grew rapidly, and by 1860 its population had overtaken that of Sydney. The discovery of gold also helped to increase Melbourne's financial base, to the point where at one stage "nearly 5% of all British imperial government revenue ... passed through [Melbourne's] port". Thus Melbourne soon possessed both the size and the economic clout to rival Sydney and to command additional administrative powers. When Federation was first being discussed, views differed about the location of the capital. Early advocate for Australian federation, John Dunmore Lang, backed Sydney, but Henry Parkes, a prominent New South Wales politician and Premier, proposed the capital be founded on "neutral ground", nominating the town of Albury as a location. (Albury was located in New South Wales, yet its position on the Murray River placed it on the border between New South Wales and Victoria). In 1898, a referendum on a proposed Constitution was held in four of the colonies – New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. Although the referendum achieved a majority in all four colonies, the New South Wales referendum failed to gain the minimum number of votes needed for the bill to pass. Following this result, a meeting of the four Premiers in 1898 heard from George Reid, the Premier of New South Wales, who argued that locating the future capital in New South Wales would be sufficient to ensure the passage of the Bill. This was accepted by the other three Premiers, and the proposed Australian Constitution was modified so that Section 125 specified that the national capital must be "within the state of New