Critical Summary & Review: Government & Colonial Economy in Australia

This essay presents a critical summary and review of an article focusing on the economic development of Australia during its colonial era. The article elucidates the growth of businesses, the impact of governmental policies, and the expansion of urban centers. It highlights how Australia's abundant resources, secured land, and immigration-driven skills fostered economic sectors like agriculture, with key exports including wool and gold. The analysis further explores societal changes, the emergence of a wealthy class, and industrialization fueled by agricultural resources and rural exploitation. The essay also addresses the consequences of urbanization, resource scarcity, and governmental policies that shaped Australia's economic landscape. The critical review assesses the article's depiction of Australia's colonial experience, acknowledging the hardships faced by settlers and the significance of resource exploitation. It praises the article's sequential structure and its exploration of key aspects like resource exploitation, scale expansion, and the role of government, concluding that the article provides valuable insights into Australia's colonial economic history.

History
Critical summary & review on article “Government and the colonial economy” in Australia.
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History
Summary of the article.
The article describes the colonial period in Australia. The basic point of the entire
article is that it gives a vivid description on what took place in colonial period back in 1800
years1. The article expounds on the aspect of development of businesses in Australia, effects
of government policies to the country, growth and effects of urban centres in Australia during
colonial time2 .In general the article describes the economic development during the
Australians colonial era.
Reading this article helps a learner to get an insight of what took place for the last 200
years .Therefore, this is to say that the article reveals those topics which reveals how
economic development occurred back in 1800 years. It describes how author has used
different data collection strategies to create an image of what took place in colonial era. The
summary ends by giving a simple conclusion on what each title in the article describes.
Generally, economic growth in Australia started as a result of different factors. At first there
were adequate resources in the country which facilitated the development of economic
sectors in the country3. Colonialist had secured a lot of land from the indigenous people in
Australia. This land was highly used for the different purpose. People had migrated from
different countries to Australia. Due to this more skills, techniques, expectations and
opportunities developed. This is to say that people were able to come up with economical
ideas such as identifying new ideas on development of agriculture, improving on transport
1 Adams, William James. Restructuring the French economy: government and the rise of market
competition since World War II. Brookings Institution Press, 2010
2 Altman, Jon C., and William Fogarty. "Indigenous Australians as' No Gaps' subjects: education and
development in remote Indigenous Australia." Monash University Publishing, 2010.
3 Argent, Neil. "Reinterpreting core and periphery in Australia's mineral and energy resources boom:
an Innisian perspective on the Pilbara." Australian Geographer 44, no. 3 (2013): 323-340.

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and building new settlements. These ideas led to economic growth and people started
adapting new mechanism to promote economy4.
By 1850 agriculture had developed in Australia5. This included growing of indigenous crops,
keeping of livestock and exports of wool and gold in the country. This assisted people to gain
adequate income that assisted them to import new commodities to the country. Through the
export and import process the issue of employment increased in sense that many people took
part in trade and transport .The article goes on and reveals how the society changed in the
country. A class of people developed in the country whereby there were rich people who
could finance the trade6. Income level increased in Australia as a result of exchange of goods
and services with the neighbouring countries and overseas.
In addition, the article shows how economic set up in Australia was accelerated by the
development of industries. Industrialization developed due to various reasons. First through
development of agriculture in Australia there was supply of adequate materials needed for the
development of industries. Wool and other agricultural materials facilitated the development
of industries in the country. Also the ability to exploit the rural resources in the country
facilitated industrialization. This is to say that more resources were highly exploited from the
rural areas and thus using them in industries to manufacture new products that were later
exported or used within the country. Increased immigration in the country helped industries
to access unskilled labour needed. This is to mean that most of the workers in Australia were
unskilled. There was enough food for the increased population and that’s why many
4 Bhattacharya, Rajesh, and Kalyan Sanyal. "Bypassing the squalor: New towns, immaterial labour
and exclusion in post-colonial urbanisation." Economic and Political Weekly (2011): 41-48.
5 Carnegie, Garry. Pastoral accounting in colonial Australia: a case study of unregulated accounting.
Routledge, 2014
6 Castles, Stephen, Graeme Hugo, and Ellie Vasta. "Rethinking migration and diversity in Australia:
introduction." Journal of Intercultural Studies 34, no. 2 (2013): 115-121.

