Aborigines and Diamond Mining
The politics of resource development in the East Kimberley
Dixon R A Dillon (eds) M C
University of Western Australia Press Nedlands, WA 1990
212
In 1979 an area south-west of Lake Argyle in Western Australia was found
to be highly prospective for diamonds. This book includes a chronology 197983,
and consists of: anthropological reports of the area's Aboriginal cultural
significance; preliminary studies of the social impact of CRA's subsequent
activities; and a narrative of responses by Western Australian government
agencies, including the Western Australian Museum. Of greatest interest
is Dixon's effort to comprehend the perspectives of the Aboriginal people
who established a highly controversial deal with CRA. His compilation of
their accounts of their actions (with his comments) evokes, as faithfully
as anyone has dared, the complexity of Aboriginal decision-making. Includes
maps and a glossary.
Internet Links: ATSIC | Native Title | CRA | A Guide to Iron Ore in WA
Adland A true story of corporate
drama
Coombs Anne
William Heinemann Melbourne 1990
353
Written in a lively if occasionally superficial style, this is a record
of the first year of the merger of two of Australia's leading advertising
agencies, the Sydney-based Mojo and Melbourne's Monahan Dayman and Adams.
Coombs reports, with relish on the events and the clashes and provides interesting
profiles of main players, including well-known writer and broadcaster Phillip
Adams. This is an unusually detailed and frank account of how businesses
operate and what goes on among 'creative' people in the male-dominated advertising
industry.
Internet Links: Advertising Association of Australian | Yahoo Australian Advertising | Australian Media Facilities Directory
Along Parallel Lines
A history of the railways of New South Wales 1850 - 1986
Gunn John
Melbourne University Press Carlton, Vic 1989
599
Elegantly written, exhaustively researched, this is the best account of
Australian railways. Although limited to New South Wales, the book is of
wider interest for two reasons: the early years of rail in that colony are
essentially the early years of Australian railways, and the NSW system connects
directly with those of Victoria, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory.
Gunn traces the important role of rail in the economic and political development
of the colony and, later, the state, and provides vivid accounts of debates
about new lines and, more recently, closures. He quotes extensively from
contemporary sources. An impressionistic account of railway history, using
oral recollections, is Patsy Adam-Smith's When We Rode the
Rails (Lansdowne, Sydney, 1983, 247p).David Burke's Making
the Railways (State Library of New South Wales/State
Rail Authority of NSW, Sydney, 1995, 262p) is a celebratory, but well-researched
and engaging account of the New South Wales railway system, with an emphasis
on the human face of that system.
Internet Links: State Library of NSW | State Rail Authority of NSW | National Rail Corporation
Australia and the World Economy
Lougheed Alan L
McPhee Gribble Fitzroy, Vic 1988
81
Lougheed, a specialist in the developing international economy, provides
a concise overview of the trends and major events in Australia's trading
relations with the rest of the world. He identifies an over-reliance on
a small range of exports, a long-term decline in the relative price of our
exports, and instability in supply and demand. The author's policy views
contrast with those of Francis G Castles, for example in his Economic
Vulnerability and Public Policy (A&U, North
Sydney, 1988, 184p). Seventeen tables and figures illustrate the main trends.
Internet Links: The Australian Economy from the Global Perspective. | Australian economics | The Australian Economic Review | Australian Financial Review | The Australian Treasury
Australia in the International Economy
In the twentieth century
Dyster Barrie Meredith David
Cambridge University Press Melbourne and Cambridge 1990
378
Although it is primarily a tertiary textbook, this history provides a useful
overview of the ways in which Australia interacts, in economic terms, with
the rest of the world. Dyster and Meredith trace the pattern of foreign
investment, exports and imports, immigration, and policies to protect local
industries from, 1788 to the present. The text is supplemented by tables,
charts and illustrations.
Internet Links: The Australian Economy from the Global Perspective. | Australian economics | The Australian Economic Review | Australian Financial Review | The Australian Treasury
Australia's Foreign Debt
Myths and realities
Pitchford John
Allen & Unwin North Sydney 1990
128
Professor Pitchford's view, much-discussed in the business press in the
late 1980s, is that in an era of floating exchange rates governments should
not attempt to tackle the foreign debt problem directly through macroeconomic
policies. He argues that the record shows these attempts to be futile, indeed
counterproductive. Most debt is a result of borrowing for investment by
the private sector and should 'by definition' be repayable out of the income
generated by that investment. Although few economists accept this argument
in its entirety, it has contributed to the reassessment of economic policy
over the past few years.
Internet Links: Australian Financial Review | The Australian Treasury | Commonwealth Foreign Affairs Dept | Foreign Investment Review Board
Australian Coastal Shipping
Pemberton Barry
Melbourne University Press Carlton, Vic 1979
345
This book presents a description of the growth and location of Australian
coastal and overseas shipping, providing information about the ships and
shipowners of each trade, what cargo they carried, the routes they followed
and when they finished. Arranged first by region, then by type of shipping,
it discusses interstate passenger shipping, interstate cargo, and shipping
and overseas trade, as well as shipping in defence and auxiliary services.
Copiously illustrated with photographs and line drawings, and an appendix
listing Australian-owned and operated steamers and motor vessels, the book
provides a comprehensive record of the importance of coastal shipping in
Australia's recent past.
