Dutton vows to ‘turn the tide of anti-Semitism’ in pre-election pitch to Jewish Australians, page-19

That "mandate" made it a "colony" of Britain. A colony that never had self Government (like Australia, New Zealand, Canada etc, etc) so the fact remains it was never a state/country, a bit like the Pilbara or the Goldfields in WA.

That's a fact, you can deny all you want, but for now it remains a fact.