Republic of Australia
The Republic of Australia is a nation which was formed after The Great War in which Australia declared its independence from the U.K. after it successfully repelled an invasion with little help from Britain. Britain, ravaged by the war, did little to stop the Australian Independence Movement and simply recognized the nation as an independent country.
Australia is a regional superpower, holding heavy influence over the neighboring islands. However it often competes with the Empire of Japan for dominance in South Asia and the competition turned into war during the Great Pacific War and the Taiwan Conflict. However recently Prime Minister Aubrey and Emperor Akihito have been working together to strengthen relations between the two nations and have recently signed several Trade Treaties.
Australia was first established as a penal colony by the British Empire and soon was settled by large amounts of British and Dutch citizens fleeing South Africa following the Boer Wars. After a movement to end Australia as a penal colony it was declared a "Free Colony" and soon granted self governance, gaining the position as a Commonwealth and Dominion in the British Empire.
Following Britain's entry into WW1 Australia became a prime target for the Japanese, who had become an ally of the German Empire. The Japanese seized several British holdings, most notably New Guinea. The Japanese invaded on February 14th but were repelled after three months. This led to Australia's independence and the subsequent formation of the Republic of Australia. However Australia was still plagued with division, which culminated in the Australian Civil War. The civil war ended with a Republican victory and the Australian Republic was held intact. However following the Civil War Australia was ravaged by the damage done by the war and became deep in debt to other nations. However the discovery of gold managed to lift the nation out of debt and the establishment of cash crop farms raised the nation's GDP. Today Australia is a regional power, only rivaled by the Empire of Japan. Australia is part of the Allied Powers and of the Asian Economic Treaty Alliance.
Japanese Invasion
Following the outbreak of the Great War Japan invaded Australia, however the stubborn resistance by the natives provided too much for the Japanese, who withdrew after three months. This led to a large wave of nationalism, as Australia had proven defensible with Britain's help. This realization led to the decision that Australia could survive without the UK acting as a mother country. On June 18th, 1915 George Rainford issued the "Declaration of Australian Sovereignty" which formally declared Australia to be a Republic. The United States became the first to recognize the fledgling nation, closely followed by Germany, Japan, France, and finally Britain. However the new Republic faced many internal problems.
Australian Civil War
George Rainford had declared Australia to be a Republic and began to gather members from each province to Perth to draft a constitution and address several problems. However, several Australian officials from Queensland sought to establish a Queensland dominated country, and thus in an act of disrespect denied Rainford's request and instead forced him to come to Brisbane. He did so, only to become locked in a bitter dispute with the Queensland officials and the infamous "Brisbane Convention" ended in nothing but bitterness and resentment. Shortly after Rainford returned to Perth to begin reconstruction of the war ravaged land, the Queensland officials, led by Charlie Dunman declared a new republic and officially seceded from the Republic of Australia, forming the "Queensland Republic." This initiated a civil war between the two factions vying for power in Australia.
The Australian Civil War began with the "Queensland Rebels" bombarding the Republican forces at their base at Townsville, Fort Lasseter. After a 72-hour siege the Republican forces surrendered to the Rebels, however refused to recognize the Queensland Republic and instead surrendered to the "rebel forces." News of the Bombardment of Fort Lasseter outraged opinion in the Republic of Australia and Goerge Rainford managed to pass a declaration of war on the "rebel forces" through his provisional parliament. Soon the Australian Republican Army consisted of 48,000 recruits as many from the East flocked to join the west.
The Queensland Republic was based largely on an aristocratic society, with a small ruling upper class and a large lower class. This inspired many among the lower class to immigrate to the Republic of Australia, which was based on a free market society. The Queensland Republic's Army was very small as many of the lower class refused to fight for their oppressive upper class. To combat this the Queensland leaders promised land and large amounts of money for whoever fought throughout the entirety of the war. This enticed many to fight for the Queensland Army.
The war ended in a Republican victory and the Queensland Republic was disbanded. The Republic of Australia was united again, however there was still bitterness felt between the East and West. Adding onto the distress was that Australia needed to be repaired after the war, with at least 18 billion dollars of damage inflicted onto the infrastructure. One of the most important factors in the war however was the "Aboriginal Equality Proclamation" which guaranteed all Aboriginal natives citizenship. Thus ended the apartheid system that had taken place in Australia.
1880's Gold Rush
Gold was first discovered in Australia following its discovery in several areas of East Australia. Gold was first discovered during the Healing Era of Australia when a crew of workers repairing a damaged railroad found a gold vein in a large artillery crater. The discovery of gold attracted national attention, and soon several other goldfields were discovered throughout Eastern Australia. Similar gold findings would be found in West Australia and soon the Gold Rush had attracted world wide attention. Prospectors from all the world came, including those from Japan, U.S., Brazil, U.K., France, and many other nations. The gold discovery heavily boosted the nation's population and various towns popped up in areas rumored to be laden with gold. The Australian Government also became wealthy during this period due to the small tariffs and taxes placed on gold. The "Nugget Bill" decreed that the government claimed an eighth of every gold nugget weighing more than five ounces. The Bill was largely unpopular however many did not mind as it took a very small percentage of their profit.
Foreign Relations
Australia, as one of the few nations in Asia not under heavy Japanese influence has maintained good relations with other nations of the world, most notably the United States and the United Kingdom. It also established good relations with the surrounding island nations not under Japanese control and has signed several Mutual Protection Pacts with Indonesia, Burma, and China.
Recently both the Empire of Japan and Australia have sought to better relations. Several Trade Treaties were signed and Australians aided the relief effort following the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami and several Australian nuclear scientists volunteered to help the Fukushima Nuclear Incident. Australia has cemented its position as a regional power and is currently a very influential nation.