Internet Links: Living on the Coast - Australia's Coastal Policy | Australian Shipping and Stevedoring | Department of Industry Science and Tourism
Australian Economic Terms
Noble C E
Longman Camberwell, Vic 1971
176
In a world increasingly dominated by economic jargon, this is a useful if
sometimes opinion-laden guide to the terminology. On 'protection', for example,
Noble is as anxious to castigate its proponents as to explain its meaning.
Aimed at secondary, TAFE and tertiary students, each edition of this alphabetical
guide is comprehensively updated and includes lists of symbols and abbreviations
commonly used by economists. A fourth edition was published by Longman Cheshire
in 1991.
Internet Links: Australian economics | Australian Financial Review | The Australian Treasury
Basis of the Bargain, The
Gender, schooling and jobs
O'Donnell Carol
Allen & Unwin North Sydney 1984
186
O'Donnell traces the roles of women in the Australian labour market from
World War II to the early 1980s, and discusses women's place in the contemporary
workforce. She examines trends in conditions, responsibility status, and
promotion prospects in four main areas of employment the NSW teaching service,
the NSW Public Service, the clothing industry and retail sales and analyses
the reasons for inequalities between the sexes in the workforce. She concludes
with a summary of forces shaping the labour market, the power of particular
groups to enhance their conditions of work, and an examination of the role
of education in the pursuit of equality and equal opportunity.
Internet Links: Centre For Economic Education - Index | Internet Resources for teachers of economics | Office of the Status of Women | Economic and Social History of Australia | Stuart Birks' gender and economics page | WISE
Brittle Rim, The
Finance, business and the Pacific region
Daly M T Logan M I
Penguin Ringwood, Vic 1989
270
Against the accepted view, Daly and Logan argue that the spectacular success
of the AsiaPacific region became less certain in the late 1980s. Now, the
region is 'a much more varied and problematical set of nations' and changes
in other parts of the world are shifting the balance of world growth. The
authors marshal an enormous number of statistics as they trace the development
of the region since financial deregulation started in the 1970s. Drawing
on interviews with government officials and bankers in the region, they
concentrate on the role of the banks, and point to the implications of the
region's fortunes for Australia.
Internet Links: The Australian Economy from the Global Perspective. | Australian Financial Review | The Australian Treasury | The Business Information Library | CNN Financial News - Asia | Asia Pacific Economic Review Home Page
Bull, the Bear and the Kangaroo, The
The history of the Sydney stock exchange
Salsbury Stephen Sweeney Kay
Allen & Unwin North Sydney 1988
522
Stock exchanges have evolved from small, fairly simple operations to large
bureaucracies, for most of their history virtually free of government regulation.
They now occupy a central role in the financial sector. This meticulous
history of the Sydney exchange incorporates material on its counterparts
in Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide. After tracing the genesis of the exchange
back to the first share trading in 1817, it shows how the organisation has
operated since its creation in 1871, and provides an insight into various
noted share-dealing cases, including the Poseidon affair of the late 1960s.
Salsbury and Sweeney have compiled a companion volume, Sydney
Stockbrokers: Biographies of members of the Sydney stock exchange 1871 to
1987 (Hale & Iremonger, Sydney, 1992, 466p).
Internet Links: Australian Stock Exchange | Sydney Futures Exchange
Business Mates
The power and politics of the Hawke era
McEachern Doug
Prentice Hall Sydney 1991
176
One of the notable features of the federal Hawke Labor government (198391)
was its relationship with sections of the business community. McEachern
looks at both the broad picture the impact on profitability of government
policies and the day-to-day detail of friendships and negotiations between
government ministers and business leaders. He traces the rise of a counter
movement the ill-fated 'Joh for PM' campaign and maps the role of business
in the Liberal Party.
Internet Links: History of Australia - Robert James Lee Hawke | Australian Labor Party | Liberal Party
CCH Macquarie Dictionary of Business,
The
CCH Australia North Ryde, NSW 1993
9
With 9400 entries, this dictionary covers matters including company and
securities law, accounting, finance, management, taxation, insurance, marketing,
employment, occupational health and safety, and industrial relations, and
defines selected terms from computing and communications. Thoroughly cross-referenced,
this book has been published simultaneously in several editions priced for
businesses, libraries and students. Companion volumes on law, accounting,
occupational health, and employment and industrial relations are available.
Internet Links: The Business Information Library | Australian Financial Review | The Australian Treasury
Citizenship and Employment
Investigating post-industrial options
Pixley Jocelyn
Cambridge University Press Melbourne and Cambridge 1993
346
Published in a period of relatively high unemployment, this book examines
the arguments for alternatives to paid employment (guaranteed income schemes,
communes, etc) and concludes that these options potentially undermine citizen
rights. Pixley's starting point is schemes of the type proposed by former
prime minister R J Hawke, who suggested that unemployed youths should be
given work opportunities in Israeli-style communes. She argues that paid
work underpins citizenship, and supports government policies that recognise
and support the opportunity for all adults to obtain work. Pixley also surveys
a variety of alternative income support and work schemes proposed in different
Western nations, and discusses the escalating level of 'acceptable' unemployment.
Although this is a long and detailed book, it raises significant economic
and social policy issues.
