We have seen from the preceding chapters that the mainland capital cities in Australia have grown rapidly in the post-war period. Although only Sydney and Melbourne are large by international standards all of them are now of a size and complexity exceeding the imagination or expectations of the political leaders who at the end of the nineteenth century arranged the distribution of powers between the States and Commonwealth.

In defining the Constitutional responsibilities of the different levels of government at the end of the nineteenth century, urban issues appear not to have been raised (Deakin 1963). In the discussions which took place it was implicitly assumed that the States would continue with the responsibilities each had as colonies for urban affairs. As sovereign States they would each continue to oversee the distribution of functions between the towns and cities which formed their urban systems and they would each exercise whatever powers they chose over the form and structure of the towns and cities within their territories.

Local Government

The question of local government and its powers never arose. Local government was unevenly developed in the colonies. In some Australian colonies, communities had local government imposed on them, whereas in others colonists strenuously opposed it.