in Victoria and specifically the treatment of the Irish. Being unable to find the local newspaper editor, he left the letter with a member of the bank staff and returned to Victoria £2,000 richer. Riverina and federation The close geographic and cultural ties between the Riverina and northern Victoria, combined with continuing frustration with inter colonial tariffs, made the Riverina a fertile area for ideas for uniting the various colonies in an Australian federation. This would see the southern Riverina in particular take a leading role in bringing about federation. Prior to federation, the various Australian colonies could, and often did, charge tariffs on goods from the other colonies, ostensibly for the protection of their domestic manufacturing industries, mainly based in the larger cities such as Sydney and Melbourne. For a border community such as the southern Riverina, these tariffs were a sore burden, making goods purchased from Melbourne, the closest large city, more expensive and reducing the competitiveness of these towns supplying the Melbourne and Adelaide markets. In addition, crossing the border on the Murray River was a tiresome experience as each border crossing had customs posts inspecting goods and luggage to ensure all duty was paid and to reduce smuggling, a popular activity. Another item of concern was the lack of adequate river crossings. Along the Riverina the Murray was—and remains—part of New South Wales, who had no interest in assisting border residents to access goods and services in Victoria that may otherwise have been sourced from Sydney. In the early 1890s, for mainly patriotic reasons, the Australian Natives' Association helped establish the Federation League, a society dedicated to the creation of a federal nation. Following a series of addresses by the future Prime Minister, Edmund Barton to large crowds, some 15 League branches were established in the towns along the southern border. One of these towns, Corowa, was the location for the first conference of the Australian Federation League in 1893. At this conference, Dr John Quick, a delegate from Bendigo, proposed a resolution calling for the colonial legislatures to pass an act providing for the election of representatives to a convention to develop a federal constitution. This has been seen as the turning point in the push for Federation. The momentum generated from this point lead to a series of conventions and elections and finally, the inauguration of a federal constitution on 1 January 1901. Irrigation