How would hist have looked if the Aust colonies hadn't decided to band together and form the Cth of Aust in 1900-01 ? How viable would a patchwork of different inidividual states have been on the Aust continent with their own separate colonial armed forces, customs and taxes, weights and measures, and railroad gauges ? OTL, federation wasn't viewed as inevitable during the 1890s by many ppl in Aust, due to clashing regional interests. WI these differing political, economic and social views had overridden the shared desire for joint defence and establishment of the White Aust policy ?