Internet Links: Australia in brief - immigration and citizenship | Centre for Citizenship and Human Rights
Class Apart?, A
Businessmen and Australian politics 1960-1980
Tsokhas Kosmas
Oxford University Press Melbourne 1984
214
Although too detailed for many readers, this is a original attempt to map
the relationships between different sectors of Australian industry manufacturing,
pastoral, mining and banking and the federal government. Tsokhas concentrates
on the role of the 'peak' industry organisations (for example, the Australian
Woolgrowers and Graziers Council) in pressing the claims of its constituents.
He examines the role of tripartite (business/union/government) bodies and
looks at policy issues, including the exchange rate, tariffs, tax and foreign
investment. Tsokhas offers some revealing insights on the dynamics of interactions
between industry and government.
Internet Links: Department of Industry Science and Tourism | ACTU | Australian Business Organisations
Defeat of
Distance, The
Qantas 1919 - 1939
Gunn John
University of Queensland Press St Lucia, Qld 1985
416
This opening volume of a three-volume history of Qantas covers the years
191939, the first decades of the development of what was to become Australia's
government-owned international airline. Volume 2, Challenging
Horizons: Qantas 193954 (UQP, St Lucia, Qld, 1987, 448 pp), includes
the difficult war years, and the expansion of Pacific routes. The third
volume, High Corridors: Qantas 195470 (UQP, St Lucia, Qld,
1988, 484 pp), traces the shift in decision-making power away from staff
in favour of boardroom and federal cabinet, and conflict between these two
bodies over foreign trade and policy questions. John Gunn is a writer and
aviation consultant. From the Dawn of Aviation: The Qantas story 19201995
(Focus Publishing, Double Bay, NSW, 1995, 224pp) is a large-format commissioned
history written by John Stackhouse to celebrate the airline's first 75 years.Particularly
interesting are the full colour reproductions of the QANTAS posters, including
a doublespread featuring the cross section of a flying boat. In 1996 the
Qantas Foundation produced an attractive memorial book set in facsimile
of five classics on the airline. The set includesFront- Line Airline
by E.Bennett-Bremner(Angus &Robertson,Melbourne,1944; facsimile edition,
Qantas Foundation Book Set, Longreach,193p); Hudson Fysh's Taming
the North (Angus &Robertson, Melbourne,1933 and 1950; facsimile
edition, 267pQantas Rising (Angus &Robertson, Melbourne,1965;
facsimile edition, 296p)Qantas at War (Angus &Robertson,
Melbourne,1968; facsimile edition, 244p) and Wings to the World
(Angus &Robertson, Melbourne,1970; facsimile edition,
236p)
Internet Links: Aviation History of Australia | air affairs | QANTAS | Ansett Australia | Civil Aviation Safety Authority
Economics and the Dreamtime
A hypothetical history
Butlin N G
Cambridge University Press Melbourne and Cambridge 1993
272
A sequel to Our Original Aggression ,
this book goes back to the last Ice Age (beginning 115120,000 years ago)
to canvass some models and pathways of human migration to 'Australia' in
pursuit of 'recognised production possibilities' here. Butlin then synthesises
research on the shape and process of pre-contact Aboriginal society, emphasising
that there was no distinct 'economic' sphere of life and that Aboriginal
culture was a means to pass on adaptive responses to the demands of ecologically
different regions. After reiterating his argument about the importance of
epidemics, Butlin then describes the frontiers of settlement, up to 1850,
as a series of mini-economies in which different kinds of settler enterprise
developed different kinds of interest in the preservation or destruction
of what remained of the indigenous population. As much a contribution to
the theory of economic history (testing the limits of homo economicus)
as a book about colonisation.
Internet Links: Tandanya | ATSIC | Australian Institute of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Studies
Emigrant Ships to Luxury Liners
Passenger ships to Australia and New Zealand 1945 - 1990
Plowman Peter
University of New South Wales Press Kensington, NSW 1992
296
Rather than present a narrative history of this facet of Australia's transport
system, Plowman offers short (300800 word) histories of more than 200 individual
vessels. Included in each entry are details of construction, tonnage, size,
speed and propulsion, together with a photograph (mostly monochrome) and
details of voyages to Australia and New Zealand. A short introduction includes
figures on postwar migration numbers.
Internet Links: Australian Shipping and Stevedoring | Department of Industry Science and Tourism | Australasian Ships and Ports
Farming of Australia, The
Bromby Robin
Doubleday Sydney 1986
239
Generously illustrated, this is a celebratory popular history of agriculture
in Australia since 1788. Bromby, an experienced journalist, writes a lively
if necessarily sketchy history of farmers and farming, and offers some modest
thoughts on future directions. An appendix lists the squatters who applied
for leases under the Squatters Acts of 184647. An earlier more academic
volume on the same subject is Samuel Wadham's Australian Farming:
1788-1965 (Cheshire, Melbourne, 1967, 156p).
Internet Links: AUSFARM | Department of Primary Industries and Energy | CSIRO Agribusiness
Flypast
A record of aviation in Australia
Parnell N M Boughton Trevor
Australian Government Publishing Service Canberra 1988
562
This well-illustrated overview of Australia's aviation history provides
details of notable events and inventions of aeronautical interest, arranged
chronologically from May 1843 to July 1988. It contains triumphs like Amy
Johnson's solo flight between England and Australia in 1930, as well as
disasters like the death of H J Hinkler in 1933 during his attempt to break
the EnglandAustralia record. In addition it covers topics such as the establishment
of new airlines, airports and landing drives; purchases and introduction
of new aircraft; and various operations by the RAAF, including non-military
operations like `Operation Pig Bristles' in 1946 which involved transporting
11,000 pounds 5 tonnes of pigs' bristles
from China. The appendices give selected firsts in Australian aviation,
details about notable figures, lists of scheduled internal and international
air services, balloons and aircraft before 1921, and Australian military
ships that have been equipped with, and operated, aircraft.