History
immigrants were recorded during this time. Land was entirely exploited and therefore little
land was left .The article describes Australia as the workers’ paradise in sense that
immigrants secured jobs in both industries and land.
Later on in 1850s, the article indicates that there was increased scarcity of resources in rural
areas in Australia. This led to rural-urban migration whereby people moved to urban centres
to look for space for settlement7. This resulted due to increased population in rural areas who
had settled to exploit available resources for use in industries and also to do agriculture. The
cheap food produced in rural areas led to reduced standard of living in the country thus
subjecting people to move to the urban centres. Urbanization expanded later when new
countries started investing in some of the towns in Australia8. For example, the USA after
using its rural areas it started to invest in countries such as Australia. This increased trade and
transport also thus boosting the economic status within the countries. There was availability
of both skilled and unskilled labour in Australia. As a result of this new techniques for
exploiting resources such as new methods of extracting minerals were innovated. Gold mines
were discovered in the country and this boosted trade .Due to the gold minerals Australia was
able to get huge income through export9. As a result urban centres expanded since many had
migrated to towns to search for jobs in the industries and also increased number of
immigrants from USA who came to invest in the country.
7 Clarsen, Georgine. "The 1928 MacRobertson Round Australia Expedition: Colonial Adventuring in
the Twentieth Century." In Expedition into Empire, pp. 206-225. Routledge, 2014.
8 Conley, Tom. The vulnerable country: Australia and the global economy. ReadHowYouWant. com,
2010.
9 Dyster, Barrie, and David Meredith. Australia in the global economy: continuity and change.
Cambridge University Press, 2012.

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In addition, government formed laws which later on increased the economic status in the
country. All the governmental policies in Australia targeted for economic development
despite the limitations experienced. This is to mean that the administrative sector had a
vision. Stable and peaceful political order was established in the country to promote
economic development in Australia.
Conclusion.
Therefore, in conclusion from what the article has described it is clear that economic
development in Australia was marked by increased exploitation of resources, development of
agriculture which provided raw materials for industries and also food for the population and
also increased wages in the country which facilitated urbanization10. Use of governmental
laws also had impacts on the Australian economic sector.
Critical Review
This article is fascinating and it reveals the true nature of Australia’s colonial
experience11. Just any other colonies, Australia’s resources offered a handsome and
reasonable reward to their colonial masters. People coming to settle into Australia endured
10 Findlay, Christopher, and Ross Garnaut. The political economy of manufacturing protection:
Experiences of ASEAN and Australia. Routledge, 2017.
11 Finnane, Mark, and Fiona Paisley. "Police violence and the limits of law on a late colonial
frontier: the “Borroloola Case” in 1930s Australia." Law and History Review 28, no. 1
(2010): 141-171.

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hardships and they really struggled a lot as they tried to resettle and establish new lives that
they had hoped they would. It was Australia’s resources that came into rescue, as a result of
Australia’s resources more people started flowing into Australia of course bringing with them
new skills and techniques of doing things. It is also important to note that it was not only
Australia’s rich agricultural products that fed their colonial masters but also their well-
established pastoral products. Their pastoral products were so established they even went
ahead into exporting some such as wool so as to earn income to buy purchase some imports
that they needed. Well, this is one of the parts of this particular article that was well
developed12. It depicts the typical ancient Australia and it draws a clear picture of how things
were during the early times.
Looking at this particular article is very interesting. One of the most important things about
this article is that it is sequential in nature13. The author was very sequential in terms of
developing his ideas one by one but also not trying to dilute the intended meaning that this
article was meant to convey. Some of the aspects that the author looks at in this article are;
Exploitation of Australia’s resources, scale expansion, organizing production, the city and the
bush, a government undertaking, making convicts productive and finally white settlement and
the aboriginal economy. All this are important subsections of this article that the author
thought it best to use them so as to bring out the intended picture in the minds of his readers.
As mentioned earlier, the author was very objective and all these sections were meant to
12 Ford, Lisa, and Tim Rowse, eds. Between indigenous and settler governance. Routledge,
2012.
13 Jang, Hae Seong. Social identities of young indigenous people in contemporary Australia:
Neo-colonial north, Yarrabah. Springer, 2015.

