The Australian Labor Party is Australia's oldest political party.
Separate labour parties had been established in the colonies during the formative decade of the 1890s.
Labor became a Federal Party when the former colonies of Australia federated in 1901.
The Australian Labor Party entered federal politics at the first Commonwealth elections of 1901, when 16 Labor members were elected to the House of Representatives and eight to the Senate. They met before the first sitting of Parliament on 8 May 1901 and agreed to form a Federal Labor Party.
