Centre page of the ‘Melbourne Cartoon', featuring Sir Henry Parkes

In this cartoon by an unknown artist, Henry Parkes hangs on grimly as the blinkered federation horse bolts. Circling carrion crows, representing the ‘selfish’ and ‘jealous’ colonies, wait to pick the flesh of the dying federation cause. The red shirt worn by the ‘father of federation’ may symbolise the ‘crimson thread of kinship’ which, Parkes claimed, united all Australians. The image appeared in a mock-up of the 1891 ‘Melbourne Cartoon', an illustrated satirical magazine.