At the time of Federation in 1901, there were 7,448 United States-born in Australia. Around this time, these American-Australians were notable in the labour movement – including the formation of trade unions and the Australian Labor Party (hence "Labor" being spelt in the North American fashion instead of the more common "Labour", however both spellings were acceptable in Australian English at the time). Despite North American socio-cultural influences, Australian public opinion was wary of the United States itself: the visit of the "Great White Fleet" of the United States Navy to Sydney and Melbourne in 1908 was greeted with fanfare, but provoked immediate comment that the (British) Royal Navy should make an even greater show of force to restate in the strongest military terms Australia's position as the south-eastern guarantor of the British Empire.