List of proposed states of Australia

Proposals for new Australian states have been numerous since the late 19th and early 20th centuries; however, to date, no states have been added to Australia since Federation in 1901. Many proposals have suggested an Aboriginal state which would resemble the Inuit territory of Nunavut in Canada, while others have suggested incorporating New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, East Timor and New Caledonia as new states. Other proposals suggest making the Northern Territory and/or Australian Capital Territory states.

Chapter VI of the Constitution of Australia allows for the establishment or admission of new states to the Federation. It may also increase, diminish, or otherwise alter the limits of a state, form new states by separating territory from an existing state, or join two states or parts of states, but in each case it must have the approval of the parliaments of the states in question.

There were proposals for new colonies in the 19th century that did not come about. North Australia was briefly a colony between February and December 1846. The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society published Considerations on the Political Geography and Geographical Nomenclature of Australia in 1838, in which the following divisions were proposed:

These proposed states were geometric divisions of the continent, and did not take into account soil fertility, aridity or population. This meant that central and western Australia were divided into several states, despite their low populations both then and now.

There was also a proposal in 1857 for the "Seven United Provinces of Eastern Australia" with separate provinces of Flinders Land, Leicharts (sic) Land (taken from the name of Ludwig Leichhardt) and Cooks Land in modern day Queensland (also named from James Cook).

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