On 17 September 1900, Queen Victoria issued a Royal Proclamation declaring that on and after 1 January 1901, the people of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, Tasmania, and Western Australia would be united in a Federal Commonwealth under the name of the Commonwealth of Australia. The inauguration ceremony took place in Centennial Park, Sydney, where the Earl of Hopetoun was sworn in as the first Governor-General. This proclamation gave practical effect to clause 3 of the covering clauses of the Constitution Act.