Internet Links: Aviation History of Australia | air affairs | QANTAS | Ansett Australia | Civil Aviation Safety Authority
Gender at Work
Game Ann Pringle Rosemary
Allen & Unwin North Sydney 1983
147
Game, Pringle and co-author Helen Grace explore the relationship between
gender, the labour process and technological change. They use six case studies
of whitegoods, banking, retailing, computing, nursing and housework to probe
changes in job design, gender divisions and status. In computing, for example,
they find that gender divisions persist despite the lack of explicit sex-typing
among tasks. Though this study is somewhat outdated, there is still much
valuable material in the analysis of a society in change. Includes photographs
by Helen Grace.
Internet Links: Office of the Status of Women | Economic and Social History of Australia | Stuart Birks' gender and economics page | WISE
Gentle Invaders
Australian women at work
Ryan Edna Conlon Anne
Nelson Melbourne 1975
207
Reprinted by Penguin with a new introduction in 1989, this two-century history
focuses on attitudes to working women and their fate at the hands of the
wage-fixing system. Ryan and Conlon describe the British heritage and trace
the emergence of distinctively Australian rules. They critically assess
the pivotal 'Harvester' living wage decision of 1907, discuss the impact
of two world wars, and survey the moves towards equal pay since 1951.
Internet Links: Office of the Status of Women | Economic and Social History of Australia | Stuart Birks' gender and economics page | WISE
Gifthorse, The
A critical look at equal employment opportunity in Australia
Poiner Gretchen Wills Sue
Allen & Unwin North Sydney 1991
144
Since 1981 equal employment opportunity (EEO) legislation has been introduced
in most states and federally. Poiner and Wills argue that it has operated
neither as its critics nor its supporters expected. Some women have benefited,
they contend, but many have not. They look at the background to EEO, how
it was steered through the bureaucracy (drawing on interviews with participants),
resistance to the legislation, and its impact on various groups. Clare Burton's
The Promise and the Price (A&U, North Sydney, 1991,
198p) comes to a similar conclusion about EEO; Burton argues that organisational
cultures need to change before there will be significant
progress.
Internet Links: Employment Services Regulatory Authority | Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission
Gold and Paper
A history of the National Bank of Australasia Ltd
Blainey Geoffrey
Georgian House Melbourne 1958
443
One of several detailed histories of banking in Australia, this is a superbly
written, sympathetic account of the development of the National Bank since
1858. Blainey chronicles the impact of the boom of the 1880s, the recession
of the 1890s, the Great War and the dropping of the gold standard, the 1930s
depression and World War II, and provides useful insights into the operations
of the bank. The 1983 edition (Macmillan, South Melbourne, 369p) includes
new chapters by journalist Geoffrey Hutton, bringing the story up to 1982
when the bank took over the Commercial Bank of Australia. Hutton outlines
the impact of technological change, the bank's overseas ambitions, changing
economic circumstances and the beginnings of dramatic reforms in financial
regulations. Other bank histories include S J Butlin's Australia
and New Zealand Bank (Longman, London,
1961, 459p) and R F Holder's two-volume history of what is now the Westpac
Bank, Bank of New South Wales: A history 1817-1970
(A&R, Sydney, 1970, 985p).
Internet Links: Westpac | National Bank | Commonwealth Bank | Reserve Bank of Australia
Golden Mile, The
Blainey Geoffrey
Allen & Unwin/Rathdowne St Leonards, NSW 1993
184
Despite his sometimes controversial views on contemporary issues, Blainey
continues to produce finely crafted histories. In keeping with many of his
books, this is economic history with a detectable but not overwhelming bias
towards business. Australia's most productive goldfield, Kalgoorlie, has
been worked for 100 years, and Blainey describes the discoveries, mines
and companies as well as the region's infrastructure and the political and
economic context for the mining operations.
Internet Links: Australian Mineral Foundation | Mining and Exploration | Australian Geological Survey Organisation (AGSO)
Government and Capitalism
Public and private choice in twentieth century Australia
Butlin N G Barnard A
Allen & Unwin North Sydney 1982
380
This book traces the interaction of government and the private sector since
federation, focusing on regulation and allocative policy, social policy,
and public enterprises. Based on a major academic research program, this
is a useful survey up to 1975. Contrary to the publisher's 'blurb', the
authors conclude that no single trend emerges from the statistics; some
areas of government have grown in relative terms, others have declined.
Co-author Butlin was a major figure in Australian economic history over
the past three decades. Among his other important books on the Australian
economy is his seminal Investment in Economic Growth 18601890
(Dept of Economic History, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian
National University, Canberra, 1972, 477pp). First
published by Cambridge University Press in 1964, this is an influential
and comprehensive study of the role of investment, particularly government,
in the development of the Australian economy.