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convey a very important message14. This critical review therefore aims towards looking at all
these subsections and so as to reveal exactly what information and message each section was
meant to convey in the development of the author’s general idea regarding the economies of
Australia in the colonial era.
Exploiting Australia’s resources
This is the first subsection of the article, it is clearly developed and each idea is well
conveyed. It mentions about exploiting Australia’s resources and how the British government
went ahead into finding out these resources existed in the first place15. The author mentions
exploration as the reason for the recognition of the rich Australian lands. As we all know,
during the early yeas exploration was quite a common thing and various groups of people
would move from one place to another, from one country to another not in search for
anything in particular but just for exploration so as to discover and uncover new mysteries.
Resources such as lands, exploitation of minerals such gold and exportation of agricultural
resources played a key role in economic advancement. Land which were idle in Australia
were used for agriculture. The article shows how people had migrated to Australia to acquire
food which was produced through agriculture.
It was during these series of explorations that the British recognized the reach Australian land
and started sending troops in so as to occupy the land16. There was this very important aspect
14 Karskens, Grace. "The settler evolution: space, place and memory in early colonial
Australia." Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature 13, no. 2 (2013).
15 Lehne, Richard. Government and business: American political economy in comparative
perspective. CQ Press, 2012.
16 Llewellyn, David Geoffrey Matthew. "Australia Felix: Jeremy Bentham and Australian
colonial democracy." PhD diss., 2016.

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about Australia’s resources that made the British want to stay at Australia. Unlike most
countries that the British were establishing their bases at Australia was so unique. Australia’s
resources were immense and they had the ability to support various and large export
industries that facilitated and played a very significant role towards colonial economic
development. Well, this is the only part of this section that was irrational and I do feel that the
author was out of context. This is so because facts on the ground have it that a huge amount
of the products and the resources exploited were used locally. They were sold to the
Australian population by the British and by doing so they got the finances to facilitate their
economic development.
Scale expansion
This is the second section of this article. It mentions about scale expansion in
Australia. By scale expansion, the author meant the increase in population of the colonists in
Australia. In this he author highlights some of the reasons that lead to the expansion of the
British population in Australia and the immediate effects that were accompanied by this
expansion in population17. The author identifies the immense resources of Australia as the
major and only reason for the colonists population increase in Australia.
In this part, I feel that the author was not reflective enough; he just shallowly mentions the
reason for the population increase. In my own opinion, I do feel that the author was supposed
to be more categorical and identify the reasons form the gradual increase in the colonist’s
population. He was too general and this puts readers in an awkward position of not knowing
exactly what led to the gradual increase in population of the colonist’s population.
17 Luckman, Susan. "Tropical cosmopolitanism and outdoor food markets in (post) colonial
Australia." Continuum 25, no. 5 (2011): 653-667.

History
The effects of this population expansion were clearly mentioned by the author, some of the
effects for this were an acceleration of the investment boom. Investments in the area
increased as the incoming population invested even much more. This greatly accelerated
economic development not only for the colonial powers but also for Australia itself18.
Organizing Production
Production is an activity that needs to be organized and all factors of production must
be put in place so as to ensure that the production process is smooth. Here the author
highlights some of the important technological advancements that the colonists used as they
exploited the resources in Australia and the production of various goods and services so as to
boost their economic development. It is noted that the colonist used at a greater amount the
technology that they had invented19. There certain consequences attributed to this, but from
the look of things this article typically singles out the positive ones. Production was immense
with the introduction of various technological advancement.
The city and the bush
During the early years in Australia, the place was not so well developed. Despite of
all this however, cities thrived. The cities were sparsely populated. The author used this
section to bring out the aspect of industrialization in Australia. The population growth and
scale expansion brought about rapid industrialization coupled with the incorporation of
18 McLean, Ian W. Why Australia prospered: the shifting sources of economic growth. Vol.
43. Princeton University Press, 2012.
19 Pickard, John. "Wire fences in colonial Australia: Technology transfer and adaptation,
1842–1900." Rural History 21, no. 1 (2010): 27-58.

