The opening in Melbourne of the first Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia by the Duke of Cornwall and York was celebrated at a number of functions. Allegorical representations of Britannia and the young nation of Australia adorn this invitation to an evening reception at the Exhibition Building. National Archives of Australia, PP608/1 This postcard, depicting a flotilla of black swans bearing maidens representing the States outside Sydney Heads, celebrates the new nation. The floral emblems of the States, dominated by the waratah of New South Wales, adorn the foreground, while a loose rendering of the Australian flag appears in the opposite corner. National Archives of Australia, A1861, 243   Although most Federation documents are paper-based, objects also convey information. The inauguration of the Commonwealth and the opening of the first Federal Parliament were commemorated by souvenirs, including this ceramic plate and vase by Doulton. State Library of New South Wales, DR 101, DR 138   In December 1901 the Australian Natives' Association, which had enthusiastically promoted Australian Federation, urged the Prime Minister to take steps to make patent laws uniform throughout the Commonwealth as soon as possible, to 'give Australian inventors the protection that is absolutely needed'. National Archives of Australia, A8, 1902/68/1   Companies used the idea of a united Commonwealth to promote their products. This one is from the collection of trade marks held by the National Archives. National Archives of Australia, A1153, vol. 5, 3182 The Australian nation is celebrated by 'Young Australia', a young woman wrapped in the flag, in this photograph of 1921. National Archives of Australia, A1861, 4638   These glass plates, intended to be viewed through a stereoscope, depict the arrival of the United States 'Great White Fleet' at Melbourne's St Kilda pier in 1908. National Archives of Australia, A1861, 703 Prime Minister Edmund Barton was given a farewell banquet in the Town Hall by the citizens of Sydney before he left to attend the Imperial Conference in London in 1902. Noel Butlin Archives Centre, E216/18   Parisian architect Alfred Agache came third in the 1912 design competition for the new Federal capital of Australia. Watercolour renderings of his design pictured the Australian capital as a new Paris, with an elegant monument to Australian Federation. National Archives of Australia, A710, 14