It's particularly weird since Australia was founded in 1901. Before that the states were independent nations with their own militaries, collected their own tax

It's particularly weird since Australia was founded in 1901. Before that the states were independent nations with their own militaries, collected their own taxes, had border controls between them etc. So how are they tracing it back? The states still have their own democracies to this day but I don't think you can call that Australia's democracy.