Throughout the 19thcentury, the colonisation of Australia by Europeans went from one colony: Sydney to towns and cities all over the country. The economy was mainly agriculture with most of the people being farmers. Explorations further into Australia such as the crossing of the Blue Mountains in 1813 allowed people to go find more land to build farms on. As the century dragged on, the manufacturing and mining sectors started to become a greater part of the economy.
More Time
As the agricultural sector became a smaller part of the economy, the other sectors could develop and more advancements could be made to improve living standards in Australia. This is because farming takes up a lot of time and with a large percentage of the population being farmers means that there is little room for innovation. The Industrial Revolution increased agricultural production and so allowed people to move into other areas and so you see agriculture contributing only a little to an advanced economy.
So, Australia needed to improve its agricultural production to further their economic growth and this required technological advancement and the develop of infrastructure. With providing food to a growing population no longer a problem, the banking, mining and manufacturing sectors could expand.
Colonies
Besides NSW, other colonies were also established. Many of the first colonies were military outposts with convicts and it would be years after establishing these outposts that proper colonies were established. In 1826, a military outpost was established in Western Australia (WA) out of fear that the French would colonise that area and Perth was founded in 1829. South Australia (SA) started with the South Australian Land Company in 1831 and in 1834 legislation was passed to set up a colony there. John Oxley had chosen Moreton Bay to be the first colony in Queensland in 1824 and Tasmania was first settled by the British in 1803. The British had failed several times to colonise the Northern Territory NT) state of Australia due to poor management and the environment and it wasn't until 1869 when the first successful colony, Darwin was founded. Victoria was settled in 1803 at Sullivan Bay and was made a separate province from NSW in 1851.
The capital state cities in Australia became the main colonies set up in those areas. The order of founding these cities were: Sydney (1788), Hobart (1804), Brisbane (1824), Perth (1829), Melbourne (1835), Adelaide (1836) and Darwin (1860). The separate colonies would have their own laws and government until they became one nation in 1901. For reference to these colonies and states, the map of Australia seen earlier in this book is displayed on the next page.
Boom and Bust
Every economy goes through a cycle from boom and bust. This includes Australia too. The Australian economy experienced its first major economic depression during the 1840's. The English recession in 1839 and low wool prices in Britain caused a crash in the agriculture industry in Australia and agriculture was big for Australia during that time. This along with speculation led to lower demand, credit defaults and less British Investment in Australia. The Australian colonies found themselves running a deficit and they increased taxes to refinance in 1845 and they encouraged immigration, but more people led to further unemployment. The Gold Rush and the rise in wool prices finally brought the depression to an end. The Gold Rush would be a long-term boom that was followed by another depression in 1890. This depression would last three years and was a banking crisis with many banks being forced to close. People that had their currency in banks or had borrowed were devastated. This depression saw the vanishing of large amounts of credit and this caused a contraction of the currency supply.
Deflationary and Inflationary Downturns
There are two types of downturns: inflationary and deflationary. Inflationary downturns are associated with high inflation or hyperinflation and come about due to a loss of confidence in the currency in circulation or excessive currency creation. An inflationary downturn sees the currency supply expanding and prices rising. Deflationary downturns are associated with a deflation and prices drop and the currency supply contracts. A deflationary downturn normally comes in the form of cheap credit vanishing under a rash of defaults, which is what contracts the currency supply.
Consequences for Aboriginals
The European arrival and settlement of Australia lead to the displacement of the Aboriginal populations already living there. They were driven away and crippled by the many new diseases the Europeans brought with them and there were also disputes between the Aboriginals and the Europeans.