Internet Links: Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) | Australian Competition and Consumer Commission | AEC Group | Access Economics Home Page | AMP: Market commentary : Australian economy
Great Australian Advertising Campaigns
Shoebridge Neil
McGraw-Hill Sydney 1992
192
Shoebridge, a marketing journalist, describes and analyses 12 famous Australian
advertising campaigns, from the 1930 Aeroplane Jelly commercials to the
Homer Hudson ice-cream advertisements of 1989. Although this is not a sociological
or cultural treatment, it offers interesting insights into the industry
and is well illustrated. Shoebridge discusses advertising principles, the
factors contributing to successful campaigns, and the companies and people
involved.
Internet Links: Advertising Association of Australian | Yahoo Australian Advertising | Australian Media Facilities Directory
Great Australian Nightmare, The
A critique of the home-ownership ideology
Kemeny Jim
Georgian House Melbourne 1983
130
Kemeny argues that pursuit of the great Australian 'dream', home ownership,
has a number of important side effects. He contends that the quest for home
ownership eats up resources and because transfer costs are cumulatively
added to the initial costs of housing fuels inflation; that an enormous
industry has grown up around real estate commissions, conveyancing and other
fees; that the cost of housing ensures that it is maldistributed, and that
mortgage costs reduce households' willingness to contribute to a comprehensive
welfare system. Kemeny argues for a more balanced government policy, with
cost-effective public rental made a more attractive option.
Internet Links:Australia in Brief: Housing | Housing Update | A Dream Home We Can All Afford | Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) - Research Program
Hauling the Loads
A history of Australia's working horses and bullocks
Kennedy Malcolm J
Melbourne University Press Carlton, Vic 1992
239
Kennedy argues that the role of bullocks and horses in Australia's economic
development has been largely overlooked. In this detailed account, he describes
their contribution to transport, exploration, pastoralism, farming and mining
since 1788, with an emphasis on developments in the eastern states. Kennedy
details the design of horse-drawn vehicles and profiles the major haulage
companies. This novel piece of economic history is somewhat let down by
the author's dry prose style, and the very small illustrations. Includes
a foreword by historian Geoffrey Blainey.
Internet Links: Australian Brumby | History of transport by land | Australian History
History of Australian Economic Thought, A
Groenewegen Peter McFarlane Bruce
Routledge London 1990
291
This concise history traces the development of a distinctly Australian body
of economic thought from its 'rude beginnings' in the 1820s. Groenewegen
and McFarlane, economists in the post-Keynesian mould, argue that a disinct
Australian school became evident in the 1920s, when a group of economists
began to grapple with 'national problems and national solutions', including
protection, wage fixing and government finance. Major figures and institutions
are profiled, and the authors consider the success of and prospects for
Australian economics. The introduction includes an annotated list of earlier
histories.
Internet Links: The Australian Economy from the Global Perspective. | Australian economics | The Australian Economic Review | Australian Financial Review | The Australian Treasury
Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Aircraft
in Australia and New Zealand
Eyre David
Sunshine Hornsby, NSW 1983
240
Pitched at the air enthusiast, this large-format book includes illustrated
entries for around 500 aircraft that can be found in Australian museums,
airports and private airfields. For each, Eyre details country of origin,
a description, specifications and history. A revised and enlarged edition
was published in 1988 (Child & Associates, Frenchs Forest, NSW, 288p).
Internet Links: RAAF | ADFA| Aviation History of Australia | air affairs | QANTAS | Ansett Australia | Civil Aviation Safety Authority
Land of Promises
Coombs (ed) H C
Australian National University / Aboriginal Studies Press Canberra 1989
181
A multidisciplinary investigation of the past and future of 'development'
in the East Kimberley gave rise to this report. After characterising development
up till now as exclusive of Aborigines' interests, the authors sketch the
nature of that interest, noting that adapted indigenous traditions of land
management may not necessarily be 'sustainable'. Only genuine political
partnership with Aboriginal organisations will create the conditions to
plan sustainable development in the future, the authors conclude. A creative
synthesis of diverse disciplines and politics, this book gives substance
to that promising term 'reconciliation'.
Internet Links: Tandanya | ATSIC | Australian Institute of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Studies
Making the Market
The rise of consumer society
Whitwell Greg
McPhee Gribble Fitzroy, Vic 1989
74
This brief survey of the main characteristics of the 'long boom' the 25
years 1945 - 70 traces the development of a relatively well-off, mainly
suburban population. This was a time of steady growth with few interruptions,
of very low recorded unemployment and of political stability. Whitwell looks
at trends in home ownership, transport, spending patterns, women in the
workforce and household incomes.
Internet Links:Australia in Brief: Housing | Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) - Research Program | Office of the Status of Women | Economic and Social History of Australia | Bureau of Transport and Communications Economics (BTCE)
Managing Occupational Health and Safety
in Australia
A multidisciplinary approach
Quinlan Michael Bohle Philip
Macmillan Australia South Melbourne 1991
453
Bringing together a wealth of detail, this is an account of the legislative,
theoretical and workplace state-of-play. The authors provide a survey of
the spate of legislation over the past decade, which has brought major changes
to regulations in all states. They argue that only an approach that combines
medical, behavioural, technical, sociological, legal, economic and industrial
relations perspectives will advance our understanding of occupational risks.
They submit each discipline, however, to a close and critical scrutiny.
Two examples repetition strain and the impact of shiftwork are examined
in detail.