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technological advancements. Development of urban centres also provided accommodation
sites for the labour in industries. Many people had migrated to towns where many people
were looking for the improved standards of living. Well, in this section I feel that the author
was not objective. He just shallowly mentions the industrialization fact but does not get deep
further into explaining the reasons for it. For the few reasons that were mentioned they are
not even elaborate. They are just plain and the reader cannot get a clear picture of how things
unfolded and lead to the immense industrialization in Australia back in the colonial era.
A government undertaking
This section looks at Australian settlement that initially begun as the governments
undertakings. Just like most colonial governments back in the colonial era, corruption was
very rampant in the British administration20. It was this corruption that led to various failures
by the colonial government towards administering Australia.
This section in my own opinion is so irrelevant, I am not quite sure of why the author brought
it into this article but I feel leaving it out would not have any harm and would not damage the
general thoughts that the author meant to convey in this article. To be more precise, I do feel
that it should be left out.
Making Construction Productive
This is a section that basically played a very significant role towards shaping the
general outlook of this article. It was objective and aimed exactly at what the reader would
want to see. As we all know most convicts tend to be less productive due to various reasons
20 Short, Damien. Reconciliation and colonial power: Indigenous rights in Australia.
Routledge, 2016.

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such as adverse/harsh conditions and treatment. This section, however, highlights some of the
ways in which the colonial government used to make their convicts even much productive.
The author here displays a very good level of technique in this section; the ideas are well
developed and sequentially arranged. The flow of events is superb. For instance, the author
mentions how on how convict transportation aided private economic development. There was
also the development of a very great and special technique that allowed the convict to work
not for the whole day but part of the day for their own account. As results of these
advancements and various innovations, by 1830s, the labour productivity in Australia had
increased from about one third to three thirds in comparison to that in Britain which during
that time was considered to be the most productive economy in the whole world.
There were numerous benefits that were accompanied by these changes on the Australian
population and also the convicts themselves.
White settlement and the aboriginal economy
This is the last section of this article, it wraps up the various ideas that the write
intended to convey in this particular article. It addresses the access of resources by Australia
for its colonial development. It relates the fall in the Aboriginal population and the
subsequent growth of the colonial population shedding light on how the colonial economic
growth took place at the expense of the Aboriginal fall21. This section had revealed the
growth of economic sector after the fall of the Aboriginal resources in Australia. It was clear
that the output from the Aboriginal population led to decrease in output provided by the
colonial population in Australia. Aboriginal population concentrated on their products
21 Staniforth, Mark. Material culture and consumer society: dependent colonies in colonial
Australia. Springer Science & Business Media, 2012.

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leaving behind the output from the colonial settlement. In general the dominating
circumstances in this discussion is that there was need for change whereby the output
produced was to reflect on new values incurred by the owners. Arithmetically there was a net
balance that indicated combined output of the two parties. The output between Aboriginal
settlers and colonial settler was almost the same at 1840s but later on in 1870s there was big
difference recorded. This section is more conclusive and it aims towards wrapping up the
ideas depicted by the author as he developed this particular article.
Conclusion
Basically, the article has clearly described the history on economic development in
Australia. Through the identified section it is clear that economic history traced its origin
from exploitation of resources up to the last part which involves intervention of the
government22. Generally, as depicted from the critical analysis of this particular text, it is
evident that the author was objective all through the text; however, there are some sections
that I personally feel he went out of context. However, it can be concluded that the writer
portrayed his message and ideas in a far much professional way. In conclusion, economic
history in Australia was facilitated by availability resources, use of trade which was
facilitated by use if gold, formation of laws and regulation governing society by the
Australian government and finally use of agricultural raw materials in industries which later
led to development of urban centres.
22 Worthington, Andrew C. "The quarter century record on housing affordability, affordability
drivers, and government policy responses in Australia." International Journal of Housing
Markets and Analysis 5, no. 3 (2012): 235-252.