This book provides a comprehensive account of the development of Australia's colonial economy before the gold rushes. Noel Butlin's analysis of the developing economy provides a background discussion of eighteenth-century British social, economic and military history and a detailed demographic analysis of the Australian population over a period of sixty years. He goes on to explore the role of private investment in the economy and how dependence on the British public purse was replaced by a dependence on private British capital inflow. One of Professor Butlin's most interesting approaches is to consider Australia not as a convict imperial project but a major act of British public investment. A key focus of the work is the extent to which the Australian economy was independent or externally driven, that is, the level of synergism between Australia and Britain. Within this framework, Noel Butlin discusses the central issues of human capital and funding and their impact on the formation of the Australian economy. He examines how the economy developed in two different directions: the exploitation of natural resources and the growth of urban-oriented activities. Professor Butlin notes that this is a theme which has continued throughout Australia's modern history.

Includes bibliography (p.227-234) and index.