Internet Links: Health Insurance Commission | National Health and Medical Research Council | Occupational Health and Safety
Markets, Money and Empire
The political economy of the Australian wool industry
Tsokhas Kosmas
Melbourne University Press Carlton, Vic 1990
243
In this reassessment of the dynamics of the wool trade, Tsokhas argues against
two common views of Australia's performance as a primary producer: that
the federal politicians have been passive in their dealings with our major
trading partners and that Australian capitalists have been manipulated by
other producers and by customers. Several major episodes and periods are
used to illustrate this argument, and Tsokhas links the cases to a broader
view of trading relations in the British empire. Despite its iconoclastic
content, however, this is sometimes difficult reading.
Internet Links: Wool House | Wool CRC site | Department of Primary Industries and Energy | CSIRO Agribusiness
Merinos, Myths and Macarthurs
Australian graziers and their sheep 1788 - 1900
Garran J C White L
Australian National University Press Rushcutters Bay, NSW 1985
288
An enjoyable and well-researched study of the Australian wool industry,
the Macarthur family and the merino sheep. The wool industry may no longer
be the backbone of the Australian economy, but its significance in the formation
of contemporary Australia, economically, socially and environmentally is
undenied. Like so many historical studies of the nineteenth century, it
rather neglects the impact of the pastoral industry on the indigenous population,
but is still the most valuable study of the industry during the nineteenth
century.
Internet Links: Wool House | Wool CRC site | Department of Primary Industries and Energy | CSIRO Agribusiness
Money Masters, The
Banks, power and economic
control
Reinecke Ian
Heinemann Melbourne 1988
The deregulation of the Australian banking system was one of the marked
achievements, or disasters, of the 1980s, depending on the analyst's point
of view. The author of The Money Masters concludes
that deregulation has given the country an untamed monster, powerful but
unaccountable to no-one, customers, employees or politicians. Other worthwhile
books on the same subject are Louis Pauly's Foreign Banks in Australia:
The politics of deregulation (Australian Professional Publications/Macquarie
University, Sydney, 1987, 110p), and Paul McLean and James Renton's Bankers
and Bastards (Hudson, Hawthorn, Vic,1992,178p).
The latter is particularly critical of the banking system.
Internet Links: Westpac | National Bank | Commonwealth Bank | Reserve Bank of Australia
Open Street, The
Public transport, motor cars and politics in Australian cities
Manning Ian
Transit Australia Sydney 1991
112
This history of the politics of urban transport emphasises the role of transport
during the development and growth of cities in Australia. The book examines
the political influences of different interest groups and the impact of
the transport system on people's lives. The rise and decline of public transport
and the rise of private motoring are described, and the debates on transport
systems in the 1970s and 1980s are documented. The author concludes with
a chapter discussing possible future developments. This book is of interest
to those concerned with public transport advocacy, the impact of traffic
on the urban environment or transport history.
Internet Links: Bureau of Transport and Communications Economics (BTCE) | Transport and Regional Development | National Rail Corporation |
Planning for Sustainable Farming
The Potter farmland plan story
Campbell Andrew
Lothian Melbourne 1991
206
Demonstration farms set up in three districts by the Potter Foundation,
a Victorian philanthropic trust, are intended to show that financial viability
can be combined with environmentally sensitive practices. Each was a privately
owned property with significant soil problems caused by erosion or salinity;
each has achieved success in tackling these problems and in establishing
a viable cropping system. As Campbell outlines, part of the success of the
experiment is in the example it provides to other farmers.
Internet Links: The Potter Foundation | Landcare | AUSFARM | Department of Primary Industries and Energy | CSIRO Agribusiness
Politics of Development in Australia,
The
Head (ed) Brian
Allen & Unwin North Sydney 1986
289
Unlike many accounts of Australian economic history, this collection was
careful to consider the political and institutional players in recent developments.
Chapters look at Queensland's National party 'populism', the Portland Smelter
affair in Victoria, the Playford legacy in South Australia, Western Australia's
development ethos and Tasmania's Hydroelectric Commission. Although somewhat
dated, Head's introduction provides an overview of the role of government,
financing arrangements and regional development during a period of expansion.
Internet Links: The Australian Economy from the Global Perspective. | Australian economics | The Australian Economic Review | Australian Financial Review | The Australian Treasury
Process of Economic Development in Australia,
The
Sinclair W A
Cheshire Melbourne 1976
266
Sinclair has produced a number of important economic history works, and
though his approach is traditional and to a large extent out of date, this
is still a valuable reference work for those studying Australia's economic
development. G J Abbot and N B Nairn's Economic Growth of Australia
1788 - 1821 (MUP, Carlton,Vic, 1961, 361p)
is a comparable, sound study for the early colonial period.
Internet Links: The Australian Economy from the Global Perspective. | Australian economics | The Australian Economic Review | Australian Financial Review | The Australian Treasury
Shared Harvest, A
The Australian wheat industry, 1939 - 1989
Whitwell Greg Sydenham Diane
Macmillan South Melbourne 1991
335
From 1939, the proceeds of the Australian wheat crop were pooled and distributed
among Australia's wheat growers. Many of the features of this system of
'orderly marketing' are still operating. After outlining the background
to the introduction of the scheme, Whitwell and Sydenham describe its operation
through a period of great technological and economic change. In a series
of thematic chapters, they look at the contribution of the industry to Australia's
economic well being, the impact of changing world conditions, the problems
faced by family farms, and marketing and distribution matters. Commissioned
by the Australian Wheat Board, this is a very detailed account, with an
enormous amount of information on the industry, including a statistical
appendix. Edgar Dunsdorf's The Australian Wheat-growing Industry,
1788 - 1948 (MUP, Melbourne, 1956) is a thorough
account of the foundation and formative years of the industry.
