work in the sugar cane fields. Some of whom had been kidnapped or coerced under a process known as blackbirding. When Australia was federated in 1901, the White Australia policy came into effect, whereby all foreign workers in Australia were deported under the Pacific Island Labourers Act of 1901. At this time there were between 7,000 and 10,000 Pacific Islanders living in Queensland. Most of them had been deported by 1908, by which time there were only 1500–2500 remaining. 20th century Federation to First World War April 1900 saw the bubonic plague enter Queensland at Rockhampton, where it persisted until 1909. On 1 January 1901, following a series of referendums, the six Australian colonies including Queensland federated to form Australia as a nation. Certain powers previously exercised by the Queensland Government were ceded to the federal government under the Constitution of Australia. At this time Queensland had a population of half a million people. In 1901, the Chillagoe smelters commenced operations. Brisbane was proclaimed a city in 1902. In 1905, women voted in state elections for the first time. In 1908, Witches Falls, now part of Tamborine National Park on Tamborine Mountain is declared the first national park in Queensland. The University of Queensland was established in 1909. The 1912 Brisbane General Strike lasted for five weeks. World War I The United Kingdom declared war against Germany on 4 August 1914. As Australia's new constitution was silent on the declaration of war, on 20 August 1914 Queensland made an independent proclamation of war between His Majesty the King (George V) and the German Emperor (Wilhelm II). Later Queensland made further independent proclamations of war against Austria and Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey. Initially in 1914 the war in Europe did not impact greatly on life in Queensland, although the existing militia were deployed in the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force attack on German New Guinea. The outbreak of war created a heightened sense of patriotism; the call for Queenslanders to volunteer for the Australian Imperial Force met its initial quota of 2500 men by September 1914. With so many willing to enlist, the army could insist of a high standard of physical fitness. However, the only women accepted by the army were single women nurses. Women doctors were not accepted by the army, arguing they could not stand the conditions (despite nurses enduring the same conditions) and, perhaps more tellingly,