A turtle by any other name: the legal basis of the Australian Constitution

The legal basis of the Australian Constitution and, more specifically, how 'autochthony' for the Constitution might be achieved is assessed. As a result of the Australia Acts, some members of the High Court have instigated a move away from the traditional basis of the Constitution, the United Kingdom Parliament, to a new basis in popular sovereignty. But if the traditional legal basis is to be judicially discarded, and a local legal source found, the federal compact is the most historically correct interpretation of federation