Internet Links: Department of Primary Industries and Energy | CSIRO Agribusiness | Wheat Board
Short Changed Women and economic policies
Sharp Rhonda Broomhill Ray
Allen & Unwin North Sydney 1988
213
Concentrating on the period 198387, this book assesses the impact of economic
policy on women. The Hawke government's program, and the taxation and superannuation
systems, are examined in detail. An introductory chapter discusses theoretical
issues, and the book concludes with the outline of an economic strategy
to achieve greater equity. Although the data is dated in places, this is
the only detailed study of the issue.
Internet Links: Office of the Status of Women | Economic and Social History of Australia | Stuart Birks' gender and economics page | WISE
Sitting In
Hill Barry
William Heinemann Port Melbourne 1991
338
One of Victoria's major industrial disputes was the long-running battle
at the Altona petrochemical works during 1979 and 1980. Set in a changing
but still significantly working-class community, the dispute focused on
working hours. But, as Hill shows in this elegantly written book, the confrontation
resonated into the broader community, raising concerns about the environment
and the siting of hazardous industries as well as highlighting generational
change and broader economic forces. Using a mixture of autobiography, fictionalisation,
political essay and history, Hill traces the impact of the dispute and of
events since then on people, like his father, who were directly involved.
Internet Links: ACTU | Australian Business Organisations | Australian economics | Employment Services Regulatory Authority
State of Play
The INDECS Economics Special Report
Various
Allen & Unwin St Leonards, NSW 1992
349
For more than a decade, the INDECS economics group has produced this clearly
written guide to the economy. Although their division of economic thought
into two camps restrictionist and expansionist sometimes obscures more than
it illuminates, this is a useful overview of the main features of economic
life, from interest rates and taxation to government spending and overseas
trade. The 1992 seventh edition has sections on the policies of federal
Labor and the coalition, on speculative boom and bust, and the rising unemployment
and falling inflation of 1990 - 92. An eighth edition was published in 1995.
Internet Links: The Australian Economy from the Global Perspective. | Australian economics | The Australian Economic Review | Australian Financial Review | The Australian Treasury
Strikes
Studies in twentieth century Australian social history
Iremonger John Merritt (eds) John
Angus & Robertson Sydney 1973
289
Contains 11 studies of strikes and lock-outs, starting with the Victorian
Railway strike of 1903 and concluding with the NSW teachers strike of 1968.
The background, course and aftermath of each strike are outlined, and the
involvement of key figures from both labour and management sides is discussed.
The authors, historians and political scientists address questions as to
why a particular strike occurred and why it took the course it did, and
conclude that both tangible and intangible forces influence the development
and course of a strike. The studies raise questions about the causes and
nature of industrial conflict, and the view is presented that strikes are
complex social phenomena and that attempting to uncover their complexity
will reveal information about the society in which they occur.
Internet Links: ACTU | Australian Business Organisations | Australian economics | Employment Services Regulatory Authority
Superannuation and the Australian Financial
System
Davis Kevin Harper (eds) Ian
Allen & Unwin St Leonards, NSW 1992
192
Study of the impact of superannuation on the Australian financial system
and the Australian economy, due to factors such as changed savings and investment
patterns. Gives a historical overview as well as predictions, policy analysis
and prescriptions. The contributors are specialists from the finance industry,
the public sector and academia. Indexed.
Internet Links: Senate Select Committee on Superannuation | ComSuper | Insurance and Superannuation Commission (ISC)
Tariff Politics
Australian policymaking 1960 - 1980
Glezer Leon
Melbourne University Press Carlton, Vic 1982
367
Tariffs have been at the centre of the debate over economic policy in Australia
in recent years. As Glezer shows, this is an old and complex controversy.
The book opens with a brief discussion of the history of tariffs and import
quotas over the decades since federation, then focuses on a detailed account
of the attitudes and actions of the key interest groups and the evolution
of government policy between 1960 and 1980. Industry Assistance:
The inside story (MUP, Carlton, Vic, 1986,
296p) is an alternative account of these issues by Alf Rattigan, a former
head of the Tariff Board (and a passionate opponent of protectionism).
Internet Links: Foreign Affairs and Trade | Austrade | "Enterprise" The Voice of Business | OECD Online
Temptations
Sex, selling and the department store
Reekie Gail
Allen & Unwin St Leonards, NSW 1993
279
Reekie's aim is to describe the 'sexual culture' of the department store
how relations between the sexes influenced these retail outlets and how
the stores helped to shape sex roles. Concentrating on the period 1880 -
1930, she uses company records, catalogues, trade journals, advertisements
and other contemporary material to discuss marketing, store layout and behaviour
during the period in which mass marketing evolved in Australia. She examines
the efforts of women to resist the retailers' techniques, primarily through
organisations like the Housewives Association. While the book uses comparatively
few illustrations and Reekie has not drawn on oral accounts, this is nevertheless
a fascinating study.
Internet Links: Australia in brief: Services industry | Retailing Analysis of Australia | X-Change
Treasury Line, The
Whitwell Greg
Allen & Unwin North Sydney 1986
320
As well as providing an insight into the workings of the federal bureaucracy,
this pioneering study traces the development of the Treasury's underlying
but influential view of the economy. In clear, non-technical language, Whitwell
argues that by the mid to late 1970s Treasury's outlook had gradually changed
from the postwar Keynesian viewpoint to a 'neoclassical model'. This transition
saw within the department an increasing suspicion of government intervention
in the economy. The change, according to Whitwell, resulted partly from
a shift in international thinking, partly from the 'stagflation' of the
mid-1970s, and partly from the rise of a new generation of bureaucrats.
This argument has some parallels with that put forward in Michael Pusey's
Economic Rationalism in Canberra .
Whitwell describes the structure and decision-making processes of Treasury,
and summarises Keynesian and neo-classical thought.
Internet Links: The Australian Economy from the Global Perspective. | Australian economics | The Australian Economic Review | Australian Financial Review | The Australian Treasury
Two Centuries of Panic
A history of corporate collapses in Australia
Sykes Trevor
Allen & Unwin North Sydney 1988
604
Beginning with the Bank of New South Wales crisis in the 1820s, the editor
of Australian Business chronicles a succession of corporate
crashes and near disasters. In a number of cases, notably the depression
of the 1890s, Sykes brings to light new evidence. Surprisingly, the long-running
and convoluted Nugan Hand Bank case is not covered. Throughout, the writing
is brisk and accessible; only in his concluding chapter on the future of
business regulation is Sykes lacking in concrete detail. Sykes has also
written the well-regardedThe Bold Riders: Behind Australia's Corporate
Collapses, second edition, Allen & Unwin,
St.Leonards, 1996, 654p), which deals equally competently with the spectatacular
corporate collapses of the 1980s.
Internet Links: Australian economics | The Australian Economic Review | Australian Financial Review | The Australian Treasury | Centre For Economic Education - Index | Workplace Relations and Small Business | KPMG Australia | Chaos in the Counting House
Visible and Invisible
Aboriginal people in the economy of northern Australia
Crough Gregory
North Australia Research Unit Darwin 1993
144
A short, readable and argumentative survey of the ways in which Aboriginal
people of northern Australia participate in 'the economy'. Crough's most
important point is to question the partitioning of policy thinking on the
North into 'social' policy and 'economic development' policy. Funding for
Aboriginal people is politically vulnerable to the extent that it is placed
under the former heading. Crough argues for a more politically creative
approach to the structuring of public sector payments to Aborigines, an
approach which will enhance Aborigines' political autonomy and will be recognised
as a form of 'economic development' required by the cultural make-up of
Australia's northern half.
Internet Links: Tandanya | ATSIC | Australian Institute of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Studies
Working
Class and Welfare
Reflections on the political development of the welfare state in Australia
and New Zealand, 1890 - 1980
Castles Francis G
Allen & Unwin North Sydney 1985
142
Castles' aim is to explain why two countries whose labour movements were
strong and electorally significant in the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries now have 'half-hearted' welfare systems. He argues that the strength
of the unions allowed them to strike an 'historic compromise' with employers
and government, to create a 'wage earner's welfare state' based on centralised
wage fixing, tariff protection and population control. In contrast to Scandinavia,
for instance, welfare programs were seen as a safety net rather than an
integral part of the accommodation between labour, business and government.
Castles links this to the fact that, whereas social democratic parties enjoyed
consistent success in Scandinavia in the postwar decades, their record in
Australasia is chequered. This original analysis is pursued in Castles'
Economic Vulnerability and Public Policy (A&U, Sydney, 1988, 184p), which looks at other areas of government
policy.
Internet Links: Employment Services Regulatory Authority | Centrelink | Australian Institute of Health and Welfare | Australian Catholic Social Welfare Commission | Hineni Youth and Welfare Australia | Children and the State | Welfare Associations - Internet Resources
Working Together for Land Care
Group management skills and strategies
Chamala Shankariah Mortiss Peter D
Australian Academic Press Brisbane 1990
384
This guide is less an account of the implications of soil degradation than
a nuts-and-bolts account of how to organise a self-help group and keep it
active and effective. Chamala's aim is to mobilise individual farmers to
act collectively to combat environmental problems and work towards sustainable
agriculture. The techniques and group activities set out ranging from establishing
a group to raising funds will be useful in many other contexts.
Internet Links: Landcare | Environet | CSIRO
Yugul: An Arnhem Land cattle station
Thiele Steven
Australian National University, North Australia Research Unit Darwin 1982
84
An important but neglected study (its page design an academic cruelty),
Yugul tells of the difficulties
faced by Aborigines of the Roper River region when they attempted, in the
1970s, to run cattle as both a business and as an adaptation of their traditional
way of life. Aboriginal owners eventually dismissed their management consultant,
the Australian Agricultural Consulting and Management Company, but then
suffered withdrawal of government financial support. Meanwhile, there was
no coherent, community-wide Aboriginal power structure to make and enforce
difficult decisions. An unsparingly acute exposé of the problems
of giving economic foundation to Aboriginal self-determination.
Internet Links: Tandanya | ATSIC | Australian Institute of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Studies